I had a lovely day in Lille. In fact, all my days on this trip have been lovely!
In the morning I went to the very large Palais des Beaux-Arts. This museum holds the largest collection of works of art of any French institution outside Paris. The collection started at the time of the French Revolution as the works of art of the nobility and of the church were confiscated, and continued on apace due to various enthusiastic municipal governments. By 1892 the collection was so large and important that the Palais, its current house, was constructed in the centre of town.
The first fun aspect was the recent work of the Swiss artist Felice Varini who used the museum’s interior as his canvas.
The oldest works of art are in the ‘basement’, beautifully displayed.
Look at the marvellous three dimensionality of this (flat) marble plaque sculpted by Donatello (c 1435) showing Salomé dancing for the head of John the Baptist.
And modern technology brings statues alive by giving them back the (probable) colour they originally had (Mary Magdalene, northern France, c 1520; colour added by projection on the statue).
After several hours here, I took a walk and stumbled across this building, a 20th century cathedral built in the Gothic style to hold a tiny but miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary. Not knowing what it was, at first I thought the facade, the last element to be added in 1990, was a device to cover up renovation work on a truly old cathedral!
Then a visit to a hospital, founded in 1237. Its interior decor showed the Flemish roots of this area: heavy ornate dark wood furniture, Delft tiles on the walls, Dutch art displayed. The one very long open room for patients still exists. It would have been lined down each side with patients’ beds, as shown in this seventeenth century painting.
17th century Lille, looking very Flemish indeed.
My day ended at the theatre, seeing stories dramatised from the American author Raymond Carver’s work. The audience was split into ten groups and then moved around the labyrinthine theatre to different spots for each story (out of ten total stories, each group saw five). A logistical feat well carried out, and the dramatisation by Armel Rousseau was impressive. It was like looking through a series of peep holes into the lives of very ordinary people confronted at a particular moment with loss or loneliness or ugliness.
It's hard to believe that most of the statues we see in shades of white and beige were originally painted in vivid colours and gold leaf. And what a marvelous theatre production, Celia! You sure packed a lot into your last day in France.
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting that the sculptures were actually painted. What kind of art was in the basement?
ReplyDelete