The Musee D'Orsay Meets De Young

San Francisco was decidedly gray and gloomy in early October, the day me and my fellow classmates from French 31 visited the art exhibit Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne And Beyond. It was a wonderful taste of all the artistic delights that must exist inside the walls of the Musee D'Orsay. The renowned museum of impressionist masterpieces was generous enough to lend The De Young Museum some of it's most coveted pieces for an art lovers piece de resistance. Me and a few students who had arrived early, stood outside of the De Young making funny faces in the life-sized representations of paintings that had a hole where you would insert your face for a goofy picture. Finally everyone arrived and after locating our tour guide, she equipped us with headsets so that no matter where we were in the art gallery we would be able to hear what she had to say. I had not visited the De Young since the late 90's and so I was impressed by its modern and expansive décor. And while I miss the classical motif it once had, I was charmed by its up-to-date makeover.

The first gallery we entered was not so much in order of artist as I had suspected, but more in order of mood, and style. So I was surprised to see Monet's Study Of A Figure Outdoors: Woman With a Sunshade Turned To The Right (1886), meshed together with John Singer Sargent's provocative La Carmencita (1890). I would have thought instead that Sargent would be paired with something more in the vein of a Degas, but I have to admit that the contrast of Monet's prim miss strolling in the afternoon sunshine and Sargent's fiery dynamic dancer striking a pose was quite the perfect juxtaposition.

I will have to say that some of my favorite pieces on display came from Van Gogh, Lacombe, Gauguin, and Rousseau. Van Gogh's Portrait Of The Artist (1887) is very telling in its construction. The slashes of angry brush strokes all but shout the frustration and chaotic state of Van Gogh's troubled mind. In Starry Night (1888), he has calmed considerably. The execution of his brush is serene and lulling. Bright yellow stars in the sky mirror themselves against the water with strategically placed sunny slats that seem to dance on its blue surface. An abrupt departure from both subjects is Bedroom At Arles (1889) where Van Gogh uses his own living quarters to fuel his creative spark. It is by contrast less duo-chromatic and the attitude of the piece is cheerful compared to Starry Night. Its greens, hues of brown, reds and yellows blend to make the busy primary colors seem almost tranquil.

Lacombe's The Violet Waves (1895-96) captivated my imagination. It would be by all accounts a very ordinary subject painting of the sea if painted by any other artist. But Lacombe manages to translate that the sea, often thought of as a quiet reflective place is also capable of great violence. The lavender wave splashes against the black rocks and is almost disturbing in its power. Lacombe is unique in the fact that as painter he is very much a minimalist, often using only a few colors. In this portrait he uses mainly purple, black and white and blends them with such a skill the viewer almost imagines that there are other colors there on the canvas.

Paul Gauguin's Portrait Of The Artist With 'The yellow Christ' (1890-91) is a study in symbolism. We have Gauguin in front, a willing slave to his art, one of his most prized works of art to the right of him, and to the left Jesus adorned in yellow. I couldn't decide whether he was being sarcastic or irreverent, so I figured he was both. To me the picture seemed to say 'this art; this is my Jesus'-very controversial stuff for the times. I applaud Mr. Gauguin for his modern sensibilities in the 1890s.

Henri Rousseau like Van Gogh had more than one painting that made me really stop and stare. Both are controversial in their message; one subtlety so and the other is in your face. In War (1894) war is personified as a wild woman in white riding on a black steed. She leaves nothing but chaos in her wake and is the harbinger of hopelessness. I was struck my its terrible beauty and that fact that Rousseau was strongly influenced by the ravishes of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. To him that war must have been comparable to America 20 years after Vietnam. Moving away from violence he becomes very idyllic with his piece The Snake Charmer (1907). It is ripe with Edenesque connotations. In the picture, he suggests what must have been shocking to many Christians at the time, that Eve, whom many of them considered the mother of creation, was Black. He paints his Black Eve with mysticism and exotic beauty. She is earth, nature, and life, surrounded by a lush paradise that he renders in various astonishing, rich shades of green. What was notable about Rousseau is that he had never been to a jungle and yet he conjured these images up from his fertile imagination.

It seemed as if the tour through this impressionist exhibition was over as soon as it had begun. I had never seen any of these paintings close up and personal before. I could only admire them in books or on postcards. Seeing them first-hand was a real treat for me. The textures and colors cannot be translated onto the printed page with any real authenticity. I thoroughly enjoyed going to this exhibit and hope to have a chance to go again before the paintings are shipped back to France. But I guess missing out on the seeing them a second time wouldn't be so bad. It would simply mean I would have to plan to see them in Paris. That is a 'chore' that I most certainly wouldn't mind undertaking.