At Home with Art

"Nympheas en fleur"
Claude Monet, 1915

In case you haven't heard, Christie's auction of David Rockefeller's magnificent art collection just broke all records as the biggest single-owner sale ever held at auction.  On May 8, 2018, a collection of forty four sculptures and paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries went for a whopping $646 Million (and the entire proceeds will go to charity).  And this was just the first group to be auctioned! The Monet waterlillies pictured above triggered a fourteen minute bidding war, and brought $84.7 Million. The winner was a telephone bidder--I can't stop wondering who it was.

Monet and Juan Gris in hallway at Hudson Pines

But more intriguing to me than the auction prices is the thought of these masterpieces hanging in the Rockefeller's homes over the years. The waterlillies hung over the staircase at Hudson Pines, the Rockefeller home in Westchester County, NY. Can you imagine walking by this painting every day on your way up and down the stairs??!

Picasso's "Young Girl with a Flower Basket", 1905
Photo courtesy of Christie's

Another masterpiece, Picasso's "Young Girl with a Flower Basket", used to hang in David Rockefeller's library, in his Manhattan townhouse. This one has a fascinating history. It was in the collection of Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein--major figures in avant-garde Paris of the early 20th century--who often hosted the likes of Hemingway, Matisse and Picasso in their home. When the collection became available

Ahead of his Time?

"The Scarlet Sunset"
Watercolor and Gouache on Paper
JMW Turner, circa 1835-40

While in Aix-en-Provence this summer, I visited a special exhibition featuring the works of the great British artist JMW Turner.  True confessions: there was so much to see and learn from the exhibit that I went twice! The exhibit was titled "Turner and Color", and boy was that an apt title.

"Impression, Sunrise"
Oil on Canvas
Claude Monet, 1872 

Much has been written about Turner being a precursor of the Impressionists. Turner died just eleven years after Monet was born, so most of Turner's career transpired before the great Impressionist "revolution" got underway. Yet for Turner, as for the Impressionists, the effects of color and light were far more important than the illustrative aspects of a painting. He invented a way of painting that got his point across without showing pictorial details. In-

Art of the Garden

"Woman Reading by a Window"
Gari Melchers

Showing now at Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC: a wonderful exhibit entitled "The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 2887 - 1920". I saw the exhibit recently, and felt like I had made the acquaintance of some artists who were new to me, and had also visited with some artists who are "old friends". 

"Garden at Giverny"
John Leslie Breck, 1887-1891

Starting in the 1880's, quite a few American painters travelled to France. They were drawn to Giverny, Monet's home and gardens. Many of them became neighbors of Monet and painted right alongside him. The influence of the French Impressionists on these American painters is unmistakeable. Thanks to the recent invention of the paint tube, they were able to paint outside. In fact, Breck's painting above was painting in Monet's garden. No longer  confined to the studio, these artists were intent on

Flower Power

"Lilacs in a Window"
Mary Cassatt, 1879

Up now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond: "Van Gogh, Manet,and Matisse: The Art of the Flower". I recently saw the exhibit, and was impressed with its breadth. There were masterworks from museums such as the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It's definitely worth a detour to catch this one. One might ask, "How many pictures of flowers can a person look at in one show??". No problem for me--the subject matter is not so important, because

Urban Revitalization

"Yonkers"
Edward Hopper

I have always loved the urban landscape. Though I have never lived in a huge metropolis, I have always lived within two miles of downtown--be the town small or large. Lately I have been painting the urban scene near my studio, in the SouthEnd of Charlotte. As I have done so, I have reflected on

A Moment in Time

"The Cliff, Etreat: Sunset"
(c) Claude Monet, 1883

The Impressionist movement in painting was all about capturing a moment in time--nailing down the fleeting effects of sun and light at a particular place and time. In fact, recording something real and immediate was at the heart of Impressionism. It was the reason that so many Impressionists left the studio to paint directly in the landscape, and the reason they worked so quickly to capture conditions before they changed.

Now, in breaking news, a team of scientists have just announced that they have successfully pinpointed the exact moment depicted by the great Impressionist Claude Monet in the painting that you see above. The verdict: 4:53 pm, on February 5, 1883. 

(c) Sky & Telescope Magazine

The scientists' sleuthing involved travel to Normandy, and use of both high tech and low tech resources--a sextant (shown above), a laser rangefinder, letters written by Monet, records of tides, and weather information, to name a few. You can read the full story in Sky & Telescope Magazine (February 2014 edition).  Meanwhile, here's a photo from the magazine showing how the scientists used other Monet paintings of the same shore to find the spots that Monet must have stood to paint his series. What inspiring vistas!

(c) Sky & Telescope Magazine

PS: For those of you in NC, the top painting is in the collection of the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh...worth a detour to take a look.