Grand Palias, Paris Special Exhibit: Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun

​My first day in Paris began with a Metro ride, including several transfers to the Grand Palais, located just off the famous Champs-Élysées Blvd. to see two featured art exhibitions.

1. Arriving at the Grand Palais
2. Exhibit schedule
3. Art in transit
4. We arrived early and only had to wait in line for about 45 minutes. Like everywhere else we went, masses of people congregated at the exhibits.
5. Once inside, patience was a necessity.
6. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was a favorite of Marie-Antoinette in pre-revolution France at a time when it was rare for a woman to attain official recognition as a professional artist. This pencil study reveals her ability to capture a likeness and imbue it with the personality of the sitter.
7. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun’s father was a renowned pastel artist and he recognized his daughter’s talent in time to encourage and promote her from a young age. This exquisite pastel portrait, with its crisp color and rich textures, surely would have made him proud.
8. This detail of satin and lace helps us understand why the artist’s father said, “ You shall be a painter, my child, or nothing at all.”
9. At a time when the book, Emile by Jean-Jacques Rouseau set out ideas that attached great importance to the bonds that unite a mother with her children, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun’s tender renditions of mothers and children were appreciated by critics as well as the general public.
10. In addition to portraits of mothers with their children, she also painted pictures of children alone.
11. Elegantly curated by Joseph Baillio and Xavier Salmon, the Grand Palais exhibition contains 160 works, including some very large canvases and exceptional loans from Versailles. Nearly half the pictures are from private collections and many have never been seen in public. (NY Times article)
12.  Of course, the setting of the Grand Palias added a great deal to the flavor of the exhibit. It was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition and was dedicated to the glorification of French Art. It now houses several temporary art exhibitions each year, drawing nearly 2 million visitors annually. Here are some pictures of the grand staircase:
13. Grand Palias stairway
14. View from a window at the stairway landing, looking to where we queued for the exhibit.
15. Grand Palais stairway.
16. Later in her career, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun did paint some landscapes.
17. These are some tiny examples.
18. Exit through the gift store.

Learn more in a New York Times article online http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/arts/international/vigee-le-brun-a-delayed-tribute-to-a-french-trailblazer.html?_r=0