A post from the past…for Saturday art talks. I’m a bit overwhelmed with art right now!
Well, mama and papa went to see a show of Mr. Matisse’s works and on the first floor of the exhibit, everything was glorious, they said, and Matisse, in the explanations on the wall about his life, chatted interestingly about how he makes color work for him and his love of the oriental patterns in fabrics and how his art is influenced by both of these plus amazing flowered tiles from many different cultures, but then they went to the second floor (this is in the Scuderia in Rome, which was created from elegant stables of a palace, made into a wondrous museum) and Mr. Matisse began to sound a little bit full of himself and a little too analytical about how he paints, when what is touching and lovely about his art is that it appears so freely and easily done, as if he simply whipped it out one morning when he was feeling joyful.
So. Even artists have feet of clay. I happen to love his works of vibrant color, especially the portrait of the Spanish dancer and papa loved a lady sitting behind two vases of flowers, but then Matisse was asked to do costumes for a ballet set to Stravinskij’s music for Le Chant de Rossignol and I think he was a bit out of his league—or he sought to impress, and his trepidations about doing it at all took over his courage to just do lovely, simple, spectacularly beautiful Matisse, even if everyone booed.
Well, they booed anyway. So to speak. It was not a success, but mama saw part of it in a video at the exhibition, reenacted, and she loved it so she would not have given it a bad review, that’s for sure. Maybe it was a bit ahead of its time. But she says the costumes weren’t really memorable.
Maybe sometimes artists try too hard.
I know that every time I try to hard to impress, I either fall off the couch or slip on the carpet and look like a ninny. Then I nonchalantly take a bath.
Always works.
Maybe Mr. Matisse took a bath after the show. And mama still loves him…
Your mama was lucky to be able to see a Matisse exhibition. The mom likes some of his works. I bet if he was around now, he would want to paint you, Loulou. ~Ernie
Oh, Ernie, you are making me blush. And I am so, so sorry for your…uh…posterior. I am going to give that nurse at the vet a piece of my mind if I meet her. You could have said, “Oh, nursie, you seem to have lots of experience with BABOON BUTTS!”
Love Matisse – I have gone to his show many imes!!!
Ad reading Picasso and Gilot!!!
Oh, love reading about them. What a couple…
Glad you got to see an exhibition about Matisse. I like a lot of his works, others not so much…LOL!
I believe the more realistic paintings appeal to me so much more than the more abstract ones.
I haven’t been to many art exhibitions, though I have been in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; and a very small museum in Zwolle, also in The Netherlands.
We saw a wonderful card once: a very hunky man on the front and the card said, “This is Art”. Inside the card read, “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I LIKE.”
My Mom likes some of Matisse’s work Loulou – especially a couple of the paintings he did that had cats in them! Wonder why THOSE were ones she particularly liked?!?!
Hugs, Teddy
Well, he painted in our little village long ago with Derain, Picasso, and others, and we love some of his beautiful “window” paintings and once very long ago mama and papa saw am incredible Matisse nude drawing for sale in NYC and didn’t buy it because they were building a house but it was a steal. Maybe fake, who knows. But there is some regret there…
We of no talent admire artists who make such beautiful creations!
Yes, Matisse is still one of mama’s favorites, but it was interesting to see another’s take on the huge show. You should see mama’s rejects, haha. NOBODY would put them on a wall.
LouLou, we have heard that for an artist it is often hard to know when to stop – to realize that just one more brush stroke will be one too many. As both an artist and a chef your Mama may have to deal with that in both ways…
Kitties always seem to finish off as if “I meant to do that !” It is one of the things we love about them !
Yes, such a good observation and yes mama knows that feeling and says you have to fight it and STOP. Not with cooking, however. Mama is pretty good at timing when to stop and serve!
That sounds like a wonderful exhibit. I am sure you look adorable even when you roll off the couch. XO
It was amazing, that exhibit. Just brilliant, mama says, but a bit overwhelming, perhaps. And I roll off the couch ON PURPOSE, you know that, haha.
LouLou, that sounds like a furry interesting exhibition!
Magnificent, actually, although I was left at home…grrrr.
That pic is a work of art!
Oh, so glad you liked it! Hello after a long time, Athena!
i heard that he was losing his sight in the end. mum fav is the women in the hat, she has seen in person in san francisco
Yes, he did lose his sight but painted on. A marvel…
Loulou, very interesting ideas about Matisse.
I attended a Cezanne exposition when in Chicago recently, and while much was written about his leadership in the impressionist community, his art always struck me as a bit blase’, and the grouping of his paintings and all of the information that I’d read didn’t really change that feeling.
However, perhaps, if I was a contemporary of his, I would see it differently.
So, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, in the past, present, or future.
Yes, and your lovely kitties are beautiful in OUR eyes! Cezanne still lifes, mama likes, as he was a master at those. Lucky you saw a whole show!