Kiss Renoir’s, Make Love to Picasso’s and Marry Monet’s — Part 2
Let’s Make Love
The Absinthe Drinker
By, Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso’s life is a source of amazement to me. Born in 1881 his artwork spans generations, and by his death at 91 years old, he was still on top of his game. His repertoire is categorized by periods in his life, such as the blue period when he painted “The Absinthe Drinker” here, in 1901. The blue period lasted from 1901 to 1904 and is followed by seven more periods. During the blue period, early in his career, we see paintings in hues of blue and green, and the subjects were sometimes “prostitutes, beggars, and drunks”. (wikipedia picasso’s blue period) Picasso was a true playboy whose lovers were his muses. Once when given the ultimatum to choose between them, he told his two lovers they would have to fight it out themselves, at which point they began to wrestle. With that and a glass of absinthe, let’s take a look at some of the sensually abstract women in art.
Three Women at the Spring,a study
By, Pablo Picasso
While roaming the halls of the Picasso Museum, I came across this sketch by the museum’s namesake, Pablo Picasso. This is a practice piece, also known as a study, that Picasso sketched for his final piece “Three Women at the Spring”. It is sketched using chalk and charcoal on paper. The final product is a neoclassical piece depicting three women surrounded by rocks, gathered around a spring. This is the beginning stage of the bust of the woman in the middle. Sketched in 1921, the woman in the center’s head is tilted downward, her features are soft, welcoming, and romantic. In contrast, the final piece shows a Hellenistic style with bold, sculptured features. This early version is more embracing, with enticing cleavage. The models of the piece are unknown, so this is a roll around in the hay with a woman from Picasso’s imagination.
Portrait of Marie-Therese Walter
By, Pablo Picasso
Picasso met Marie Therese Walter in 1927 when she was just 17 years old and he was 45. At the time he was still married to his first wife Olga Khokhlova. They kept their illicit affair a secret from family and friends at first, yet the affair lasted almost the span of a decade, and the birth of their daughter Maya. Picasso bought a castle in Boisgeloup, Normandy where he would spend the week with his wife Olga, and upon her departure, on the weekends Marie Therese took up residence there. She was his lover, model, and muse. His portraits of her were first shown at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1932. When Marie Therese became pregnant with Picasso’s daughter, Maya in 1934, Olga was finally made aware of the affair and began divorce proceedings. Picasso did not want to part with his wealth, and due to french law that states property shall be split evenly, the two never divorced. Olga took their son and moved to the south of France. Picasso began a new relationship with model and photographer Dora Maar, in 1935 which made Marie Therese jealous. Nevertheless, upon Olga’s death in 1955, Picasso proposed to Marie Therese, but she declined. The two remained close, and upon Picasso’s death in 1977, Marie Therese committed suicide.
This Portrait of Marie Therese Walter was created in 1937, Its style is surrealism and I snapped it at The Picasso Museum, in France, in 2016. Marie Therese Walter’s devotion to Picasso was unwavering. Even though she turned down his marriage proposal they remained an intricate part of one another's lives. Withstanding his numerous lovers, and inevitable life tribulations, Marie Therese accepted Picasso for the man that he was, and he was undoubtedly the love of her life. Her essence and their forbidden love are forever captured in Picasso’s numerous works dedicated to her.
Le Bal de L’opera
By, Henri Gervex
Henri Gervex used mythological themes, as a reason to paint nudes. In 1878 his portrait “Rolla” was rejected by the Salon de Paris, as it portrayed a “naked prostitute after having sex with her client” (Wikipedia Henri Gervex) and was considered immoral. Possibly due to this rejection, he began painting scenes of modern life. Painted in 1886, Le Bal de L’opera illustrates a night at Garnier’s opera house in Paris. Six weeks prior to Ash Wednesday and the restrictions of Lent, Paris threw masked balls. The opera house, shown here, threw a luxurious one. Ladies of a variety of backgrounds mingled and danced with aristocratic men. The audience area was cleared of its chairs for dancing, as the opera’s orchestra provided the music. The women dressed in revealing garments as their masks gave them the feeling of security, that they would not be recognized. They would dance with abandon and the gentlemen hoped for, and awaited more intimate settings after the ball.
In Le Bal de L’Opera, Henri Gervex uses the beautiful foyer of Garnier’s Opera House, to tell the tale of a Parisian Mardi Gras. The party-goers flirt and float about in the extravagant opening enclave of the famous opera house. The woman in white, the central figure, is the epitome of mystery, sexuality, and glamour. She appears to be desired by the men around her and enjoying every minute of it. This Gervex heroine is one to make love to.
The Clown Cha-U-Kao
By, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born into an aristocratic family, in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France. Due to inbreeding, he suffered from an unknown genetic disorder, and could not participate in physical activities that most young men enjoy growing up. Henri’s family realized his talent for painting and drawing at a young age. They entreated a family friend to give him lessons informally, and he engrossed himself in art. He, like most artists of his time, was drawn to Montmartre, and when The Moulin Rouge opened he was commissioned to make their posters. He spent a lot of time in brothels, so much so that at times he moved in, and painted the inhabitants during their daily lives.
Henri painted The Clown Cha-U-Kao, in 1895. Cha-U-Kao was an entertainer at the Moulin Rouge as well as the Nouveau Cirque. Her stage name was also the name of a dance not unlike the can-can and is derived from the french word “cachut” which translated means noise and chaos. She was openly lesbian and was a woman in the male-dominated profession of clowning. Cha-U-Kao is the subject in several of Henri De Toulouse Paintings, he was attracted to her as well as all of Paris. Here, she is in the privacy of her dressing room, or room, fastening a piece of her costume. This intimate look into one of Paris’s most famous cabaret performers leaves her in the most sensual department.
Le Peignoir,
By, Pierre Bonnard
When Pierre Bonnard painted “Le Peignoir” in 1890, he showed a persuasion towards Japanese prints. “Le Peignoir” shows a likeness to the paintings in his four-piece collection “Femmes au Jardin” where women play in gardens in flowing printed dresses. Bonnard painted from memory, and sometimes used photographs, then took notes on the image. Because of this, there is not a noted model for “Le Peignoir”. Bonnard is known for his use of vibrant colors and intimate settings, frequently using his wife as the subject, who he met in 1893. Peignoirs are intimate sleepwear or negligees. They are usually made of materials that touch the skin delicately and feel sensuous. The Pattern here resembles the fur of an exotic animal, like a cheetah, giving the subject a modern vibe, because who doesn’t like a good animal print? Additionally, the coloring of the piece and the design of the nightgown gives the subject a glamorous and captivating appeal. The peek into the intimacy of a woman’s nightly ritual, before curling into bed enveloped in satin or chiffon, makes “Le Peignoir” an exotic tale and inspires dreamy emotions.
La Magie Noire
By, Rene Magritte
This is the first version of Rene Magritte’s “La Magie Noire” (Black Magic) painted in 1934. He has several versions, In which most of the women rest their hands on a stone. “One idea is that the stone is associated with an attachment to the earth. It does not rise up of its own accord, you rely on it remaining faithful to the earth’s attraction. Woman too if you like.” (www.renemagritte.org) Born in 1898, in Lessines Belgium, Magritte achieved his highest level of success when he was in his 50’s, yet it was early in his career when he determined that surrealism was best suited for him.
Rene Magritte met his wife, Georgette Berger, when they were both in their teens, then again in Brussels in 1920. She became his muse, and they married in 1922. In the 1945 version of “La Magie Noire” Georgette is the subject of the painting. It is very similar to this original version, which leads me to speculate that she is the subject here since the two had been husband and wife for 12 years by the time of its completion.
In 1927 Magritte moved to Paris and began to paint “erotically explicit objects juxtaposed in dreamlike surroundings.” ( www.renemagritte.org) Though he returned to Brussels in 1930, Magritte stated that eroticism may be one of the reasons for the painting’s existence.
The subjects of Magritte’s “La Magie Noire” are stoic, their bottom half rooted to the ground braced by the earth, as the upper half of their chiseled features give way to the heavens. In this version a dove sits on the subject’s shoulder elaborating her ethereal appearance, while her bottom half remains secular and erotic, leaving her to conclude the women to make love to.
REFERENCES
Henri Gervex- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Gervex
http://www.galerieheim.ch/oeuvre-details3.php?id_oeuvre=261&lng=2
Marie-Therese Walter — https://www.masterworksfineart.com/bio/marie-therese-walter
Toulouse-Lautrec- https://www.toulouse-lautrec-foundation.org/biography.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Bonnard
Magritte- https://www.renemagritte.org/
