PARIS - France 2014 - page 149

did 30 paintings of the cathedral, and each is unique. The time-lapse series shows the sun
passing slowly across the sky, creating different-colored light and shadows.
To paint common Parisians living and loving in the afternoon sun, Pierre-Auguste
Renoir headed for the fields on Butte Montmartre (near the Sacré-Cœur basilica) on
Sunday afternoons, when working-class folk would dress up and dance, drink, and eat
little crêpes (galettes) till dark. In Dance at the Moulin de la Galette ( Bal du Moulin de
la Galette, 1876), the sunlight filtering through the trees creates a kaleidoscope of col-
ors—the 19th-century equivalent of a mirror ball throwing darts of light onto the dancers.
Like a photographer who uses a slow shutter speed to show motion, Renoir paints a waltz-
ing blur.
Post-Impressionism: It was Paul Cézanne who brought Impressionism into the
20th century. Compared with the color of Monet, the warmth of Renoir, and Van Gogh's
passion, Cézanne's rather impersonal canvases can be difficult to appreciate. Bowls of
fruit, landscapes, and a few portraits were Cézanne's passion. Because of his style (not his
content), he is often called the first modern painter.
Find his paintings in room 36. In Landscape ( Rochers près des Grottes au-dessus de
Château-Noir, 1904),Cézanneuseschunksofgreen,tan,andbluepaintasbuildingblocks
to construct this rocky brown cliff. These chunks are like little “cubes” (a style that later
influenced the...Cubists). The subjects of Cézanne's The Card Players ( Les Joueurs de
Cartes ,c.1890-1895)aren'tpeople—they'restudiesincolorandpattern.Thesubjectmat-
ter—two guys playing cards—is less important than the pleasingly balanced pattern they
make on the canvas, two sloping forms framing a cylinder (a bottle) in the center. Later,
abstract artists would focus solely on shapes and colors.
Like Michelangelo, Beethoven, Rembrandt, Wayne Newton, and a select handful of
others, Vincent van Gogh put so much of himself into his work that art and life became
one. In the Orsay's collection of Van Goghs (level 2), you'll see both the artist's painting
style and his life unfold.
Encouragedbyhisart-dealerbrother,VanGoghmovedtoParis,and voilà! Thecolor!
He met Monet, drank with Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and soaked up
theImpressioniststyle.Inhis Self-Portrait,Paris ( Portraitdel'Artiste, 1887),youcansee
how he built a bristling brown beard with thick, side-by-side strokes of red, yellow, and
green.
The social life of Paris became too much for the solitary Van Gogh, and he moved to
southern France. At first, in the glow of the bright spring sunshine, he had a period of in-
credible creativity and happiness, as he was overwhelmed by the bright colors, landscape
vistas, and common people—an Impressionist's dream. But being alone in a strange coun-
try began to wear on him. An ugly man, he found it hard to get a date. The close-up per-