Amedeo Modigliani in Worldwide Museums: 13. The Musée de l'Orangerie

 

How are you?

The 13th place I would like to introduce for this week is The Musée de l'Orangerie.

The Musée de l'Orangerie is an art gallery of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings located in the west corner of the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris. 

The museum is best known for the eternal home of eight large “Water Lilies” murals by Claude Monet, and also has works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Alfred Sisley, Chaïm Soutine, Maurice Utrillo, and others.

The building was built by Napoleon III in 1852 to protect the citrus trees of the Tuileries garden from the cold winter. 

The building was built by architect Firmin Bourgeois, and he built it using glass on the south side of the building, Seine River for sunlight to the trees, but almost completely windowless on the opposite north side to protect the citrus trees from the cold winds. 

The main entrances on the east and west side of the building were decorated by architect Louis Visconti, who is also famous for his renovation on the Louvre. After the Fall of the Empire in 1870 and the fire at the Tuileries Palace in 1871, the building became a property of the State.

The works of Modigliani currently in the possession of The Musée de l'Orangerie are as follows.

Thank you.

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106. Classical Music: 21. Claude Debussy, ACJ Music Academy

 

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This week's lecture is “Claude Debussy”, the 21st topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “106. Classical Music: 21. Claude Debussy” introduced on October 12th, 2017.

Claude Debussy, born on 22 August 1862 and died on 25 March 1918, was a French composer, one of the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although he showed great resistance to the term, he is regarded as the first Impressionist composer. 

Rue au Pain, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, street
of Debussy's birthplace

Born into a modest family, Debussy showed outstanding musical talent, enough to be admitted to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris, at the age of 10. Originally studying piano, Debussy found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. After spending many years developing his own style, Debussy gained international fame in 1902, around the age of 40, with “Pelléas et Mélisande”, the only opera he completed.

Poster for the prèmiere of Pelléas et
Mélisande at the Théâtre de
l'Opéra-Comique (30 April 1902)

Debussy's orchestral works include "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune", "Nocturnes" and "Images". Much of his music was a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. Debussy, who regarded the classical symphony as obsolete, sought an alternative in his symphonic sketches, “La mer.” 

Cover of 1905 edition of score, La mer,
based on Hokusai's c. 1831 woodblock print,
The Great Wave off Kanagawa

His piano pieces include 24 Préludes and 12 Études. Throughout his career, Debussy wrote melodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own, and was greatly influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement of the late 19th century. A few of his works, including his early work “La Damoiselle élue” and his later work “Le Martyre de saint Sébastien”, contain important parts for chorus. In his final years, he concentrated on chamber music, planning six sonatas for different instrument combinations but completing three of them.

Illustration for the premiere, Le Martyre
de saint Sébastien

With early influences, including Russian and Far Eastern music, Debussy developed his own style of harmony and orchestral colouring, but he was derided and resisted by many of the musical establishments of the day. His works have strongly influenced many composers, including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin, and Bill Evans. Debussy died of cancer at his home in Paris at the age of 55, after a composing career of a little more than 30 years.

A statue of Claude Debussy in front of the Saint Germain
Church, Île-de-France, France

Thank you.

Related Music

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK: 19. EDGAR DEGAS

Name: Edgar Degas

Born: July 19, 1834; Paris, France

Died: September 27, 1917; Paris, France

Nationality: French

Art Movement: Impressionism

Field: Painting, sculpture, drawing

Influenced by: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Edouard Manet, Eugene Delacroix

Influenced on: Edward Hopper, Henri Gervex, Paul Gauguin, Mary Cassatt, Walter Sickert, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Aaron Shikler, Richard Diebenkorn

Friends and Co-workers: Edouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Telemaco Signorini, Giovanni Boldini

Edgar Degas was a French artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. He is especially identified with the subject of dance; more than half of his works depict dancers. Regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, he rejected the term, preferring to be called a realist. He was a superb draftsman, and particularly masterly in depicting movement, as can be seen in his rendition of dancers and racecourse subjects. At the beginning of his career, Degas wanted to be a history painter, but in his early thirties, he changed course, and by bringing the traditional methods of a history painter to bear on contemporary subject matter, he became a classical painter of modern life.

FAMOUS WORKS

ALLWORKS LIST (Edgar Degas)

RELATED ARTISTS

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Raphael

Titian

Edouard Manet 

Eugene Delacroix

Henri Gervex

Paul Gauguin

Mary Cassatt

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Giovanni Boldini

ALLARTISTS LIST

Currently, “J art”, an internet mall of “Art Collage JANG” is selling artprints of worldwide famous artists.

In relation with this sale, I will introduce one by one every week, whose artprints are on the sale list, by following categories.

1. Artist’s Bio: Introduce brief bio of selected artist

2. Famous Works: Move to the corresponding artprints in J art by clicking

3. All Works List: Move to all works of selected artist in J art by clicking

4. Related Artists: Move to the works of the artists in J art, who are related to the selected artist.

5. All Artists List: Move to the list of all artists selling artprints in J art

Blog (Korean)

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: 18. BERTHE MORISOT

Name: Berthe Morisot

Born: January 14, 1841, Bourges, Cher, France

Died: March 2, 1895, Paris, France

Nationality: French

Art Movement: Impressionism

Field: Painting

Friends/Co-workers: Edouard Manet, Camille Corot

Family/Relatives: Eugène Manet, Edouard Manet, Jean-Honore Fragonard

Berthe Morisot was a painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. She was described by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly esteemed Salon de Paris. Sponsored by the government and judged by Academicians, the Salon was the official, annual exhibition of the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris. Her work was selected for exhibition in six subsequent Salons until, in 1874, she joined the "rejected" Impressionists in the first of their own exhibitions, which included Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. Morisot was married to Eugène Manet, the brother of her friend and colleague Édouard Manet.

FAMOUS WORKS

ALL WORKS LIST (Berthe Morisot)

RELATED ARTISTS

1. Édouard Manet

2. Camille Corot

3. Jean-Honore Fragonard

4. Mary Cassatt

5. Paul Cézanne

6. Edgar Degas

7. Claude Monet

8. Camille Pissarro

9. Pierre-Auguste Renoir

10. Alfred Sisley

ALL ARTISTS LIST

Currently, “J art”, an internet mall of “Art Collage JANG” is selling artprints of worldwide famous artists.

In relation with this sale, I will introduce one by one every week, whose artprints are on the sale list, by following categories.

1. Artist’s Bio: Introduce brief bio of selected artist

2. Famous Works: Move to the corresponding artprints in J art by clicking

3. All Works List: Move to all works of selected artist in J art by clicking

4. Related Artists: Move to the works of the artists in J art, who are related to the selected artist.

5. All Artists List: Move to the list of all artists selling artprints in J art

Blog (Korean)