Another week, another journey through history and art in museums!
14 Mars 2023
Museums Galore.
Pompidou Centre
Let us begin our journey in the Pompidou Centre...
The Centre Pompidou is overflowing with visual arts, media, literature, music, etc. This space is filled with vast galleries of modern and contemporary art.
Words that come to mind after the Pompidou: rhythm, color, expression, abstract, modern, and experimental.
Artists admired at the Pompidou: Robert Delaunay, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso , Vassily, Kandinsky, Joan Miró, Wilhelm Freddie, Yves Tanguy.
Styles admired: Fauvism, Surrealism, Cubism, Expressionism, Dada, Abstract, Pop Art.
Pablo Picasso:
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”
- Pablo Picasso
Born into a family of the arts, he was consistently encouraged to create throughout his life a Blend of classical and innovative art. He let a mix of color, expression, experiment, exploration, emotion, shapes, and avant-garde inspire him and his art. Similarly to the evolution of art during different time periods, Picasso was constantly evolving with it. Generally, his work is divided into: the blue period marked by melancholy (1901–1904), the pink period (1904–1907), the cubist period (1907–1909), the Ingresque and classical period (1918 –1925), the surrealist period (1924–1939). As the innovative artist that he was, he kept up with the times and his aesthetic changed, evolved, and flowed throughout each phase. His ability to shift and adapt shows his high-level skill and determination in this practice.
Portrait de Jeune Fille (1914): A young female situated in the center of the canvas adorned with pink and white. She is surrounded by vases and flowers. The mellow green backdrop is a fitting backdrop to evoke feelings of grace, gentleness, and tranquility.
Buste de Femme.
LʻAubade.
Henri Matisse. 1869–1954: Considered to be the forefather of Fauvism, Matisse rejected the idea of three-dimensional space and instead wanted to create art that was inspired by bright, violent, and contrasting colors. This expressive and intense coloring on the canvas led to a new idea and movement within the art realm.
George Rouault. 1871–1958: Introduced to art at a young age, Rouault quickly fell in love with art. The art he created fell under the forms of Fauvism, Expressionism, and Cubism. As an independent artist inspired by more than one concept, he never identified to fall under any singular movement. He explained that his most immediate inspiration was religion and spirituality. This did not mean that he painted religious art or needed religious subjects, instead, he created from within.
“Nu de dos” & “Acrobate”: The tw
o bodies depicted in these images were inspired by how she viewed acrobats. These performers had a thick and sculpted build. Something to note is that there are multiple variations with the same motif. His almost obsessive exploration of the nude human form and the figure is seen through these images. In both paintings, the acrobat has his hand on his head, tilting it in different directions. The purpose of these nudes was to compose "a daily spectacle of forms that offer all the variety of life and express their strength of emotion by themselves."
Marc Chagall
“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.”
“Great art picks up where nature ends.”... - Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall (1887-1985): Chagall was born into a Jewish family in Russia. He loved art and began painting as an apprentice who encouraged him to move to the art capital of Europe, Paris. During his artistic journey, he discovered Fauvism and derived critical themes and styles from it. He began to create a mental toolbox of the different inspirations he found in Paris and started to form his own uniquely personal style. He drew upon the deep emotions of his soul and used his Jewish background to create pieces that celebrated the “high points” of our existence: birth, marriage, and death. When observing Chagallʻs art it is evidently distinct. He creates these dreamlike realities and worlds that transported me as a consumer into another realm. He does well to play on childlike visuals with complex, sophisticated, and mature concepts.
La Chute dʻlcare: Painted at the prime age of 87, this was a pivotal moment in Chagallʻs artistic life, making his “symbolic peak”. While reminiscing about his childhood hometown, Vitebsk, he outlines Icarus, a being who flew too close to the sun with wax and feathers. This piece was described as the following: “A luminous, vibrant palette and beautifully fluid brushstrokes contribute to an impression of vertigo and energy.”
Le Cimetiere.
Bella au col blanc.
Dada
“Dada is like your hopes: nothing
like your paradise: nothing
like your idols: nothing
like your heroes: nothing
like your artists: nothing
like your religions: nothing”
― Francis Picabia
Dada, Dadaism, and Dada art stem from a revolutionary art movement born in the twentieth century. Here, Dadaists would reject social norms and all forms of social hierarchy. They felt that if you used logic while creating art, you were impotent and could not create. The thought to “weaponize” art by being different, examples of such pieces are mustaches on the Mona Lisa, toilettes, and bottle racks. The spontaneity of art would re-manufacturing everyday objects, expanding the borders, logic, and rules of what art is. This art style was meant to shock people. I think that besides the concept behind this piece, the actual movement also shows that messages are powerful, and with a strong enough message, you can do and convey anything.
Robert Delaunay:
Le Poète Philippe Soupault
*My favorite piece in the exhibition.
Le Petit Palais.
Now onto the Le Petit Palais...
Le Petit Palais was inaugurated in 1900 at the same time as The Grand Palais. It is home to renowned pieces under the scope of decorative art from France. Just look up. Some of the most glorious and fascinating views in Paris can be found right above you, on ceilings. Decorated ceilings can be found everywhere from Le Petit Palais, Opéra Garnier, Le Grande Palais, Louvre, Les Archives Nationales, Le Palais du Luxembourg, etc. Today my wandering journey took me to the Le Petit Palais where I once again realized that a ceiling can be more than an enclosure between spaces. Throughout the museum, I was greeted by art pieces that vary in style and time period.
Some of my favorites of the top exhibition were painted by Gustave Courbet. Gustave disturbed the boundaries of art for he was inspired by the forces of nature and women. The art he created praised the natural bodies of women in their striking and unrefined maturity. Many of these images depicted women in nature and he would take time to sketch environments full of crystal-clear flowing ravines, lush forests, gardens, freshwater springs, cliffs, etc. His pieces were scandalous during his time and it is noted that he was one of the most insulted painters. Throughout his life, he liked to challenge the norms and constantly found himself annoyed with the idea of being confined within the walls of his home, his college, and even within the status quo. He is most notably known for being an artist who favors the style of Realism. The Realism art movement is characterized by its pursuit of exploring reality, societal themes, and the rawness of everyday life. Instead of creating dream worlds, these artists were inspired by the refreshing shock of reality and the world they lived in. These notions go against other movements of the time like Romanticism.
Making my way to the end of the hall and down the swirly stairs of the Palais, I was met with my favorite color schemes. I am a lover of fairytales and the colors you would associate with them: chantilly, rose, royal blues, cyan, tiffany, pistachio, sage, lilac, lavender, and any/all pastels. Artists and art like:
John William Waterhouse: Lamia (1909).: John William Waterhouse was an artist who embraced the Pre-Raphaelite method of art, a style that connected the medium of art with the mediums of poetry and literature. These ideas sought to express genuine ideas and emotion toward nature and all of its subjects. This piece in particular titled Lamia portrays exactly that. A Lamia, derived from the words laimos (gullet) and lamyros (gluttonous), is a female demon found in Greek literature and mythology. These individuals had an insatiable thirst for blood and human flesh so they would devour men and children. He has countless forms throughout history like a hybrid with a half-human top and half-serpent bottom.
Musée Rodin
Lastly, let us end this week at the Musée Rodin...
“I invent nothing, I rediscover.” - Auguste Rodin
Born a true Parisian in 1840, Auguste Rodin is one of the most pivotal figures in modern sculpture. Rodin focuses on the elegance and structure of the body, more specifically the female form. He defined emotion through the positioning, expression, and framework of his constructs. Looking at his collective work across his artistic journey, throughout time and phase of life, the one fixed word that comes to mind is “Bodies”.
