The Paris Traveler

Paris in New York and Paris

by Kim on July 9th, 2008

 I am a lover of art in all its forms.  When I step inside the Louvre, I stand in the central court and struggle with which wing to enter first.  I know, no one out there is boo-hooing over my dilemma.  Living in Paris allows one the luxury of taking in ancient Egypt one day and Asian art the next.  One rainy afternoon, I focused my visit on sculpture.  Nothing else.  I didn’t allow for other works to distract me and walked away with such an appreciation for how “soft” and sensual…… 

or full of motion……

marble can become in the right hands. 

I could spend an entire afternoon, and have, marveling over the works of Ingres.  A few years ago a wonderful exhibit was devoted to him and again,  was overwhelmed by what a human is capable of.  He crept into my awareness during my trip to the Metropolitan Museum in New York last week.  

 This work, Grande Odalisque, pulls me right in each time I see it.  Completed in 1814 for Queen Caroline Murat of Naples, Napoleon’s sister, it is simply a picture of an odalisque or concubine.  Reclining, she is distorted physically with a tiny head, elongated torso and limbs.  Standing in front of the actual painting, you become aware of the colors which are so rich and heavy and inky.  The folds in the fabric are so precise;  if you could touch the canvas I think they would rustle like silk would.  And that fan and her headdress–they add such a sense of the exotic.  All together, against the red wall it is displayed on, it becomes very powerful.

 Imagine my surprise when I entered a room at the Met and came upon this!   Odalisque in Grisaille is an incomplete repetition of the original, thought to have been painted between 1824-34.  I had never seen this and was amazed.  Notice all that is lacking from the original.  Much like old master drawings, pen and ink studies of future works, this piece, done after the fact, allowed me to “see” the evolution of the work.  Puzzling the piece together in my head took awhile and the minute I got back to my hotel, I went online to see how much I missed.  

If you love art, or music or architecture like I do, then you know the feeling when you stand in front of a painting or hear a piece of music–Adagio for Strings comes to mind- and it takes your breath away.  Seeing this piece did just that.  Lots of things in Paris do that to me.  

Photo credit:  Personal collection, Wikipedia 

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