Musée de L'Orangerie in Paris: A Peculiar Visit

While living in Paris, I felt very fortunate to visit the L’Orangerie many times.  I never got tired of going.  On one occasion, as I entered the first oval room beyond the entrance, I noticed something a bit peculiar.  The room was almost completely empty aside from four gentleman strategically standing at each entrance and exit,  and two in the middle along the perimeter of the oval.  They were all dressed in black suits and neatly coiffed with tight short hair cuts, sporting ear pieces.  I felt like I was walking onto a movie set, however, there were no cameras or lights.  In the center of the room was a very tall African America man with a women who appeared to be one of the curators of the museum. 

Claude Monet's "Water Lilies, Reflecions of Weeping Willows," ca. 1918, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A study for the the grand paintings in the L'Orangerie in Paris

 The men in dark suits watched my every move.  Wherever I want their eyes followed me.  It felt rather creepy.  The tall African American gentleman looked familiar but I couldn’t place who he was.  I knew I had seen him before.  As he proceeded to the next room all the "suits"  surrounded him and staged themselves as before, in the second room.  I followed.  I sat on a bench in front of one the water lily paintings where I could also get a good look at the tall gentleman all the “suits"   seemed to be  protecting.  It finally dawned on me!  It was the former Attorney General of the Untied States Eric Holder, obviously being surrounded by US Secret Service Agents. However at the time he was “the” Attorney General under the Obama Administration.   This was almost ten years ago.  I’m not so sure they would even let other patrons in the same room with the Attorney General now.  The crowd was very light that day.  Myself and a handful of others aside from these very special guests were the only ones there.  They kept a very watchful eye on where we were all pointing our cameras!

Here is a short video to give you the idea of the space.  Forgive the quality this was taken on a small Sony camera pre cell phone!  It will sill still give you an idea of the scale of the paintings in this one room.  This video was shot on a different day than the one described above.  I wasn't taking the chance of getting my camera confiscated by the Secret Service!   

Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet & the Paintings of the Water Lilies, Part II

Today I’m posting the second part to a previous blog post about Claude Monet and the book Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet & the Paintings of the Water Lilies, continuing my blog series on Monet, Giverny, and Other French Musings.

As  mentioned in my previous post,  the Museé Claude Monet a L’Orangerie des Tuileries had opened to little fan fare, which was perplexing since Monet had become one of the most well known, and collected artists of his time.  His long time friend, Georges Clemenceau, noted bitterly that a sign announcing a dog show in another part of the building was much more prominent than the one announcing the inauguration of the Museé Claude Monet in May of 1927,  just five months after Monet’s death. 

It was as if France had turned on Monet.  France’s most important daily art newspaper claimed his water lily masterpieces, what he called his "Grand Decoration," “The work of an old man.”  An assistant curator at the Museé Luxembourg, exclaimed, “For me this period is no long Impressionism, but it’s decline.” 

Detail of a panel of Les Nymphéas

 Art lovers and critiques at the turn of the century where ready to move on.  Tastes were changing.  But instead of praising the Impressionism movement, they scorned it and the artists that were part of it.  In a special issue of L’Art Vivant, which devoted six articles to Monet in 1927, one critique claimed Monet’s paintings were, “postcard niceties of a certain American taste purchased by the vulgar nouveaux riches."  They had nothing nice to say about the museum itself claiming the space was sterile, uninviting and viewing the paintings in the two oval rooms was a “disagreeable experience.” 

Monet’s donation and the newly opened museum continued to plummet in popularity.   The museum was poorly maintained the light quality was dismal and the oval rooms housing these great masterpieces were used for other functions.  At one point, an exhibition of Flemish tapestries was hung in front of Monet’s paintings. Water was known to leak down through the skylight and drip on the canvases, and one of the two rooms was used as a storage area.  Monet’s godson, and son of artist Camille Pissarro, claimed Monet had been twice buried, once after his death and the second time with the opening of the museum. A retrospective of Monet’s work in 1931, supplemented by canvases that were in his studio when he died, brought even more scathing comments of his work and those of the Impressionists.  

Detail of a panel of Les Nymphéas

During World War II, the L’Orangerie was bombed and one of the panels was damaged.  The lack of concern was so great, the shrapnel wouldn’t be removed for another 20 years.  The building itself was renovated in the 1960’s with another story added to the top eliminating the skylights that illuminated Monet’s work. This after the French Ministry acquired the Jean Walter-Paul Guillaume collections consisting of works by Picasso, Cézanne and Renoir.   Essentially the magnificent water lily panels were relegated to the basement in a gloomy dark space. 

Detail of a panel of Les Nymphéas

It wasn’t until after World War II that things started to change.  The L’Orangerie became a place of pilgrimage for Americans, especially the American art students on the GI bill in the late  40’s and 50’s, who rushed to admire the Nymphéas by Monet.  Ellsworth Kelly, an ex-soldier studying in Paris reached out to Michel Monet and Jean Pierre Hoschedé, Monet’s son and step-son to ask if he could visit Giverny which had been abandoned and was in disrepair.  Monet’s studio still housed a number of canvases sharing the space with birds and other creatures.  He produced Tableaux Vert now housed at the  Chicago Art Institute as an homage to Monet and Giverny.  

In the 1950’s and 60’s American and Canadian painters kept Monet’s spirit alive living and working in the area around Giverny.  American artist Joan Mitchell purchased and lived on a property in Vétheuil. The gardener’s cottage there had once been Monet’s home.  Mitchell and the painters of the Abstract Expressionists movement were greatly influenced by Monet’s later work seeming to fit  right in with the works of the time by Pollack, Rothko, and Mitchell.  

It is ironic that the renewed interest in Monet’s work would have been brought on by Abstract Expressionists, especially American ones.  Monet disliked work of the Americans and “avant garde” contemporaries of the 1920’s.  He did not want to see or have anything to do with Cubism and it probably would have gotten his goat that his works were being compared to the “Abstract Expressionists” of the 1950’s and 60’s.  It was the renewed interest of this group that brought attention to his later water lily paintings and once again American collectors came to snap them up.  Walter Chrysler purchased a large scale water lily canvas for the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  Unfortunately it was destroyed in a fire and was replaced by another work purchased from a dealer in Paris who had bought  most of the remaining work of Monet from his son Michel. Word spread to American collectors as it had when Monet was alive. Joseph Pulitzer III, a passionate collector of modern art purchased a six foot wide water lily canvas in which he decorated his pool house at his mansion in St. Louis.

Fast forward to 1996, the French Minister of culture at the time realized the curation of the placement of the Jean Guillaume collection to the Monet Nymphéas were completely backwards.  The doors to the Musée de L’Orangerie closed in 2000 and a major renovation to the museum began in 2003. During the demolition the paintings were hermetically sealed in reinforced boxes and temperature and humidity controlled.  The second story added in the 1960’s was removed with the water lily paintings often being in distress, setting off alarms during the jack hammering of  the demolition.  The project would take six years and $36 million dollars.  Now Monet’s  Grande Decoration, takes the place of prominence lit with natural light from skylights above, just as Monet would have wanted it.  The Guillaume collection is exhibited in the annex below along with a space for special exhibitions.  

I have visited the L’Orangerie before and after the 2003 renovation.  Today, it is hard not to find a line stretching out the door into the the Tuileries Gardens.  Avoiding weekend crowds, on cold gloomy winter days it became a place of meditation for me when I lived in Paris.  Monet had come full circle, his grande vision of the space to house his last momentous project of his life, is appreciated and visited by thousands.  

Come back for the next post which will tell the story of a very peculiar visit to the L'Orangerie! 

Links:

Musée de L'orangerie, Paris France

Part I: Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet & the Paintings of the Water Lilies

A New Blog Series: Claude Monet, Giverny and Other French Musings

As I was writing an article for a soon to be released blog post on a recent book I read on Claude Monet, which I'm  highly recommending, I realized I have much more to share beyond what I gleaned from reading the book.  The article on the book itself is getting quite long already! 

Living in Paris, I took full advantage of its proximity to Giverny, Claude Monet’s home in his later years,  and visited it multiple times in every season of the year, with the exception of winter when it’s closed.  I did however visit the last week of  the year it was open before closing for the winter season.   

Seeing it in this way in all seasons gave me full appreciation of the ever changing light and landscape in the garden  that was the main inspiration and only subject matter for Monet in his later years. 

I will be starting a blog series about Monet, starting with a review of the book,  my visits to his home in Giverny,  and other museums and places in France, that may or may not have a direct correlation to Monet, but that I think will be interesting.  

Stay tuned…the post about the book will be coming up shortly!

Les Temps des Cerises is Headed to the Kansas Watercolor Society National Exhibition

A couple of years ago my husband and I went to the Provence area of France on our 25th anniversary. Driving in the Vaucluse area to the village of Ménerbes, made famous by the classic book by Peter Mayle, A Year in Provence,  we came upon, in the valley below the village, fields laden with cherry trees ready to be harvested.  It was one of those stop the car moments. I  got out of the car and strolled among the trees marveling  at the millions of tiny red and yellow orbs hovering over my head.  While I was composing this painting inspired by that day, I couldn’t help but think of the classic French song Les Temps des Cerises, (The Time of Cherries.)  It was written in 1866 just before the French Impressionist movement.  Lyrics were added later and it become a revolutionary song for the Paris Commune in 1871.  This is the time from March to May a rogue, radical government, laid siege to Paris right after the fall of the French Second Empire.  The title of the painting reflects, a wonderful memory of a day in Provence with my husband, a classic French song beloved by many today, and an ironic reference to today’s political environment. 

I’m so thrilled that an artists work I greatly admire, Soon Warren, has chosen this painting for this years Kansas Watercolor Society’s National Exhibition at the Mark Arts Center in Wichita Kansas.  The show will take place from November 17 - December 17.  If you are in the area this show always promises some of the best watercolor paintings in the country. 

Les Temps des Cerises

Watercolor 

30” x 17.5” 

$3300

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Happy New Year and a New Painting

Parisian Peacock

$3,500.00

Watercolor on Archival Handmade Paper, Framed

29" x 22," (74 cm x 56 cm)

Framed Size 37" x 30"

FILA Group and Tom Jones Award at the 46th Annual Florida Watercolor Society Exhibition, Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, Florida

Best in Show, SoBo Gallery, "Top Choice" Exhibition, Winter Garden, FL

Juried into the 2016 Louisiana Watercolor Society's International Exhibition, Place St. Charles, New Orleans

International Watercolor Masters, top 100

This beautiful gate is featured in the Museé des Arts Décoratifs near the Louvre. I combined my love of art nouveau, art deco and the Japonisme movement in Paris, when the French loved all things Japanese in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as a backdrop to the gate.

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Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and hope it will be filled with peace, joy, prosperity and good health!  I'm an organizer and a planner so I do set goals each year,  I need to be a bit better about referring back to them occasionally, but I also don't beat myself up about not achieving some of them!  Last year my goals were to improve as an artists by going to a Life Drawing session once a week and doing more plein air sketching and painting from life, which I did throughout the entire year.  I will have to say, it has made a big improvement, in my drawing and observation skills, and I feel my studio work is all the better for it!  I also was determined to read more, not just on a device or computer but actual books, I built that into my daily routine reading with a cup of tea every morning before I get on with the day.  These are things I will definitely carry into this year because they have become  habits in my life that I thoroughly enjoy!

I also have a goal  every year to paint more and try a new challenges within my painting practice, maybe try new subject matters, or try different materials and techniques.  So to start off the year, I'm doing Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge this month.  My goal by doing the challenge is to create some smaller pieces I would like to exhibit for a show I'm doing in February, (more on that in a future post,) as well as finish a larger work.  I know going into it based on my painting style, I won't be able to paint 30 paintings by January 31!  But I will paint as much as I can!  A few other goals are to teach more workshops and create some videos this year, to share studio tips, works in progress and whatever else might be interesting.

The first painting I'm sharing  is my newest larger work, "Parisian Peacock."  This painting is inspired by a museum visit when I lived in Paris.  This beautiful gate is featured in the Museé des Arts Décoratifs near the Louvre.  I've been wanting to add this one to my gate series for a while!  I combined my love of art nouveau, art deco and the Japonisme movement in Paris, when the French loved all things Japanese in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as a backdrop to the gate.  I was also thinking about artist Jesse Arms Botke while I was painting this.  A California Impressionist and early California Art Club member, known for her decorative paintings often featuring birds and the use of gold leaf.  There is an incredible mural done by her that was salvaged from The Oaks Hotel,  and is now featured in the Irvine Museum in Irvine CA.

So here's to a great 2016, Happy New Year and Happy Painting! I would love to hear what some of your goals are for the year.  Feel free to share by making a comment on this post.

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Watercolor Sketch Cassis France

During our recent trip we stayed in Aix en Provence as our home base and drove to other villages in the area mostly in the Luberon region.  A forty five minute drive south form Aix is the lovely village of Cassis, which is absolutely beautiful. I can only imagine in the high summer season how crowed it must get there!  We spent time sketching, walking around and then took a boat tour of les calanques, which are the limestone cliffs along the Mediterranean Sea that connect Marsailles to Cassis.  The water is the most gorgeous turquoise, which photos never do justice to illustrate.

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Watercolor Sketch From Provence

Well I said I was back but I haven't posted since July 8!  It's been a bit crazy in the studio, in a good way!  I got a call to do a Disney illustration protect that has kept me busy the last few weeks.  It was a blast to do and I will share when the illustrations have been published.  This little project couldn't have been more up my alley.  More details to follow.

I thought I would share a watercolor sketch I did while in Provence.  I tried a new sketchbook on the recommendation of Iain Stewart from his workshop I took last spring.  It's a Stillman & Birn Alpha Series.  The size I got is a 9" x 12".  This is the first sketch I did in it and my first reaction was what the #$*%! I'm so used to painting on cold press rough or handmade Twinrocker paper, at first I felt really out of my comfort zone. This paper is a lot smoother.  However, as I progressed I started loving the looseness of the sketches and how the washes dried on this paper!  I'm a convert, not that I will give up on my other books and the variety of papers that are in those.  I just have a bigger repertoire now!

This is Abbey Notre-Dame de Sénanque, a 12th century abbey in a small valley near Gordes, France.

I had to re-read this book when I returned home to keep Provence more alive in my head and re-live our trip a bit.

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Day 5 of the Three Paintings in Five Days Facebook Challenge

Paris Passy Gate

$2,500.00

Watercolor on Archival Handmade Paper, Framed

22" x 19," (56 cm x 48 cm)

Framed Size 30.35" x 27.5," price includes frame

Accepted into the 2015 Pennsylvania International Exhibition at The Carlisle Arts Learning Center

Inspired by the Passy area where I lived in Paris. For more information please visit my blog by clicking here.

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The final day of the 3 in 5 challenge, I cheated a bit and posted 4 paintings.  My art and design roots go back to environmental design and architecture. When working with Walt Disney Imagineering, we traveled if necessary to do research to make the environments we were designing as authentic as possible. When on our photo safaris I always tended to hone in on the details. Now I seem to be doing the same thing in my painting!

Mayan Gate

$1,500.00

Watercolor, Framed

14.5” x 21.5,” (37 cm x 54.5 cm)

Framed Size 21.5" x 28.5," price includes frame

Selected for the Louisiana Watercolor Society 44th International Juried Exhibition 2014

Selected for theFlorida Watercolor Society's On Line Exhibition, 2014

Selected for Pennsylvania Watercolor Society's 34th Annual Juried International Competition, 2013

Selected for the Annual Central Florida Watercolor Society Exhibition 2013 at the Terrace Gallery, City Hall, Orlando Florida

This painting was inspired by the wonderful Mayan Revival Architecture at the Maitland Art Center, Maitland Florida, designed by J. Andre Smith. 

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These four, paintings are part of my gate series.  Paris Passy Gate and  Gate of Reverence were inspired by gates in the area of Paris where I lived.  Mayan Gate is from the Mayan Revival Style, Maitland Art Center here in Florida, and  French Quarter Gate, inspired by a gate in New Orleans. 

French Quarter Gate

$35.00

Price Includes Shipping

Limited Edition Archival Giclée Print Signed and Numbered, Edition of 300

Original painting is SOLD.

Image Size:  6” x 6,” (15 cm x 15 cm)

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Day 2 of the Three Painting in Five Days Facebook Challenge

DAY 2 of the 3 paintings in 5 days challenge…I postedthree watercolor sketches from my travel journals. I use two sizes of books 8 x 6 and a 10 x 7, one brush, sometimes two, a large round and a flat,  and a small Windsor & Newton travel palette. If you want to know more about my sketching set up you can read a previous post here. Keeping these journals resulted in my passion and path to painting in watercolor!  These mean more to me than any photo I have taken and looking through them occasionally brings back so many fond memories.

Chedi Beach, Phuket Thailand, Watercolor Sketch

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia, Watercolor Sketch

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Watercolor Sketch Claude Monet's Home in Giverny, France

I have had the wonderful opportunity to live in Paris on three separate occasions and have traveled there a number of times.  A great advantage to living there is to visitmy favorite museums on many occasions.  I loved running intothe Musée D’Orsay just to study and focus on one particular artist or area.  I could really savor the moments there and not feel rushed as if it may be my last visit ever or for a long time.

Another place I visited on multiple occasions is Claude Monet’s home in Giverny.  This place is so magical to me.  It constantly changes andis never the same on each visit.  I have been there in every season, except winter, when it’s closed.  One fall day in October, it might as well have been winter, I froze my keister.  However even in the coldwith the garden declining it’s wonderful.

This sketch was done in the spring.  I took a dear artist friend visiting from Indiana there and we toured the gardens and sketched.  Every time I look at this sketch I think of her and the fond memories of her visit.  That’s what I love about sketching.  For me it captures way more of a feeling of the time and place then a photo ever could.

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