Art Explorations - The Beginning

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My visits to France started in 2004 and then more frequently since 2013, my stays often included weekends where I would spend hours in museums and in Paris you cannot run out of  them, there are probably over a hundred museums on varied subjects. The good thing about museums is that its a temperature controlled space which protects you from heat / wind / cold / rain, has cafes within and access to toilets. Perfect weekend destination for a solo traveler if so inclined.

The first museum I visited was Musee de Orsay, which is the temple of impressionism (the 4th floor), however I started from the first floor and by the time I reached the 4th floor, I was dog tired, my feet hurt and I was super thirsty. I had an audio guide which had a mine of stories and information about the paintings and the artists featured.

I knew nothing about art, pointillism, impressionism, fauvism, cubism and so on and while I had heard about names such as Van Gogh, Gaugin, Monet, Manet etc, I had no idea about their work. The audio guide walked me through the stages of impressionism, the salon, the politics of art, the rebellious artists who wanted a change and much more and there began my journey into exploring painting as a hobby.

I fell in love on the 4th floor, this man he is eccentric and a little bit crazy at times, he has a drinking problem - loves Absynthe, he is Dutch, dabbled with religion at first and then discovered his true calling. He does not need words to communicate, one glance and then a deep exploration communicates all that ever needed to be said. He writes the most beautiful letters, often giving a sense of child like wonder on the sights that he saw - yes it was love at first sight and loving Vincent has been a journey from then on....

To gain his approval, I had to start from the very beginning, learn the ropes and understand the concepts so I was guided to a gentleman named George Seurat who was the inventor of pointillism and I learnt that by introducing several dots on the canvas, the eye can be fooled to perceive a blend of colors. So I started, how difficult can spotting the paper with dots be? I found a picture and rummaged into the cavernous almirah which held the rejected art supplies from my son's art classes at school. I found a set of camlin poster colors - all dried up an cakey and added water to them to reconstitute the paint. It was a an afternoon which turned into night before I could say the picture was complete. I went dotty over dots but still when I look at this picture, it gives me a sense of achievement that I started something new in an area where I had no expertise.

Wait for me Vincent - I will arrive...

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