<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Liv](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mP8Xw8AAoMBgDTD2qgAAAAASUVORK5CYII=\")
<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
Giorgio de Chirico’s 1916 oil painting, “The Pirate (Le Corsaire),”\u00a0is part of a special exhibit at the The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
And, sometimes, you get the chance to see famous paintings by popular European artists of centuries past \u2014 paintings usually accessible only at a distance \u2014 up close. I had that chance recently, at a preview of a current Barnes Foundation exhibit, \u201cFrom Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes,\u201d in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve been to the Barnes, you know that its priceless collection of impressionist, post-impressionist and modernist paintings are hung as super-collector Albert Barnes wanted them arranged \u2014 salon style, with groups of paintings covering giant walls, chock-a-block with works by different artists along with locks, keys, hinges and furniture.<\/p>\n
The art on those walls is fantastic. But I sometimes get overwhelmed by its jumbled array, and by having to use a schematic to figure out which painting comes from which artist.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Amedeo Modigliani\u2019s 1918 painting, \u201cPortrait of the Red-Headed Woman (Portrait de la femme rousse),\u201d is part of an exhibit currently at the Barnes Foundation<\/p>\n
BARNES FOUNDATION<\/p>\n
But right now, while some of the Barnes\u2019 gallery rooms are closed for floor renovations, curator Cindy Kang has taken the opportunity to bring 55 works by the likes of Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet and Vincent van Gogh down to eye level in this exhibit.<\/p>\n
As she did last year with an exhibition of works by Henri Matisse and Renoir, Kang places existing Barnes Collection works in what she calls \u201cnew conversations\u201d with each other. Arranged on colorful walls \u2014 bright yellow for the works of van Gogh, for example \u2014 the works can breathe and shine.<\/p>\n
At a June preview, Kang said she arranged the exhibit as a journey through France, from Paris and its suburbs to the Channel Coast to Aix-en-Provence and Arles in the south. As railways developed in France, she notes, artists were able to move from region to region, searching for new light, new subjects, new vision.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Georges Seurat’s 1886 oil painting, “Entrance of The Port of Honfleur (Entr\u00e9e du port d\u2019Honfleur),” is part of a special exhibit at the The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
BARNES FOUNDATION<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an installation, Kang says, \u201cof iconic and beloved works\u201d and \u201can unprecedented opportunity, I think, for people to see … works that you think you may know and love in a new way, and learn different things about them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exhibit is heavy on works by Paul Cezanne \u2014 \u201cCezanne is the core and the heart of this show,\u201d Kang says \u2014 including a section of the exhibit focusing on his decades of painting dappled woods, boxy farmhouses and ivory-bodied bathers under arches of trees at his family\u2019s country estate, the Jas de Bouffan in Provence.<\/p>\n
I learned during a tour of the exhibit that Cezanne had an especially deep understanding of one of his most-painted subjects \u2014 Provence\u2019s Mont Sainte-Victoire \u2014 because of his close friendship with a geologist who helped him learn what the mountain was made of, as it were.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Four canvases by Vincent Van Gogh are displayed on a yellow wall as part of a special exhibit of French paintings in the Barnes Foundation.<\/p>\n
MARY ELLEN WRIGHT | Staff<\/p>\n
I went to a crowded Cezanne exhibit in Washington, D.C., years ago, so it was a blessed relief in Philly to not have to jockey for position to see one of Cezanne\u2019s \u201cMont Sainte-Victoire\u201d works up close, and be reminded how his patches of brown and green on that mountain prefigured the Cubist movement.<\/p>\n
I love looking at pictures and paintings that contain skulls of any type; they inspire me to ponder mortality in some way. So it was great to get a peek at the green-and-pink pears sharing a table with a buff-colored human skull in Cezanne\u2019s \u201cStill Life with Skull\u201d at the Barnes.<\/p>\n
Henri Matisse is my favorite artist, so it was nice to see a work of his in this exhibit that I wasn\u2019t familiar with: \u201cBlue Still Life,\u201d featuring a jumble of multicolored fruit next to a white vase on a patterned tablecloth.<\/p>\n
Paintings inspire connections<\/strong><\/p>\nBeing able to get close to these kind of paintings always gives me a thrill: I\u2019m reminded that those painterly brush strokes that seem to rise in 3-D from canvases like \u201cThe Postman\u201d and \u201cThe Smoker\u201d were made by the actual hand of THE Vincent van Gogh \u2014 a man penniless and anxiety-ridden in life, and a total artistic rock star, who has inspired songs and movies, in death.<\/p>\n
I learned from this exhibit that, when van Gogh first arrived in Provence \u2014 where the quality of the light transformed his color palette from the browns and grays of the Netherlands and Paris to the technicolor of sunflowers and irises \u2014 it was a rainy winter month.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 oil painting,\u00a0“Still Life (Nature morte),”\u00a0is part of a special exhibit at the The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
BARNES FOUNDATION<\/p>\n
Not able to paint outdoors, van Gogh gathered some greenish-blue wildflowers into a colorful vase, added some lemons, a teacup and a bundle of herbs, and created a lovely \u201cStill Life\u201d painting that shines on a yellow gallery wall in this exhibit.<\/p>\n
Having the ability to see these works up close, at my leisure, also allows my mind to wander to previous encounters I\u2019ve had with the same artists in different places and cultural mediums.<\/p>\n
Looking at the van Gogh canvases in the Barnes conjures images of Kirk Douglas, wearing a straw hat crowned with lighted candles as the manic artist in the 1956 film \u201cLust for Life.\u201d It also reminds me of the time I cried in the National Gallery of Cardiff, Wales, in front of one of van Gogh\u2019s last paintings, \u201cRain \u2014 Auvers,\u201d filled with dark slashes of paint that seem to exemplify the mental illness he battled at the end of his life.<\/p>\n
As I stared at the tiny dots of color making up the boats and lighthouse reflected in blue water in Georges Seurat\u2019s \u201cEntrance to the Port of Honfleur\u201d in the Barnes exhibit, I was instantly reminded of how my pulse quickened the first time I got a close look at one of my favorites among my own collection of framed posters \u2014 Seurat\u2019s \u201cThe Lighthouse at Honfleur\u201d \u2014 more than 40 years ago in Washington\u2019s National Gallery.<\/p>\n
I simultaneously remembered seeing local actor Sean Young as the Seurat-like \u201cGeorge,\u201d jabbing Pointillist dots into an invisible canvas on stage while singing \u201cColor and Light\u201d in the Stephen Sondheim musical \u201cSunday in the Park with George\u201d \u2014 an unforgettable moment in 1999 at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n
In the last room of the Barnes exhibit are 20th-century works by Amedeo Modigliani, Giorgio de Chirico, Chaim Soutine and Joan Mir\u00f3 \u2014 works that are a modernist departure from the soft, rosy-cheeked women of Renoir or the short, loose brush strokes of Claude Monet\u2019s \u201cStudio Boat,\u201d featuring its dark figure of the artist at work in his boat on the River Seine.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Edgar Degas’\u00a0 circa 1890-95 oil painting, “Jockeys and Race Horses,” is part of a special exhibit at the The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
BARNES FOUNDATION<\/p>\n
I was drawn to an arresting Soutine painting called \u201cFlayed Rabbit,\u201d which shows just that \u2014 the red guts of a cut-open rabbit carcass. Knowing that Soutine suffered from bleeding ulcers for many years \u2014 through his series of paintings of animal carcasses \u2014 I could almost sense his pain splayed out across the canvas. Having had a serious, painful ulcer as a child myself, boy, could I ever feel Soutine\u2019s agony through that picture, and identify with the weird things that kind of pain makes a person think about. I\u2019m still thinking about the work weeks later.<\/p>\n
Seeing an artist\u2019s work up close, at a place like the Barnes, can \u201cbring up a lot of stuff\u201d inside you, if you let it.<\/p>\n
So, if you\u2019re up for a trip to Philly, you might want to check out this special Barnes exhibit, to have a close encounter with these paintings by popular artists before they return to their normal, jumbled perches after the show closes Aug. 31.<\/p>\n
Stand close, let the works wash over you and let your mind wander where it will.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnscripted\u201d is a weekly entertainment column produced by a rotating team of writers.<\/strong><\/p>\nIF YOU GO<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0What: \u201cFrom Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays, now through Aug. 31.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Where: The Roberts Gallery of the Barnes Foundation museum, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Digital bonus: Use your phone to scan the QR code on the wall at the entrance to the exhibit, and you can use the resulting app to learn more about some of the works through the eyes \u2014 and words \u2014 of Barnes staff and volunteers.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Cost: The exhibit is included in the general admission. Free for ages 12 and under; $5 for ages 13-18; $30 for adults and $28 for ages 65 and over.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Information and tickets: visit.barnesfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n Success!<\/strong> An email has been sent to <\/strong> with a link to confirm list signup.\n <\/p>\n\n Error!<\/strong> There was an error processing your request.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some of my lifelong, amateur study and appreciation of art has taken place at a distance. As a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":77676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1037,7211,28063,9177,1020,11365,1448,1069,2830,1311,53705,1148,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-77675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-barnes-foundation","11":"tag-exhibit","12":"tag-exhibition","13":"tag-film","14":"tag-museum","15":"tag-pa","16":"tag-painting","17":"tag-pennsylvania","18":"tag-philadelphia","19":"tag-subscriberexclusive","20":"tag-theater","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114884928759311828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687ade02500ed.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687addf552a0b.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687addec5270a.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687addfe506a6.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687addf95152e.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687adde6539bf.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687addda72b03.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687addf2521ea.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687addd4da013.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687adde053ab8.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/687ade065605d.image.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n