The lovely Monet Waterlilies, at home in the rebuilt Musee de L'Orangerie, present the perfect setting for a photo shoot for the brilliant Stella Cadente in 2008. The Nymphaes were installed in the oval rooms rooms in 1926, naturally lit by massive skylights. Eventually some idiot added a second story right on top of the rooms. But thanks to an outrageously expensive, radical and lengthy un-renovation the natural light was restored and the museum re-opened in 2006. During the entire demo and new construction the oval rooms could not be touched since the paintings are permanently attached to the walls. Thus a big box was built around the rooms until the very end of the reno. Stella's dress is as delicate and fanciful as the pink glints of light in the paintings. A perfection of art and photography.
PS: What a gorgeous color palette for a room don't you think?
when I was lucky enough to be there, I fell under the spell of those paintings--standing in front of them, with your entire visual field taken up by them, you start to see on top of the water, and under the water, the smooth surface or the reflection or the little chop. really amazing.
ReplyDeletealso there is a Cezanne still life, which struck me with how heavy heavy heavy the fruit looked, and made me think of Hemingway,
I was learning something from the painting of Cezanne that made writing simple true sentences far from enough to make the stories have the dimensions I was trying to put in them. I was not articulate enough to explain it to anyone. Besides[,] it was a secret.
I love this. All that from looking at paintings, the secret is even more fabulous. Cezanne really is all about simple when I think of his paintings with that in mind.
ReplyDeleteXXOO
Gorgeous!! The color palette and everything is fantastic. I just love Monet's waterlillies, mostly for there enormous size, it's like you could walk right into the canvas!!
ReplyDeleteNancy xo
if i saw this in person, my face would explode.
ReplyDeleteThen, a continent away, my mother's face would explode.
I grew up with Monet ALL over the house (in prints, of course).
LOLOL Court, CRack me up
ReplyDeleteAll: I have not seen them in person! Every time i was in Paris the they were still remodeling!
Hi Cat, I have not managed to see them yet either, but I did get to his home and garden in Giverny. Totally fab!!
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