For the mothers

Dear mothers,

Since it was Mothersday yesterday, I thought I'd do a post about a picture of one of the most famous mothers in art: Anna Whistler. Or better known as James Abbott McNeill Whistlers Mother or "Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1" from 1871. It also hangs in the Musée d'Orsay at the moment as is one of my favorites!

This very atypical portrait was actually created almost by mistake. From letters we know, that the original model who Whistler was supposed to paint that day failed to show up. Whistler then suggested that he'd paint his mother. But because of her old age she failed to take the originally intended standing pose and Whistler painted her sitting and in profile. A lucky change of events! The "Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1" is the most famous painting by this otherwise less known american painter and founder of Tonalism.

(Tonalism describes an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s in the US where the artists painted landscapes in one overall toned athmosphere and mist)

Ok, so this is the famous mother I thought of, but I also enjoy very much the oncoming summer and warm weather and overall colorfulness and playfullness of the current season, which isn't very well represented in this painting - as it is called "Arrangement in Grey and Black". So when I checked on one of my happy-feeling-artists i found this:

My favorite Balloon-Artist Larry Moss did a replica of the original - but with balloons!! This is way more in the spirit of how i'm feeling these days. All happy! But no, seriously, Larry Moss started out as a streetartist in New York and is obviously amazing and he recreates famous paintings in art history with balloons. He's great if you want to check him out! He doesn't only do art-replicas but also alot of different balloon-art and -objects. Yay!

And I also want to mention my own mom, who is wonderful, lovely and amazing and should also have her own portrait made into balloonart! Happy Mothersday!

Olympia.

Hello Friends,

I must tell you, it is very fun to (sometimes) actually understand art. And to understand what a piece of art you've never seen before is referring to, critizing, meaning, saying etc.

So when I saw this piece at Pompidou I very much enjoyed it, because I knew something about it (which is sometimes hard with the things at Centre Pompidou - sorry)

Maybe you know the original masterpiece on which this quite funny artist is basing his wood and plastic sculpture on? Larry Rivers, an US-artist, created this piece in 1970 under the name of "I like Olympia in black". 

It's funny, because most artworks that quote another piece do not make it that obvious. Ok, I'll solve the mystery for you if you still don't know which piece was the inspiration for this. It was the very famous Edouard Manet, who painted the famous "Olympia" from 1863-65 (which currently hangs at Musée d'Orsay here in Paris).

As you can see now, Rivers clearly took Manets painting as basis for his own work. The woman, olympia has the same posture, the bed is the same, and also the servant. The great thing is, that he duplicated the entire thing he built in wood and turned the colors around - hence the title of Rivers' piece. Olympia isn't white anymore, shes's black and is now being served by a white maid. Even the cat in the right bottom corner had to switch colors. It is obviously a statement against the skincolor-bias between servants and employers, or the skincolor-bias in general.

A really witty example of turning something old in something contemporary in a new way! 

Sea of Tranquility

Dear artsy ones,

Ah yes, the famous Musée d‘Orsay. I had the pleasure to visit it several times last month, due to alo-hot of people who came to visit me in the best city in the world!

So - Musée d‘Orsay. It is the place, that harbours most of my favorite art. It is huge and always attracts alot of people. Everytime I went, there was a line of at least 30 minutes. Which doesn‘t really matter, because it IS that good. Not like the stupid Louvre. 

The current exhibition in addition to the amazing permanent collection was about „Degas et le nu“ which wasn‘t as good as I had hoped. There were way too much sketches and very little large scale works displayed in a too little space with horrible lighting. A little disappointing. 

But after the, let‘s say average, exhibition you have the entire rest of the wonderful Musée D‘Orsay at your feet. Because you could never look at everything at once, I chose the orientalist section on the ground floor. Breathtaking! Orientalism was triggered by the discovery and access to a new world through Napoleons egyptian campaign. It was also in that time, where the painters removed themselves from unrealistic visions of the orient and began to discover a new palette of colors, landscapes and people that resulted in a very romantic portrayal of the land where the sun rises. 

The Museé d‘Orsay mostly shows paintings of landscapes and animals in the orientalistic manor, like those of Guillaumet and de Tournemine. 

Charles Emile de Tournemine Painting - Cafe in Adalia

Sadly, one of my favorite romantic orientalist pieces isn‘t displayed at Orsay. It is Delacroix‘ masterpiece "Women of Algiers". A lucious display of the inside of a Harem. Beautiful women dressed and drapped in even more beautiful textiles, smoking the waterpipes. It‘s a painting that oozes calm and tranquility without forgetting the hot and eroticly charged surroundings. Amazing!

And then there is the beautiful building that is the Musée d‘Orsay. The old railwaystation that grew out of need is a perfect place to house one of the greatest collections of modern and impressionist art. The clocks and fassades are masterpieces of their own and are almost as iconic as the works inside.