Will Blog for Food

Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago is among the best in the US, the others being the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of  Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim (the last two in New York City). I was fortunate enough to be there when they were having a special exhibition: "Vollard: From Cezanne to Picasso" - which was the most fantastic special exhibition I've ever seen. Art had been gathered from all over the world and to say it was extensive would be an understatement. But the regular collection of non-religious European art, especially the Impressionists and post-Impresssionists, is one of the best, if not the best, in the world. Fortunately, they let you take non-flash pictures of the permanent collection, but no photography was allowed in the  special exhibition.

When you enter the main gallery you are treated to a major dose of Impressionism right off the bat which sets the tone for tthe whole museum. The main piece here is Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris Street, Rainy Day."  Caillebotte is one of my favorite Impresssionists because, in addition to his talent, his life story is inspiring. Caillebotte was born into an upper class family and earned a degree in law.  Forsaking law for painting, Caillebotte's inheritance allowed him to befriend several of the major Impressionists including Monet, Renoir and Pissarro and to fund their exhibitions. He even paid Monet's rent! Caillebotte died prematurely at the age of 46. In his will, he donated a large collection of his own and other Impressionists' work (which he had purchased) to the French government. The government, however, looked down on Impresssionism at the time and demurred. Finally, the French government took some of the paintings. The remaining paintings were offered twice again and both times turned down. Finally, in 1928, the government decided it wanted the paintings, but Caillebotte's son's widow repudiated them and sold the paintings to an art collector. Lesson to the French government: He who hesitates is lost! Forty of Caillebotte's paintings are in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

Another of my favorite Impresssionists is Camillé Pissarro, the only Jewish Impresssionist. Like Caillebotte, Pissarrro was also a mentor to other Impressionists.  He married the "bon" (the family maid), and, unfortunately, Pissarro's mother would have nothing to do with him after that, not even speaking to her eight grandchildren for the rest of her life! All of Pissarro's children learned to paint and draw. Camillé's great-grandson, Joachim Pissarro, is currently the Head Curator of Drawing and Painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His great-granddaughter, Lelia, is a successful painter and resides in London. An excellent biographical novel about Pissarro by Irving Stone is "The Depths of Glory."

Some of my other favorites from the  collection are Monet's Haystacks:

Also these by Kandinsky:

Toulouse Latrec (another interesting life story including rejection by his upper class family):

Seurat and "Nighthawks" by American Edwin Hopper:

Regarding the special exhibition, "Vollard: From Cezanne to Picasso," art was collected from all over the world for this one. Vollard was an art dealer who got rich off of the Impressionists. This was all right with Cezanne who came from a wealthy family and just wanted  to be famous. By the way Cezanne painted the best apples! Ask anybody. It wasn't OK with Gaugin who really needed the money. Vollard usually sold paintings for 10 times what he paid for them. Sometimes he bought paintings directly, then resold them; sometimes he took them on consignment. He had several exhibitions for Van Gogh after Van Gogh's death with paintings on loan from Van Gogh's sister-in-law, but never sold any. I couldn't believe that I could stand within inches of Van Gogh's "A Starry Night." I'm assuming it was the original, but it was completely unprotected, and it's worth millions. There is another excellent biographical novel by Irving Stone about Van Gogh's life: "Lust for life." The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has the largest collection of Van Goghs: an entire museum devoted to his work. Founded by Van Gogh's nephew, Dr. Vincent Wilhelm Van Gogh, the Van Gogh Museum opened to the public in 1973. Its holdings, on loan from the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation, include some 200 paintings and more than 500 drawings and 700 letters by the famous Dutch master.

I spent some time in Auvers-sur-Oise where Van Gogh spent his final days. He is buried there next to his brother Theo who was an art dealer and chief supporter of his brother, Vincent. Theo's wife gave up her place next to her husband so the two brothers could be buried together. Theo's son, Vincent's nephew and namesake, lived until 1978 and so bore witness to his uncle's rise from someone whose work was rejected in his own time to someone who was world famous and whose paintings sold for millions.

All in all, the Impressionist period was one of the most fertile in art history both for the richness of the art and also for the colorful characters and life stories of the artists who began their careers being totally rejected by the art establishment. For the album containing more photos I took of paintings at the Art Institute click here.

Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise

Marion, the titular head of my cultural exchange group, asked me if I wanted to go to the Impressionist exhibition in Auvers-sur-Oise. It was being held in a large chateau on the outskirts of this small village where van Gogh had spent his last days and is buried next to his brother, Theo, at the local cemetery. The tickets were reasonable so I hopped the train for the hour or so journey to Auvers. We stopped at Pontoise (also on the Oise River), another Impressionist landmark, as Camille Pissarro, one of my favorite impressionists, had lived here. An excellent book by Irving Stone called "The Depths of Glory" is about Pissarro's in some ways tragic life. He was the only Jewish impressionist and, after marrying the family "bon" (the maid), his mother wouldn't even speak to her grandchildren for the rest of her life. Also Pissarro had many of his paintings destroyed when the Germans used his house for a stable in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

I arrived at Auvers which is a very small village. Here van Gogh lived in a small room above the Ravoux Inn which he painted and can be seen here. He also painted some of the buildings of the town like the church (below), but mainly painted en plein air in the fields outside the village. I stopped into a French bakery for a tarte tatin since I couldn't resist French pastries, and made  my way to the Exhibition Impressioniste. The ticket taker asked me if I had come "seule," which I didn't understand so I was frustrated again because they understood me, but I didn't understand them. Later I realized he was just making small talk by asking me if I had come "alone" which I had since, I guess, there were no other takers in Marion's cultural exchange group. It was a very impressive exhibition for having been staged way out in the middle of nowhere albeit a place with a rich history in terms of van Gogh's having lived there in very spartan quarters I might add.

After touring the town and seeing van Gogh's room, I walked to the cemetery to see where van Gogh lay next to his brother, Theo. Theo's wife gave up her place at his side so the two brothers could be buried next to each other. They had a lifetime friendship (although not without a few rough spots) and Theo, an art dealer, was Vincent's main financial support. Their correspondence contributed much to documenting Vincent's life.

After that I caught the next train back to Paris pondering the fact that van Gogh had only sold one painting in his lifetime and was another tragic figure who had given up everything for his art only to live in poverty and not be rewarded. Ironically, now his paintings sell for millions of dollars and are exhibited in museums all over the world including the van Gogh Museum - entirely devoted to his work - in Amsterdam. Another great collection is in the Kroller-Muller Museum also in the Netherlands which is located in a National Park. One rides a free white bicycle to get to it, and then leaves the bicycle at the park entrance when finished.

Irving Stone has also written an excellent book about van Gogh: "Lust for Life."  It was also made into a movie. Vincent van Gogh didn't have any children who might have benefited from his legacy, but Theo's wife and son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, continued the family business after Vincent's death in 1890.

This is from Wikipedia:

Auvers-sur-Oise (May - July 1890) In May 1890, Vincent left the clinic and went to the physician Dr. Paul Gachet, in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, where he was closer to his brother Theo. Dr. Gachet had been recommended to him by Pissarro, as he had previously treated several artists and was an amateur artist himself. Here Van Gogh created his only etching, a portrait of the melancholic Doctor Gachet. As it turned out the doctor was as much in need of help as his patient: Van Gogh commented that Gachet was "sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much". Wheat Field with Crows with its turbulent intensity is often, but mistakenly, thought to be Van Gogh's last work (Jan Hulsker lists seven paintings after it). Daubigny's Garden is a more likely candidate. There are also seemingly unfinished paintings, such as Thatched Cottages by a Hill. Van Gogh's depression deepened, and on July 27, 1890, at the age of 37, he walked into the fields and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. Without realising that he was fatally wounded, he returned to the Ravoux Inn, where he died in his bed two days later. Theo hastened to be at his side and reported his last words as "La tristesse durera toujours" (French for "the sadness will last forever"). He was buried at the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise. Theo had contracted syphilis (though this was not admitted by the family for many years) and, not long after Vincent's death, was himself admitted to hospital. He was not able to come to terms with the grief of his brother's absence, and died six months later. In 1914 Theo's body was exhumed and re-buried beside Vincent's.

Monet's Home at Giverny

Claude Monet was one of the few impressionists who actually made pretty good money at his art later in life. During a three week stay in Paris, I spent one day visiting Monet's home in Giverny which along with his gardens and lilly pond is kept in much the same state as he left it when he died in 1926. Monet's famous paintings of his gardens, pond and Japanese bridge which celebrate the beauty of nature don't tell the story that they were first created by the meticulous Monet who then later painted them. So he was a gardener, pond builder and bridge builder in addition to being a painter

From the Gare Saint-Lazare train station it's about a 45 minute trip to Vernon. From here it's about 4 km to Giverny to which you can either walk or take a bus. I took a bus for the trip out, but, once I had the lay of the land, I felt confident to walk back to the train station through the Foret de Vernon. One of my best memories is hiking through the Foret de Vernon, listening to Take 6 on my cassette player on a beautiful French afternnoon.

In 1877 Monet did a series of paintings of the Saint-Lazare train station, and I was fortunate enough to attend an exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay of the paintings of the Saint-Lazare by both Monet and Manet. In those days the trains were steam engine powered and the stations were dirty, sooty places, but fascinating nonetheless. From 1916 to 1926, Monet worked on 12 large canvases called "The Water Lillies." After the Armistice for World War I was signed, Monet donated them to France. These paintings can be viewed at the museum of the Orangerie in Paris which is near the Tuilleries Gardens which is just west of the Louvre.

On the beaches of Normandy, he met fellow artist Eugene Boudin, who became his mentor and taught him to use oil paints. Boudin taught Monet en plein air (outdoor) techniques for painting. Monet was a non-conformist eschewing the techniques of the conventional art establishment at the time. Instead he joined with artists such as Renoir, Bazille and Sisley to create a new approach to art which came to be known as impressionism.

It was at Giverny that he began his well-known series which later made him famous. He painted the series of twenty-five "Haystacks" between 1888 and 1891. In 1892, he exhibited a set of twenty-four Poplars at the Durand-Ruel gallery; from 1892 to 1898, he painted the series of Cathedrals, "Matinées sur la Seine " and then the Japanese Bridge , Wistarias and Water Lilies with their interplay of sky, clouds, grass and flowers.

After 1900 Monet became famous and continued to paint the "controlled nature" of his gardens and lilly pond at Giverny. Monet lived and painted in Argenteuil, Rouen and London among other places.

His first wife, Camille Doncieux, with whom he had two children died in 1879. He later married Alice Hoschede and moved into the Giverny house in 1883 where he lived and painted until his death. In his later years he suffered from cataracts which affected his painting. His sight somewhat recovered after cataract surgery. In 1911 Alice died and in 1914 his son, Jean, died.

At Giverny there is a nice gift shop as well as the house and gardens which you can tour. The town itself is very small. It's a beautiful way to spend a day and get back to the Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris by nightfall.

Edward Hopper: Nighthawks

Edward Hopper is my favorite American artist. This picture, Nighthawks, is his most famous painting. Typically, Hopper's paintings depict loneliness and alienation. The settings are very spare. There is no merchandise in the shop windows, for example. In some of his paintings there are no people on the streets. If there are people such as a man and a woman, they are usually not relating to each other. One of Hopper's paintings of a house was used as a model for the haunted house in Alfred Hitchcock's movie, Psycho.

Hopper was born in the small Hudson River town of Nyack, New York State, on 22 July 1882. He studied art and commercial illustration in New York City. He made several trips to Paris and other parts of Europe which didn't seem to make much of an impression on him. The picture that seems to have impressed him most was Rembrandt's <i>The Night Watch</i> (in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Hopper settled in Greenwich Village, which was to be his base for the rest of his life, and in 1923 he renewed his friendship with a neighbor, Jo Nivison, whom he had known when they were fellow students. She was now forty; Hopper was forty-two. In the following year they married.

I told my friends, Jim and Carol, to look like the figures in Nighthawks, that is lonely and isolated. They did a pretty good job. The lady behind the counter going about her business is perfect as a replacement for the counterman in the original painting. Even the salt and pepper shakers and sugar jars on the counter are true to the original work while the absence of customers except for them adds to the feeling of isolation.

Hopper became a pictorial poet who recorded the starkness and vastness of America. Sometimes he expressed aspects of this in traditional guise, as, for example, in his pictures of  lighthouses and harsh New England landscapes; sometimes New York was his context, with eloquent cityscapes, often showing deserted streets at night. Some paintings, such as his celebrated image of a gas-station, "Gas" (1940), even have elements which anticipate Pop Art. Hopper once said: "To me the most important thing is the sense of going on. You know how beautiful things are when you're traveling."

He died in 1967, isolated if not forgotten, and Jo Hopper died ten months later. His true importance has only been fully realized in the years since his death