Paris. May, 2005
A pointilist painting comes the closest to describing
our week in Paris. In such a painting many distinct,
superficial, jumbled dots of color, each dot complete
in and of itself , combine to create an effect of
blending and luminosity. When seen from a distance
these dots create a vibrant and precise scene.
Our visit was one dot after another. Or more to the
point: one vibrant, complete outing after another. If
I were to synthesize our visit in one precise,
luminous painting, and why not a large
postimpressionist pointillism painting similar in
technique to the ones we saw at a special exhibition
at the Musee d'Orsay (1), I'd choose to paint a dinner
party in the living-dining room of a Parisian friend's
apartment.
"The Painting"
Seven content, relaxed chatting friends (2) are
squeezed around a table crowded with champagne and
wine glasses, an overflowing basket of thick slices of
crusty baguette, a salad of multiple greens (no
iceburg lettuce!) tossed in a tangy mustard-balsamic
vinagrette dressing, and a large platter with 5
choices of cheeses including a stinky, runny St.
Felicien, a deep flavored, well aged sheep's milk
cheese and a sweet, creamy brie with walnuts.
Scattered on the nearby coffee table are brochures
picked up at museums (3), an opened tattered map of
Paris, snapshots of Paul and me with friends, a carte
d'orange (metro/bus pass), a Pariscope (the Parisian's
weekly bible of what's going on), a Le Monde newspaper
with a headline story about the upcoming European
Constitutional vote in France (4), and a calendar
opened to the week of May 23rd. On an end table are
some of Paul's gourmet purchases from the 'Salon de
Saveurs (Flavor Fair): foie gras, anchovy pesto,
confit de canard, tapanade and chocolate truffles.
Under the table are my well-worn walking sandles.
Looking out the third story window one looks down on a
couple having an expresso at a small, art-deco cafe.
On the wall of the living room are a long painting of
a street scene with an artsy flower boutique (just
like the one our friend and hostess owns), a small
produce store where the piled fruits and vegetables
are polished and piled up with careful attention to
detail and a sinful, well-stocked pastry shop. (I can
easily hear the shop keepers cheerfully saying
"Bonjour madame.") Walking along the street are
shoppers with their dogs, mothers with children (with
one child eating a 'pain au chocolate') and a loving
couple holding hands while buying a big bouquet of
flowers. The only surreal element in my painting is
the clock hanging on the wall with the sign for
infinity replacing all the numbers, symbolic of the
time expansion we experienced during our visit,
symbolic of the timelessness of the city of light,
Paris.
Footnotes:
(1) The first exhibit we saw in Paris was at the Musee
d'Orsay: Le Neo-impressonnisme de Seuret a Paul Klee.
(2) Before we left for Paris an Argentine friend
asked me who we would be seeing while in Paris. I
began to rattle off the names and a bit of backgound
about some our Parisian friends. It turned into quite
a list of colorful characters: musicians, artists,
photographers, teachers, intellectuals, art fanatics,
entrepreneurs (yes, they do exist in France but are a
very rare breed), and food-wine connoisseurs (duh!).
What they all have in common is a love of life.
(3) An exhibit title that tantalized me, goaded me to
head to the Guimet museum of Asian Art: "La Vie
Interieure des Bouddhas..." (The Inner Life of Some
Buddhas.) The exhibit was scattered throughout the
museum. The artist, Rodolphe Gombergh, took some
traditional images of Buddha and manipulated them
through photography, holograms and videos. The videos
went 'inside' the images using a kaleidoscope effect
of colorful changing patterns. Ahhh, I thought -
psychedelic Buddhas.
At the Centre Pompidou Paul and I saw "Robert
Mallet-Stevens, architecte 1886-1945." I've always
enjoyed good architecture and now that we are building
a house I felt a compelling urge to see this exhibit.
What jumped out at me was that the finished product
never looked quite like Mallet-Stevens's cute and
artstic architectual drawings. This confirmed what
our architect told us about why he was reluctant to do
anything more than a loose sketch at the very
beginning of our project. But I digress...
(4) On May 29th, our last full day in Paris, the
French voted "non." Most of our friends voted "oui"
for the European Constitution; still, the "non" vote
won't slow down these laughter-loving people, who will
adapt and adjust with good humor to their
ever-complicated and full Parisian lives.
Vicki Terhorst
(
geocities.com/thetropics/shores) (
geocities.com/thetropics)