#manet monet and renoir have got my back

[lyricpersonarts]

This is the good stuff i'm telling ya

Impressionism save me. SAVE ME IMPRESSIONISM with your beautiful colours and free perspective

[paleparearchive]

A Miraculous Birthday with Aniki

Monet's Birthday 4★ story (2/3) ( 1 - 2 - 3 )

Location: Renoir, Monet, Sisley & Bazille's room ; terrace (morning) ; museum hallway (night) | Characters: Monet, Bazille, Manet

Monet: Heeey, Bazille! Ya needed somethin' from me?

Bazille: Ah, you came. I bought the art supplies you asked me for the other day.

Monet: Oh, thanks! … Wait, that's it?

Bazille: I don't need anything else. I just wanted to tell you that.

Monet: I see. Then why don't ya come along with me on my errands?

Bazille: ? What's going on?

Monet: I need some advice. I'm havin' a bit of a hard time.

Bazille: …?

Monet: See, today… It's my birthday, right?

Bazille: … Yeah, that's right. I didn't get a chance to say this earlier, but... Happy birthday.

Monet: Ah, thanks! … Wait, that's not it!

You guys're doin' a lotta things for me, you're even plannin' a party. That's why I wanna do somethin' in return.

Bazille: Huh? Why are you thinking about returning the favor for a birthday celebration?

Millet: I told Millet that too, but I'm not comfortable with all that's being done to me.

Bazille: That's just the way it is today. So shut your mouth and stay put.

Monet: That's why it feels weird to me!

Bazille: I'd better make it clear to you. Look, you don't have to give anything back. Didn't you say something similar on Sisley's birthday?

Monet: Uuh… B-But… I just wanna share my feelings of joy. I wanna make people happy too…

Bazille: Don't worry, even if they don't bother to do anything for you, they'll be happy and make a fuss on their own.

Monet: Uuuh…

Bazille: Don't do anything unnecessary. Just be honest and get celebrated. Got it?

Monet: … Hmmm. I still have some time left until tonight, so I'll give it some more thought… Thanks, Bazille…

Bazille: … Sigh.

…

… That guy, why can't he just sit still for at least his birthday… If this keeps up, I'm afraid he'll do something crazy in return, like giving us a birthday gift. Considering that he doesn't seem to listen when I tell him, what am I supposed to do…

… Is it best to ask for his help?

—

Monet: Hmmm… What to do in return…

Manet: Hey, what are you doing here?

Monet: !?!? M-Manet-aniki…!? Why are ya here!?

No wait, you're just in time! Actually, there's somethin' I wanted to discuss with ya! See, today's my birthday… And I just wanna give somethin' back to everyone who wishes me a happy birthday! I'd be interested to hear your opinion on what ya think would be best–

Manet: I already know that.

Monet: Huh!

Manet: Get rid of your stupid ideas. Who do you think you are? What's with you giving something in return, that's ridiculous. I guess this means you're not going to take it honestly when I say I'm going to celebrate with you too.

Monet: …!!

(I see… That's right… Aniki's gonna celebrate with us, so I…!)

A-Aniki!! I was wrong!! I won't think 'bout givin' anythin' back anymore! I'll accept your congratulations with open arms!

Manet: Heh, all you had to do was figure it out.

Monet: Yeah!! I won't do anythin' bad and I'll look forward to the party tonight. Can I look forward to your birthday wishes, aniki?

Manet: On the contrary, me celebrating you should be the main thing. If you are not looking forward to that, then what's the point in it?

Monet: A-As expected…!

(I talked to him and it all worked out and felt better…! Aniki is seriously sooo cool…)

(... Huh? But how did he know ‘bout it already…?)

—

Monet: (I was lookin' forward to it, and before I knew it, it was night... I wonder what the party'll be like?)

… Aight. Pardon the intrusion!

[iphisesque]

Thoughts on... any works of art or artists you think Nile might particularly like? (Apologies for presuming but you seem like a very classy person who would know things about art!)

ooh, I love this question! truth is, I do love art, but most of my current knowledge of it is heavily informed by what I learn in art history class, aka predominantly white, western and male, which is a pity -- I am actively trying to learn more about non-white, non-western and female art, but I'm still not as familiar with it as I would like, so if anyone would like to add some more of those artists you think Nile would like please do!

we know Nile in movie canon is well aquainted with Rodin, so much that she recognizes his work in a dark cave, so imo she definitely likes him and probably the rest of the impressionist gang, with her faves being Monet, Renoir and Manet (also Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec) on the french side and John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt on the american side. I also see her liking italian Divisionism, and for some reason I associate her with Pellizza da Volpedo's painting Il quarto stato, it's one of my favourite paintings and I feel like it would really resonate with her in its message.

as for the 1900s, I feel like she would appreciate De Chirico's metaphysical paintings alongside Romaine Brooks's symbolism, and probably enjoy Picasso's blue and pink periods as well, but -- and I know this is extremely niche -- I feel like she would particularly like Renato Guttuso's works? he's one of my favourite artists, so don't mind me projecting, but I think his paintings would really suit Nile, with the vivid colours and the large brushstrokes (which is also why I see her liking Goya and Van Gogh) paired with the mundane, ordinary subjects he portrays like the fishermen, the Vuccirìa market and the seaside with its cacti.

going way back in time to the Renaissance and Baroque, I think she would really like Donatello's sculptures, Michelangelo and Botticelli's Birth of Venus, but especially Caravaggio with his passion and his intensity, and of course Sofonisba Anguissola and Artemisia Gentileschi, such as the latter's Judith and Holofernes; I also see her being into Flemish oil painting, like Johannes Vermeer's portraits of mundane life (and of course Antonello da Messina, because I've got to rep my homeland). also not to go back even further but she absolutely has some hot takes about medieval art, including but not limited to "Giotto wishes he had half of what Simone Martini's Maestà has" and "Ambrogio Lorenzetti fucks", and she's absolutely right about all of them.

I do realize that this is just me listing and rambling about my favourite artists djskssjsj and I have no excuses, I'm just a humble art history simp who saw one (1) character into art history and blacked out 😭😭 hope my ramblings were of some entertainment to you!

[melinaillustrations]

My inspiration gallery

Following this post by @wolvesofspring I’m making a post listing some of the works on my to paint list (I have a series of works based on old paintings some more famous than others). Can’t put all of them, we’d be here for ages and this is already long enough so I’ll just put the artists I have the most of. Artists include: John William Waterhouse, Mary Cassat, Berthe Morisot, Frederick Morgan, and Alfred Munnings.

So maybe the impressionist drama could’ve been in a separate post to shorten this one but there’s a cut so it’s not actually invasive.

First things first, I fucking love pre-raphaelite art, they’re fucking gorgeous, Ophelia by Millais is on my list but I’ll skip it because it’s already in @wolvesofspring ‘s post. I have another Ophelia by John William Waterhouse  instead, as well as The Lady of Shalott, Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May and The Flower Picker all by Waterhouse as well.

Mary Cassatt has beautiful, motherly, every day paintings like Young Mother Sewing, Emmie and Her Child, Breakfast in Bed and In the Park. 

She was friends with Pissaro and Degas, the latter advised her to join the impressionist movement. Like Degas, she painted more of people than landscapes but she enjoyed the outdoors and found it nice anyway. Except Degas got into a fight with Renoir, Monet, Cezanne and Sisley who didn’t want to include new artists into their impressionist group so she boycotted their exhibition.

The Dance Class II by Edgar Degas below:

More drama: now Cassatt was an American who’s family came from French immigrants who later moved back to France when she was seven. Years after the Degas thing the Anonymous Painters, Engravers and Sculptors Association (translated from french) excluded all non french artists from their gallery. She got pissed and rented two rooms at the same exhibition to expose her own works and Pissarro’s as well. 

Onto Berthe Morisot who is also a favorite of mine. She was also friends with Cassatt and was a woman impressionist as well. At first her works were considered too feminine and critics preferred Renoir, Monet or Caillebotte. The french poet Mallarmé, however, was an enthusiastic supporter. 

Didn’t matter too much because in the end Morisot and Cassatt were placed at the head of the impressionist movement, true masters of this avant-garde trend.

Her works below: After Luncheon, In A Park, Child in the Rose Garden, Eugene Manet and his daughter at Bougival, and On the Balcony of Eugene Manet's Room at Bougival

By the way, this Eugene Manet who keeps appearing in her works is her husband and a painter himself but quite unknown, I couldn’t even find any of his works after a quick search, he’s mostly in other people’s paintings. He’s also the brother of Edouard Manet, big impressionist and realist painter. 

Moving onto Frederick Morgan and his happy childhood scenes: Midday Rest, Off to the Fair, The First Steps and Skipping Rope.

And finally Alfred Munnings, he’s got a lot of great paintings of horses! Here are The Poppy Fields, Going up to the Canter and Two Lady Riders under an Evening Sky.  

[geminitraveller]

Art Encounter Through the Years:  The First Encounters

It was in France and Spain that I got the so-called baptism of fire in the appreciation of arts.  My first museum visit was in Paris at Musée d’Orsay, home of the largest collection of Impressionist paintings in the world.  It was by accident that we got to the Orsay as we would have preferred to visit the Louvre instead.  But the lines were long and we didn’t have time to wait that long.  I never regretted the visit to the Orsay.  It is a bit smaller and more manageable than the Louvre.  Smaller is a relative word because the Musée d’Orsay is actually not small.  You could easily spend the whole day exploring it.  It’s just that the Louvre is humongous and needs several days to explore.

Since it was my first museum visit, overwhelmed is an understatement to describe it.  I was mesmerized and dumbfounded to say the least.  Never in my life have I imagined these many great artists and their beautiful artworks exist and that you can spend a whole day exploring them ad still you didn’t finish looking at all of them.  And this was just a single museum.  How many museums like this are there in the world?

Bal du Moulin de la Galette (1876) Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France

One of the few artworks that I remembered admiring then was Bal du Moulin de la Galette, one of Renoir’s most important works and one of Impressionism’s most highly revered masterpieces.  

The Moulin de la Galette was an open-air dance hall in Paris in the 1870s. Open-air dance halls were very popular in 19th-century France and were a great source of entertainment for the people. Most people went there not to dance, but just to watch the dancers and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) is a French painter from Limoges in the middle of France.  He is one of the founders of Impressionism, together with artists like Cézanne, Degas, Manet, and Monet. The Impressionists focused on the effects of light and often painted outside. Renoir’s opinion about art was that it should be pretty and he mostly painted very happy scenes.

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586) El Greco. Iglesia de Santo Tomé, Toledo, Spain

On my visit to Toledo, an ancient city an hour away from Madrid, I became a fan of Mannerist painter El Greco who calls Toledo his home.  The above artwork was the first time an artwork was explained extensively by a local tour guide and so it was quite memorable.  I listened intently, amazed at how much details an artist can reveal in his work.

The Burial of the Count of Orgas is widely considered one of El Greco’s masterpieces. The painting depicts a popular legend, regarding the Count of Orgas, who was a pious man, and who upon his death left a large sum of money to the church. The legend tells that Saint Stephen and Saint Augustine descended from heaven at his funeral and buried them with their own hands. Andres Nunes, the parish priest of Sao Tome, was the commissioner of the work, who intended it for a project to refurbish the Count’s burial chapel. According to the commission, the observers of the burial were to be portraits of the notable men of Toledo at the time.  Included also are portraits of El Greco and his son, the only two people in the painting looking front at the viewer.  The artist signed his name in the handkerchief of his son.  All the small details pointed to us by the guide as we viewed this masterpiece.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, other wise known as “El Greco” due to his Greek heritage, was a popular Greek painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. He was a master of post-Byzantine art by the age of 26, when he traveled to Venice, and later Rome, where he opened his first workshop. Unlike other artists, El Greco altered his style in order to distinguish himself from other artists of the time, inventing new and unusual interpretations of religious subject matter. He created agile, elongated figures, and included a vibrant atmospheric light. After the death of Raphael and Michelangelo, he was determined to leave his own artistic mark, and offered to paint over Michelangelo’s Last Supper to Pope Pius V. His unconventional artistic beliefs (his dislike of Michelangelo included), along with his strong personality, led to the development of many enemies in Rome, especially the hostilities of art critics. 

Las Meninas (1656) Diego Velázquez.  Baroque.  Museo Nacional Del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Back to Madrid, on our last day, I chose to visit Museo Nacional del Prado, the main Spanish national art museum.  This time I am prepared to face a multitude of artworks.  But based on what I saw in Musée d’Orsay, I was not prepared to see a different kind of art - Spanish art and the prevalence of the Baroque style.  From the many works of art at the Prado, Las Meninas has caught my eye.  I lingered longer in front of this art piece than at any other works.  Something in it is unique from my untrained but appreciative eye.  You must remember that internet was still in its infancy in 1999.  I was new in art and I didn’t know that this was one of the most important artworks in history.  Only when I researched back home did I understand the importance of this work in art. 

“One of the most famous and controversial artworks of all time, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour) is regarded as a dialogue between artist and viewer, with its double mirror imagery and sketchy brushwork that brings every figure and object in the room to life" - from the book, 30,000 Years of Art. "Painters as diverse as Goya, Manet, Sargent and Picasso have been inspired to create copies and adaptations after Velázquez’s masterpiece.” 

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV, and one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas.

The Garden of Earthly Delights (1503-1515) Hieronymus Bosch.  Northern Renaissance.  Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Another work of note which has impressed me at the Prado was The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch.  The intricacy of the work is amazing and a short glance was simply not enough.  There is a story you have to look for and many small details to examine which made me remember the work.

By far the best known and most ambitious work, The Garden of Earthly Delights illustrates Bosch’s individual artistic style, containing the most vivid imagery and complexity of symbolic meaning. The triptych is generally thought to be a warning of the dangers of giving in to temptation, but has been subject to vast amounts of conjecture and scrutiny, and critics and historians are split in two directions. Whereas some believe that the middle panel, which depicts a fantastical world of nudes in sexual engagement, large fruits, and other suggestive elements, is simply an illustration of paradise lost, others believe that it is a moral warning, which will lead you to hell, as it is depicted in the third panel of the series. Although there are many contradictory explanations, it is generally thought to be a warning against lust, one of the seven deadly sins.

Hieronymus Bosch born Jheronimus van Aken c. 1450 – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work contains fantastic illustrations of religious concepts and narratives. Within his lifetime his work was collected in the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain, and widely copied, especially his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.  Staue in bronze by Sabino de Medina . Plaza del Museo, Seville, Spain

During my first visit to the city of Seville, I chanced upon seeing this monument of Sevillian painter Murillo and the museum across it.  It was located about a minute or two from the small hotel we booked.  Since everyone was tired and wants to rest, I decided to pay a visit to this museum on my own.  I got the surprise of my life when I went to explore this seemingly small museum.  First, it was not small inside and the works on exhibit were by far the most extensive collection of Spanish works of art I’ve seen even to this day.  And the grandeur of the architecture and interior  of the sala was something I have never expected to find inside this local museum.  Even the beautiful gardens and several courtyards are a nice addition to explore. The main gallery dedicated to the works of Murillo, together with its grand cupola  is located in the former antigua iglesia and is one of the most magnificent exhibition halls I’ve been.

The Museo  (Museum of Fine Arts), Sevilla, was established as a "Museum to display paintings", by Royal Decree on 16 September 1835, with objects from convents and monasteries seized by the liberal government presided by Mendizábal. It is located in the Plaza del Museo, in the place of the former Convento de la Merced Calzada founded on lands transferred by Ferdinand III after conquering Sevilla.  

It has magnificent works of art by Murillo, Zurbarán, Valdés Leal and other representatives of the Seville school. True enough, due to the quality of the art, it is today considered as the second best gallery in Spain.

In 2017, I was back in Seville after 18 years and I didn’t pass on the chance to visit one of my favourite museums again.  After visiting many museums through the years, Museo de Bellas Artes in Seville still leaves me in awe of the beautiful works of art.  The fascination was still there.  Only this time, I am more knowledgeable about arts and museums and I can better appreciate everything in this museum.  Still, I loved this museum.  I still haven’t met anyone who’s visited this museum.  It’s somewhat off the beaten path where museums are concerned.  I’m glad to have been there not once but twice.  It’s my secret gem of a museum.  

Visiting the grand main gallery of Museo de Bellas Artes.  Paintings in the background are by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo including Inmaculada  Concepcion “La Colosal” in the center.

Cristo Crucificado, a series of paintings on Jesus on the cross by Francisco de Zurbarán, a Spanish painter known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes.  Zurbarán gained the nickname "Spanish Caravaggio," owing to the forceful use of chiaroscuro in which he excelled.

[spine-buster]

ZSJ #20

“Come sit on my lap.”

“I told you no gifts,” you told Zack as you sat cross-legged on the bed in his hotel room, a wrapped box in his arms.  It was your birthday and, while you celebrated quietly, you told everyone you didn’t want anything.  Zack, of course, didn’t listen.  “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I couldn’t not get you a gift on your birthday,” Zack said, pushing the box towards you.

You chuckled, lightening the mood, if only slightly.  “You even wrapped it, Zack?”

“Yes?” he said as more of a question.  “I’m perfectly capable of wrapping gifts.”

“Could have fooled me,” you shrugged your shoulders playfully.  “Thank you though.  I really mean it.  You honestly didn’t have to do this.”

You began tearing the paper and noticed that whatever gift Zack got you was in a box, and was pretty heavy.  It sounded like multiple things were enclosed.  You arched your eyebrow at him, and he smiled at back at you.  Breaking the tape with your fingers, you lifted the lid of the box and found a pile of books.  You lifted them up one by one, and with each book you lifted the more emotional you became, the more tears began to well in your eyes.  Monet.  Auguste Renoir.  Degas and His Paintings.  Manet’s Masterpieces.  Vincent van Gogh.  

“I remembered you saying how much you liked that art history course you took in university as your elective the year you were able to go,” Zack began to defend his gift as you browsed through the titles.  “And then I remembered how you said how that one time you got to go to Paris you spent time at the D’Orsay Museum, so I thought even though you’re not always in Paris you could still always look at them while you’re on the road… it was funny actually, I ended up striking up this conversation with this really nice old lady in the aisle who was also buying the Renoir book for her niece and –”

Your lips crashing onto his cut him off, and you were sure he was able to feel the tears that fell from your eyes.  “It’s perfect,” you mumbled once you pulled away.

“Come sit on my lap,” he whispered, and you did just that.  He wrapped his arms around you and kissed you again.  “I’m sorry I made you cry.”

“Don’t apologize.  This is the perfect gift.”

“Really?”

“Yes really, you beanpole.  You’re so sweet to me.”

He chuckled, leaning in to kiss you again.  “Happy birthday.  I love you.”

“I love you too.”

[mmwm]

This month, I’m going to write words and post images relating to the landscape of memory. I hope to write poems most days and also share photos, quotes, and more prosaic thoughts related in some way to memory, nostalgia, longing for place, remembering and forgetting, landscape, dreamscape, landscape’s memory and memory’s landscape, the intersection of the layered historical physical world with personal memory, the frames that both landscape and memory use to contain and order our focus, the landscape of childhood, the landscape of devastation, how memories lie and tell the truth, the fragmentation of memory, how landscapes shape us and our memories, and so on. All the posts will be linked to the Introductory Page as they are posted. Thanks for visiting.

*

Today, I’ve got a messy tangle of thoughts about landscape, landscape painting & impressionism, photography, Arcadia (Western idealised landscape), and memory, beginning with a bit of background on the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, a Danish-French Impressionist painter living from 1830 to 1903, the only artist to have shown work at all eight Paris ‘Impressionist’ exhibitions (held from 1874 -1886), a father figure and master for many Impressionists and all four of the major Post-Impressionists: Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin.

Pissarro was born on the island of St. Thomas (then part of the Danish West Indies) to French-Jewish parents, attending otherwise all-black schools until being sent to boarding school near Paris. He returned to the island at 17, worked as a cargo clerk and drew in his spare time, then travelled with another Dutch artist to Venezuela to sketch for a couple of years before moving to France to draw and paint, eventually seeking out Camille Corot, a pivotal French landscape painter, as a tutor. Corot inspired Pissarro to paint ‘plein air’; as Pissarro later explained it to a student,

“Work at the same time upon sky, water, branches, ground, keeping everything going on an equal basis and unceasingly rework until you have got it. Paint generously and unhesitatingly, for it is best not to lose the first impression.”

In fact, while Corot reworked his paintings in his studio afterward, “often revising them according to his preconceptions” (per Wikipedia), Pissarro finished his outdoors, usually in one sitting, giving them a more realistic feel. Sometimes his work was criticised as ‘vulgar,’ because he painted what he saw: “rutted and edged hodgepodge of bushes, mounds of earth, and trees in various stages of development.”

*

I find when I photograph landscapes and other outdoors scenes that I unconsciously seek the conventionally beautiful shot, the one with the light just so, the most aesthetically pleasing frame and subject matter, the nicely composed one, the one that doesn’t show the bramble, the tangle, the trees knocked hither and thither, cars and trash bins in the foreground, and so on.

That is, unless I look for a kind of landscape of devastation, or the vernacular landscape, and then I see it, and I appreciate it as beautiful, too, both for its outward appearance, and for the devastation or banality itself.

  Similarly, perhaps, memory: We may seek to construct or frame a plausible, well-balanced landscape, an orderly story of an experience (or a series of experiences, a relationship, a life), and we may even return to our memory-making studios to make it so, revising the experience(s) to match our preconceptions, a la Corot, and this task is made easier because as time moves on we have inevitably lost the first impression, the feeling and sensory observations of that moment, the experience of what we saw. We tend, I think, in memory to unconsciously tidy up our first impressions, add and subtract brushstrokes to create a more harmonious, fathomable, unambiguous picture.

I used to toss my blurry photos until I realised that although they were not coherent images, I liked many of them anyway, and maybe that’s because they remind me of my memory, which blurs and blends time and place into an uncertain wavering haze of colour, texture, pattern. “Lost to the mists of time” sounds a bit mysterious, as though antiquity and the modern world have woven a veil to obscure memory’s landscape.

*

After the conventional artists’ Salon of the day rejected all their paintings at their 1866 exhibition, Pissarro and some younger artists — including Monet, Manet, Berthe Morisot, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, and later Gustave Caillebotte, Paul Gauguin, and American painter Mary Cassatt — formed an alternative group, which sponsored a total of eight exhibitions from 1874 to 1886. Their first exhibition shocked and horrified the critics with their “vulgar” and “commonplace” subject matter, such as scenes of street people going about their everyday lives, and their sketchy and incomplete-looking painting (visible brushwork, oh my!).

At first this group of painters was known as ‘Independents’ or the ‘Intransigents’, but by the time of the third exhibit, in 1877, they adopted the name that one critic had given them in 1874, the Impressionists.

Of Pissarro’s work in the 3rd Impressionist Exhibition, where he displayed 22 paintings,  the art critic Louis de Fourcaud (writing as Léon de Lora in Le Gaulois) said:

“Seen up close, they are hideous and incomprehensible; seen from a distance, they are incomprehensible and hideous.”

Here are a few of those paintings:

source: Wikipedia

source: Paris Insider’s Guide

Source: The Eclectic Light Company

*

  To use Fourcaud’s description of Pissarro’s landscapes, my memories are certainly incomprehensible, and perhaps even hideous, in some senses of the word: grim, macabre, weird, incongruous, unnatural, unlovely. They’re messy — incomplete, sketchy, unresolved, unfocused — which is what I think art critics reacted to when they looked at Pissarro’s paintings in the 3rd exhibition. He was painting what he saw and felt, his impression, not adding or removing elements to create another, perhaps more comprehensible, impression altogether.

I like this idea of impressionism, of allowing the initial sensory impression of the moment, the experience, to reach the mind, body, and soul — messy though it may be, both ordered & chaotic, appealing and repellent, ambiguous — even though it will be overtaken inevitably by layering experiences that alter the first impression.

*

Memory begins in the moment of the original event, but it doesn’t really end there. In that way it’s not like an impressionist painting (or most paintings, which are painted and finished), though it might be like our experience of a painting, which changes each time we view it, because we have changed.

In Matthew Stadler’s novel Landscape: Memory (199), a character is painting a landscape he had seen several years earlier:

“The painting develops slowly, over time, as Maxwell recalls and explores his memory. As he paints, he confronts the discrepancy between the view of memory as a static reproduction and what his own experience is telling him. He writes: . . . ‘if my memory ought to be an accurate replica of the original experience, if that was so, my painting was hopelessly inaccurate. It was a bad painting of a fuzzy memory. But I preferred to think that memory is never frozen, nor should it be. My painting was a successful rendering of the dynamic memory that had simply begun with the original event. . . . My painting, I figured, was so very accurate in its depiction of this memory that it would inevitably look wrong when compared to the original model.’” (in “Memory and Landscape in the Work of James Wright” by Richard P. Gabriel)

‘Artist in Greenland 1935-1960’ by Rockwell Kent, seen at the Baltimore Museum of Art on 15 Oct. 2017. Kent painted it around 1935, and in 1960 added himself and his sled dogs to the picture at the request of the then-owner.

  *

Simon Schama, in his tome Landscape and Memory (1995), writes about the ideal of arcadia, an idealised outdoor place, often a landscaped place (even when attempting to imitate the wildness of wilderness):

“There have always been two kinds of arcadia: shaggy and smooth, dark and light; a place of bucolic leisure and a place of primitive panic. … Arguably, both kinds of arcadia, the idyllic as well as the wild, are landscapes of the urban imagination, though clearly answering to different needs. It’s tempting to see the two arcadias perennially defined against each other; from the idea of the park (wilderness or pastoral) to the philosophy of the front yard (industrially kempt or drifted with buttercups and clover); civility and harmony or integrity and unruliness? … But as unreconcilable as the two ideas of arcadia appear to be, their long history suggests that they are, in fact, mutually sustaining.”

Over centuries the Western conception of the idealised landscape bounces back and forth between “something approaching Versailles, with clipt hedges and trellis work” (as Horace Walpole sneered), a place of bucolic contentment, sheep grazing placidly in the trimmed parkland, and on the other side the forest of Fontainebleau, a sort of forest primeval of “hollows, dark valleys, the thickest woods,” where denseness, darkness, shadows, and danger lurked, “a place that might be rugged or treacherous. ‘If scarcely picturesque,’ wrote [Etienne Pivert de] Senancour [in 1833], then the silence and … the ‘mute waste’ corresponded nicely to the state of his soul.”

In a June 1995 New York Times article by Mel Gussow titled “Into Arcadia With Simon Schama,” Central Park in Manhattan is suggested to represent “the double-sided nature of the Arcadian concept. The dreamlike version is, [Schama] said, ‘a place of effortless bucolic sweetness, where you can lie on your back and smell the grass while there’s a faint noise of people hitting balls with bats.’ The nightmare version is ‘a slightly scary, sinister, dense place of sex and death.'” Apparently, this was how Frederick Law Olmsted and his collaborator, Calvert Vaux, planned it, both “rugged, fierce, luxuriant” and a place of “silence, peace and repose.”

(above, images of Central Park)

*

The word landscape, Schama says, “originally came from the Dutch and had to do with making pictures. From the earliest time, it has been loaded with wishful thinking. All the images we have of Yosemite are of Edenic places’ .…”

“Mr. Schama recently did a five-part series based on his book for the BBC, with the last film dealing with Arcadia. It begins with a landscape that could be either England or Italy: ‘Haze over the meadow, sheep nibbling grass. Then the camera pulls back. The first line you hear me say, not from the book, is, “Arcadia has always been a pretty lie.” That’s because of the notion that there’s nobody around doing any of the work. The camera pans back and shows an abandoned tea party which has been invaded by insects.'” 

a worker in the rather idyllic Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, Boothbay, Maine, 17 June 2017

*

“Memory is both beautiful and deceptive, both sweet and perilous. It need not be any one thing” — Troy Jollimore in the New York Times, Nov. 2019, reviewing Charles Wright’s Oblivion Banjo

  Featured image: impressionistic photo of spouse on island in frozen Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire, 22 Feb. 2015

Write 28 Days: Landscape of Memory ~ Arcadia has always been a pretty lie This month, I'm going to write words and post images relating to the landscape of memory. I hope to write poems most days and also share photos, quotes, and more prosaic thoughts related in some way to memory, nostalgia, longing for place, remembering and forgetting, landscape, dreamscape, landscape's memory and memory's landscape, the intersection of the layered historical physical world with personal memory, the frames that both landscape and memory use to contain and order our focus, the landscape of childhood, the landscape of devastation, how memories lie and tell the truth, the fragmentation of memory, how landscapes shape us and our memories, and so on.

[philosophronia]

Oh my goodness, ALL those famous artist asks are awesome, do you mind just answering ALL of them? :D :D :D (if not then: van gogh, kahlo, klee and botticelli)

Waiting for my sister to get here so that we can watch Captain Marvel, so…

picasso: would you rather sleep on the moon with a stardust dress or on a tiny flower with a sunflower dress?

Sleep on the moon with a stardust dress 😍

van gogh: where is your go-to positive place when you’re feeling down/sad and what do you usually do?

Usually, I hop over to Charlie’s room and cuddle with him. Babies have this way of making everything better… 😘

warhol: what is something that you possess that you’ll never give away/sell despite how much the cost?

Hmm… there are one or two apparatuses that I have that I could not bear to give away.

da vinci: describe your dream wedding.

Small and simple. I think I would get extremely nervous if I had to get married in front of hundreds of people 😨

monet: where will you take your significant other in a date?

The ice rink, perhaps? Usually we end up going to watch a movie, though. That and somewhere with nice dessert. 😋

kahlo: what is a pro-tip/lesson that you learned from your past?

The head coach used to tell me whenever I did well in a competition that the instant I got off of the podium, I was nothing – that I was no better than any other gymnast there. She said the same thing to everyone, and although it sounds harsh, I think that that’s the reason none of us got cocky.

michelangelo: do you show your teeth when you smile? do you squint your eyes?

I show my teeth and squint my eyes. 😄

matisse: how do you express your love to your friends/family/significant other?

I like to write them little notes. I’ve always been better at expressing myself through written words rather than spoken words.

kandinsky: would you rather be a silky angel or a lacy princess… or a princess angel?

I have no idea what a silky angel might look like but that sounds pretty neat. 👼

degas: in a garden full of all sorts of flowers, which one will you pick?

None of them. And I’m not saying this because I don’t believe we should ever pick flowers or anything like that. I am quite literally that person that will walk into a candy store and be so overwhelmed because there are too many things that I like that I end up not getting anything at all. I think that’s how I might feel like in a garden full of all sorts of flowers. 😂

klee: in a library full of books, which five will you never get sick of rereading?

… can the Harry Potter series count as one, long book? 🙄

klimt: how many languages do you speak? what is/are it/they?

I can speak English and Korean fluently. My Russian should be a lot better than it is. My Chinese is atrocious. I’m starting to wonder if I really did learn it. 

seurat: if you can wear only one color with different shades for the rest of your life, which one is it, and why?

🤔…….. 

vermeer: which of your qualities make you a dream girl?

… I always have ice cream in the freezer? 

harring: what is your all-time favorite band, movie, and painting?

I don’t have a favorite band, my favorite movie changes all the darn time (right now it is Captain Marvel, because I just watched it and oh my goodness it is good), and my favorite painting… hmm… that’s a hard one. I can say with absolute certainty that I love anything and everything my sister has painted at school and brought back home 😍

munch: what is your medium in art? is that medium your first love?

I’m a pencil and paper girl. I actually don’t enjoy art that much, so I don’t know if I would call it my first love though.

renoir: is you heart occupied right now? describe him/her/them.

Yes. He’s a kind-hearted, open-minded guy, and I’m very lucky to have him in my life.

gauguin: what is one thing that reminds you of childhood?

The gym.

manet: describe your ultimate summer get-away!

Is it bad that my ultimate summer get-away is just staying at home, watching some movies, eating good food, and hanging out with my siblings? 😅

botticelli: what is that one moment in your life that makes you feel proud?

Watching my students overcome themselves. 

cézanne: what is your favorite christmas cookie?

Piparkakku, only because it is so darn fun to say that word out loud. 😋

[juniorformulamotorsport]

Thursday, 28th November/Friday, 29th November 2019 – Hamburg

We always aim to go somewhere that has plenty of Christmas markets, and plenty of other things to see and do as well for the first weekend in Advent, and so this year we headed to Hamburg, in the North of Germany, for our “get in the mood for Christmas” trip.

It’s a city I have some history with, having been a few times including my first trip abroad in 1966 when I was despatched via BOAC to stay with my aunt, Lottie, who lived there, for the six weeks of the summer holiday. I was 7 years old and had my own passport, and my parents drove me all the way to Heathrow, handed me over to the airline staff, and picked me up again 6 weeks later. I was keen to have another look at a city that I last saw 30 years ago, a week after the Berlin wall fell, when it was the logical place for my parents and I to meet our relatives from the East who were able to travel west for the first time in my life. So… history… I wondered if I’d recognise much and was keen to find out. First we had to get there of course. A noon flight out of Heathrow was perfect timing, and having booked Club Europe tickets (only marginally more expensive than Economy) we had lounge access at the airport, fast track security, and were well looked after on the flight out too. The meal provided was very good, and the Champagne was generously supplied.

We landed on time and didn’t have to wait too long for our luggage, and were soon out of the airport and swinging into a cab for the short-ish ride to the city. We could have used our Hamburg Cards, but if we don’t have to, we prefer not to wrangle luggage on and off public transport. As we would later discover, it would almost certainly have involved the Number 6 bus, because as far as I can tell, everything did! It took slightly less than 30 minutes to get to the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and we were soon checked in, with an upgrade thanks to my IHG Ambassador membership. There followed around an hour attempting to find anywhere to put anything! The rooms have been recently refurbished and I don’t think it’s for the better, personally. In the room we had there was a small wardrobe for hanging things, and not a single shelf or drawer for anything that can’t be hung, like, say socks. It was utterly infuriating in a “first world problems” sort of way. We ended up parking stuff on the narrow ledge that ran from the tiny desk space round the side of the room, Lynne put stuff under her bedside cabinet, and I used the floor under the tiny table beside my bed. I really wasn’t amused and it’s a shame that they’ve done this… A social media rant later revealed that this is now a common complaint, especially among my female friends who travel for business. Perhaps whoever designs these things should be made to spend a week in a mocked up version of whatever they are considering, in possession of a week’s worth of stuff, and see how they damn well like it!

Eventually we got organised, and cleaned up, and decided that we’d pop to the bar for our welcome drinks. The bar proved to be very welcoming, and the staff were superb. Friendly, engaging, keen to help, which is all you can hope for in hotel staff. A drink or two and we were due to head out for dinner at TYO TYO, of which more in a separate post.

On Friday we treated ourselves to a latish start, and had a very good breakfast in the hotel, at least once we’d got the hang of the coffee machine, we did. The cups are too small for the latte/cappuccino options, and I didn’t realise immediately that there were larger, glass mugs available for those. It’s the sort of thing you want to be obvious when you’re coming in for breakfast, because until you’ve had coffee, nothing is obvious! After that we headed out into the Sankt Georg neighbourhood, which is interesting it its own right, to walk to the Kunsthalle, having been told we really should not miss it, and being advised by the guidebooks that we should spend as much time in there as we could spare. They said it would be rewarding; they weren’t wrong! If anything, they understated their case substantially.

The Hamburger Kunsthalle is is one of the largest museums in Germany, and was founded in 1850. Today, it covers seven centuries of European art, from the Middle Ages to the present, with a focus on North German painting of the 14th century, paintings by Dutch, Flemish and Italian artists of the 16th and 17th centuries, French and German drawings and paintings of the 19th century, and international modern and contemporary art. Needless to say it also runs a variety of exhibitions, and you could probably lose yourself in the complex of three buildings for an entire weekend. The museum began life as the “Städtische Gallerie”, run by the Hamburg Kunstverein, which was founded in 1817. The collection grew with donations, and purchases, and they quickly needed a building to house all the works. The original red brick Kunsthalle was built between 1863 and 1869, financed largely through private donations and it has grown, and grown from there.

The Kunsthalle is divided into the Gallery of Old Masters, the Gallery of 19th-century Art, the Gallery of Classical Modernism and the Gallery of Contemporary Art, and in a sense of linear solidarity we started with the early works of which they have a very healthy collection, including some mighty fine altarpieces, which is not surprising in such a rich city. The museum website highlights the works of the masters Bertram von Minden, who seems to have spent most of his life in and around Hamburg, and whose work I was much taken with, particularly the Buxtehude altar piece and this, which is from the Petrikirche in Hamburg and dates from 1379 to 1383. It’s huge and phenomenally detailed and definitely rewards close study.

As if that wasn’t enough, they have works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, in particular a portrait of the three electors of Saxony, (the rather wonderfully named Frederick the Wise, John the Steadfast and John-Frederick the Magnanimous), and Hans Holbein the Elder, and we made our way through the rooms admiring the works, and thinking we maybe should have picked up the audio guide (though if we had we’d probably have needed even longer to get round).

After we’d dealt with them, we moved on to a rather fabulous collection of drawings by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn – to give him his proper name – in an exhibition entitled Rembrandt, Masterpieces from the Collection. The Kunsthalle has around 300 Rembrandt etchings which belonged to the art dealer and collector Georg Ernst Harzen (1790–1863), who bequeathed them to the City of Hamburg in his will in 1869. I suspect we’ll be seeing some of them again in Oxford in January next year, but that in no way detracts from the sheer joy of getting up close to some of these incredible works. It’s amazing what can be done with just a few apparently scratchy lines, is all I can say! There turned out to be another roomful of these amazing treasures downstairs in the basement, and I could have happily spent a large part of the day taking in the details.

Of course, we already knew about Caspar David Friedrich, but I’d not seen any of the paintings it real life before. When you hit the section on German Romanticism, there’s a whole roomful of them, including the especially well known “Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer”(Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog) from 1817. It’s so famous it even appears on a piece of Hamburg street furniture close to our hotel, and while it’s regarded as his masterpiece, I’m not so sure.

Personally I was more enamoured of “The Sea of Ice” in terms of atmosphere, finding it to have something oddly futuristic about it.

Failing that, however, the piece I would steal is this one of church ruins near Dresden, “Kirchenruine Oybin”. The light is so special and so magical.

By now we were in need of a break, having had nothing beyond a coffee since breakfast, so we found our way to the basement and the café Das Liebermann, where we were soon in possession of much-needed cake. The Cube would have been a better choice perhaps, but we’d been informed that it was closed for a special event of some sort, so cake it was.

Fortified by cake (and somewhat disappointed to later discover we could have had soup or a wurst) we set off back into the collection, moving ahead in time to the turn of the last century and promptly tripping over the first of a series of works in the 100 Years of the Hamburg Secession – Encounters with the Collection exhibition, scattered throughout the galleries with other works from the same time period. I knew about the Viennese Secession, but the Hamburg group was new to me, and I was especially interested to see the work of a number of women artists prominently displayed, including Alma del Banco, Dorothea Maetzel-Johannsen, Anita Rée and Gretchen Wohlwill.

After we’d finished there we needed another quick sit down, before heading over through the Modern Art section (via Francis Bacon, Max Ernst, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso et al) to the Impressionism exhibition. On the way though I was much taken with this humourous Picasso owl which just made me smile so much – though it does seem that in addition to knowing some funny looking women, and men, Pablo also knew some funny looking owls.

The Impressionism exhibition in the newer part of the museum, which you get to by tunnel. Here the display was of masterpieces from the Ordrupgaard Collection, which I had not heard of but which I think I now need to check out. The collection, which is state-run, began with paintings collected by businessman Wilhelm Hansen and his wife, Henny in the late 19th century. The collection contains works by all of the leading Impressionist artists from Camille Pissarro, by way of Édouard Manet, and Claude Monet, to Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the rest, including a group of eight paintings by Paul Gauguin. It is obviously an impressive collection, even with just a selection on show in Hamburg so I think it may need to be seen.

Feeling somewhat exhausted by now, and realising several hours had gone by, we headed back outside and decided to walk down to one of the Christmas Markets not far away. We settled on the Weisser Zauber on the Jungfernstieg, the promenade that runs along the Binnenalster. The stalls are all white and are quite upmarket and swish, and I managed to buy myself a new wallet because mine is now falling apart, and a new pair of fleece lined dark blue leather gloves as despite having packed in an organised manner, and having a 64kg luggage allowance (!) I’d managed to forget my gloves and hat. We decided we’d stop for a gluehwein, which should have been relaxing, but no one told the Hamburg seagulls, which are an absolute menace. When one dive-bombed some poor bloke for whatever it was he was eating and skimmed straight past my face to do it, we figured we’d best drink up and move away.

I wasn’t any keener on the seagulls after we spotted one eating something that turned out to be the wing of a pigeon… Lovely. We soon forgot about that though as we walked through the delightful Alsterarkaden, a charming arcade built between 1844 and 1846 after the Great Fire of 1842 took out the old town and made way for new developments. The design was the responsibility of Alexis de Chateauneuf (1799-1853), the architect who was born in Hamburg and whose work can also be found in Paris and Oslo. It’s full of rather swish cafés, and very posh shops including this upmarket rum establishment, and again reminds you that there is money in Hamburg (it has the largest number of millionaires in all of Germany).

It also overlooks the Rathaus square, which has its own Christmas market, and which we would take a closer look at on another day. It was time to wander back towards the hotel, investigating a couple more markets on the way, one of which was selling the paper lampshade stars we like to use at this time of year.

We also stuck our noses into the Pride market, but although the DJ was in full swing, and the glitterball was reflecting off the pink reindeer, it was far too early for the clientele and there was hardly anyone there. We walked back along Lange Reihe and stopped off at a small wine shop to buy a bottle of wine before returning to the hotel to shower and change ahead of dinner at Wolfs Junge.

Travel 2019 – Hamburg, Days 1 and 2 Thursday, 28th November/Friday, 29th November 2019 - Hamburg We always aim to go somewhere that has plenty of Christmas markets, and plenty of other things to see and do as well for the first weekend in Advent, and so this year we headed to Hamburg, in the North of Germany, for our "get in the mood for Christmas" trip.

[paleparearchive]

Bazille Is A Worrier?

Bazille's initial 2★ story (1/1)

Location: garden (morning) ; morning sky ; Renoir, Monet, Sisley & Bazille's room | Characters: Bazille, Monet

Bazille: For God's sake… He's not even here, huh?

Monet said he was going to take care of the garden, but where did he go? Jeez… He didn't even go back for lunch, so I came to see how engrossed he was. I don't think so, but he didn't forget to hydrate himself and collapse somewhere, did he?

Monet's voice: WOAAAAH! What a spectacular view! It's so niceee!!!

Bazille: … This voice, is it Monet? God, where is he?

H-Hey! What the hell are you doing on the roof!?

Monet: Oooh! If it ain't Bazille! The view from here's awesome! Ya should climb up here too! Just put your feet up on the fence there and you'll get a good show!

Bazille: Who would climb that! It can't be that easy. No, I'm not a monkey. Generally speaking, gazebo roofs are not made for people to climb up. Get off before you fall!

Monet: Now now, don't say that. It's breezy and awesome!

Bazille: Listen up. Why are you even there in the first place? It's not safe!

—

Monet: Well, the flowers in the garden have started bloomin' and they look great! I just thought it'd look even more beautiful from up here!

Bazille: That's why you climbed up on the roof. … You really are a simple-minded guy.

Monet: Huuuh, why? When something's beautiful, ya just wanna see it from a better angle, dontcha think!?

Bazille: Well, I can understand that mindset... We're artists who pursue beauty after all. But I guess it's part of human nature to use reason in face of danger…

Monet: Noo way! Sometimes a painter's passion for beautiful things can get out of control!

Bazille: Jesus Christ. Don't be a sophist and get the heck off there! What if you fall and break a bone in your hand! You might never be able to paint the pictures you love again.

Monet: D-Don't scare me like that!

Bazille: It's not just a threat. It's a prediction of the worst possible future that could happen as a result of your shallow actions.

Monet: Uuuuugh… Gotcha, I'll just get off. Jeez, ya worry too much, Bazille.

Woah!?

Bazille: MONET!!!

—

Bazille: Hey, are you okay!? Stay strong!!!

Monet: Owowowow… Aaaah, I feeeeell…

Bazille: You're still alive, right!? Are you injured? Where does it hurt!?

Monet: Aaaaah… I'm okay, I'm okay… aaah, it hurts!!!

Bazille: You're not okay at all! Let me take a look at it. Where is it? You don't think it's your arm, do you!?

Monet: No, my leg…

Bazille: Your leg... It doesn't seem to be broken. Let's go back to our room and patch it up. Can you walk?

Monet: Y-Yeah. Thanks, Bazille.

Bazille: … Whatever.

Aaah, alright! I'll lend you a shoulder, don't try to force yourself to walk! You'll only make it worse!

—

Bazille: I can't believe you fell off the roof and only sprained your ankle. You're very sturdy.

Monet: I am! I'm workin' out like Manet-aniki! It's good muscle trainin', wanna do it too, Bazille?

Bazille: I won't do it. Mostly because I don't even want to climb up there.

Monet: It's good to change your perspective once in a while.

Bazille: Just be glad it wasn't your arm that got injured.

Monet: Uuugh… Okay. I'll be careful.

Bazille: Right. From now on, no more climbing up high places. And of course, no tree climbing as well.

Monet: Huuuh!?

Bazille: Don't go out too much for a while. If you walk around with poor protection, you'll lose your physical balance and it will affect your brush strokes. Oh yeah, muscle training is also prohibited.

Monet: W-Why!?

Bazille: You're the kind of guy who, if he moves his body even a little bit, is definitely going to want to move around more. At least stay put until you get better.

Monet: But I'm fine…! I'm not that dumb…

Bazille: If you don't understand it, I'll make a picture of you in your stupid bandages and hang it all over our room, okay?

Stay put. Got it?

Monet: O-Okaaay…

[readyjetsetjo]

Week 5: This Week’s Where To

Shop:

The best place I have shopped at so far has been the Galleries of Lafayette! It is the full Parisian experience to say the least. Four stories high with a stain glass dome for a ceiling, it really seems like you should be praying instead of shopping here. It’s an amazing experience to just walk around and take in the beautiful layout of the department store. The street that Lafayette on is a huge shopping district with at least a hundred different stores. I perused the area and found that going into the connecting alleyways you can find small shops with plenty of cute more reasonably priced items. The whole district is buzzing with shoppers and its really a fun shopping experience being able to visit stores like Zara or Yves Saint Laurent with a couple strides.

Thrift:

After you’ve bought a few items at the Lafayette, and realized this could get dangerous for your wallet really fast, you should look over to some cheaper (and more interesting) options! My friend Ariehanna took me to a thrift store that was selling clothes for 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 euros! The whole place was filled with sweaters, knits, scarfs, and coats. Parisians really throw away some amazing stuff because I got two knit sweaters, a 100% silk scarf, and 2 100% cashmere sweaters for 19 euros. My friend Audrey got a pristine tan trench coat that fit her like a glove for 7 euros! Thrift stores are really easy to find you can search yelp or even google which will help you. Be sure to search for thrift stores and not second hand vintage stores because those will be very nice pricy second hand goods with a lot of brand names. If you know what you’re looking for and make a quick trip to the laundry mat after you are going to find some amazing pieces that will save you a ton of euros! Check out Geurrisol or a Kilo Shop.

Dance like an American:

Last Saturday my friend Audrey and my housemate Laura, a study abroad student from UW, decided to go out and experience the Parisian night life! We took a long bus ride to the Latin Quarter to a Jazz Bar that ended up just being a typical Parisian bar, people holding a drink and sitting talking with friends. As fun as that is, we are American’s, and when we go out to drink we’re going to want to dance! We met two very nice girls who told us about a couple clubs in the Moulin Rouge and so we trekked it back to that area. The area was packed! The streets were filled with people and so we went into a club right next to the rouge! It was a cool bar area and once going in deeper there was a huge dancing area with a DJ. To our surprise it was actually packed with people dancing! If you’re trying to go to a club I’d advise you to go to the Moulin Rouge district. It had so many bars, clubs, and late night open food places to satisfy your drunchies. We ended up leaving at 4:30AM which still had a good amount of people in it. The bars close at 5am but keep in mind the metro closes at 1. You’re going to have to take a night bus or uber, but thankfully we lived walking distance from the Rouge.

D’orsay:

We went to Musée d'Orsay and it was magnificent. The room is a long hall-ish room with huge vaulted curved dome like ceiling and a clock. The Museum had amazing paintings of Renoir, Manet, Cezanne, Monet, and Van Gogh.

Seeing all these monumental paintings from the impressionist movement makes you really think about how talented these people were. When you look at a painting it makes you want to look at it closer and draws you in by the obscurity, but the closer you get to the photo the less you see. The objects become hundreds of smudgy brush strokes, but then when taking a few steps back and you can see the whole image again. Our guide said something along the lines that it would be terribly hard to know when to stop painting, which I think is so true. Every brush stroke doesn’t look like anything until it’s seen from afar all together. One of the most exciting parts of the museum was seeing Van Gogh’s room. This was the first painting I’ve seen of Van Gogh in my 2nd grade art class and being able to see it was so cool. It’s crazy you see paintings like Van Gogh’s portrait and the Mona Lisa so much back at home through the computer, tv, and textbooks, but now you get to stand in front of them and see every wrinkle, curve, stoke and color.

[themeltedheadaches]

all the questions!

aaaa thank you soli!!  <33333

picasso: would you rather sleep on the moon with a stardust dress or on a tiny flower with a sunflower dress?

the moon!! 10/10 would have a sleepover with aliens

van gogh: where is your go-to positive place when you’re feeling down/sad and what do you usually do?

physically i usually go to my room if i’m feeling overwhelmed or the living room if i’m lonely LOL i’m a homebody so i like to stick it at home. but if i need to get out i like to walk to the park that’s by my house! mentally i like to just check out for a bit and get distracted. 

warhol: what is something that you possess that you’ll never give away/sell despite how much the cost?

hmmm probably anything that used to be my great-grandmother’s.

da vinci: describe your dream wedding.

small! pastel! outdoors definitely, and comfortable! probably casual as well.

monet: where will you take your significant other in a date?

CONCERTS, i love taking people to concerts. museums b/c art is Important. honestly anywhere, i think walking around a park would be a good date lol 

kahlo: what is a pro-tip/lesson that you learned from your past?

it’s easier to make a positive change in your life than you think it is, or you’re never helpless, or use your mascara before it expires goddamn

michelangelo: do you show your teeth when you smile? do you squint your eyes?

only sometimes, and yes lol not on purpose

matisse: how do you express your love to your friends/family/significant other?

by telling them! or i like to get them little gifts or compliment them, or i open up to them more and make sure they know they can do the same.

kandinsky: would you rather be a silky angel or a lacy princess… or a princess angel?

lacy princess definitely 

degas: in a garden full of all sorts of flowers, which one will you pick?

the small ones! i love flowers like statice, lilacs, and forget-me-nots.

klee: in a library full of books, which five will you never get sick of rereading?

ANY lotr book (fun fact: once when i was bored over the summer i annotated my copies to point out all the environmental/anti-war stuff in it and it was a Blast), the anatomy of being by shinji moon, i’ll give you the sun by jandy nelson, the lady in gold by anne-marie o’conner, and probably enna burning by shannon hale (that book has so much nostalgia factor and it was so important to me!)

klimt: how many languages do you speak? what is/are it/they?

1 b/c i’m the worst but i’m teaching myself to read yiddish on duolingo!

seurat: if you can wear only one color with different shades for the rest of your life, which one is it, and why?

red!!! it’s so versatile and eye-catching and fun, and also looks killer on me lmao

vermeer: which of your qualities make you a dream girl?

fierce, protective, confident, vibrant, vivacious, bubbly, easy to please, funny, passionate, intuitive, ideological, eloquent, and strong…….basically i’m just incredible

harring: what is your all-time favorite band, movie, and painting? 

band: FUCK rn it’s the regrettes, but all-time would have to be…………………………………………………………FUCKmovie: EASILY the two towers, i’m so fucking easy gdpainting: anything by john mclaughlin or gustav klimt tbh 

munch: what is your medium in art? is that medium your first love?

poetry lol! it’s definitely not my first love, i’ve loved watercolors, oil paintings, novels, short stories, and music too, but poetry is something i’ve always been fascinated with and will always come back to. it’s the one medium i feel like i can express myself to the full, and can grow while always being challenged to be better. 

renoir: is you heart occupied right now? describe him/her/them.

romantically not at all LOL, otherwise my heart is just full of thoughts for my family. we’re going through a rough time but we’re going to be okay!! my step-family and i are so close, i’m really so blessed to have them even when we’re grieving. i’ll always be thankful for their constant compassion and goodness, and readiness to welcome me with so much love.

gauguin: what is one thing that reminds you of childhood?

when empty dirty asphalt gets really hot and starts to simmer and that tar smell rises up, that’s all the recesses at my elementary school right there omfg

manet: describe your ultimate summer get-away!

b e a c h  p l e a s e hm actually i’d love to travel somewhere really peaceful where i can throw my phone into a lake maybe lol

botticelli: what is that one moment in your life that makes you feel proud?

I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT THIS the moment when i signed up to read at a poetry slam!!! i’d never done it before, always wanted to, and i freaking DID IT and it was amazing and i got such a wonderful reception in such a tiny room full of such amazing talented people, i was honored to share my work with them and get their love back in return. that was the moment when i started actually making who i want to be and what i want to do in the future a reality and i’m so EXCITED to keep at it!!

cézanne: what is your favorite christmas cookie?

hands down the only christmas cookie that matters is gingerbread, in part b/c it’s a family-friend tradition in my household and also b/c it’s the best excuse to fit a ridiculous amount of frosting and candy on the smallest piece of cookie

[paleparearchive]

A Miraculous Birthday with Aniki

Monet's Birthday 4★ story (3/3) ( 1 - 2 - 3 )

Location: atelier 2 (night) | Characters: Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Bazille, Manet

Sisley: Monet! Happy birthday!

Monet: Woaah!? That scared me!

Renoir: Didn't you expect this was going to happen when you arrived at the party?

Bazille: Since we're talking about Monet, he didn't think anything about it at all.

Monet: Hahaha, Bazille exposed me. Thanks for celebratin' me this morning and at night too! I'm soooo happy!

Bazille: … I guess you don't have any congratulatory gifts, then.

Monet: Ah, that thing? I quit that, I'm givin' it back. I'm still a lil' unsettled, but when you're bein' celebrated, ya should accept it with open arms–

Bazille: Manet-san told you that, right?

Monet: Huh, how do you know…?

Bazille: I talked to him about it. About your situation.

Monet: You did…? But why Manet-san?

Bazille: You're the type of person who won't listen to me when I tell you that you don't have to pay anyone back. So I reached out to someone who you would've definitely listened to in order to tell you what you didn't want to hear.

Monet: I-I see…! Aaah, so that's why Manet-san knew ‘bout my problem. So it's no coincidence he came to the terrace…

Bazille: Well, it wasn't a bad idea in the end. I'm glad Manet-san changed your mind.

… Maybe that's how much he cared about your birthday.

Monet: M-Manet-anikiii…!!

Sisley: I wonder if there's something so special about Manet-san turning his attention to you on your birthday.

Renoir: If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be a "miracle", don't you think?

Bazille: You're actually right.

Monet: Sob… Sob… I'll follow Aniki for the rest of my life…

Manet: It looks like you've learned your lesson.

Monet: Aniki!

Manet: You don't have to think about what you're going to do, just accept it. Don't make the same mistake twice.

Monet: Yeah!

Manet: Keep up the good work.

Monet: …! Aniki, are these art supplies a gift…?

Manet: Your landscape paintings are not bad. Show me a work of art with these materials that will impress me.

Monet: A-Aniki…! I'll do it! I'll definitely, definitely paint a picture that'll impress ya! Aaaaaaaah, I can't do this! I gotta go paint it now!

Sisley: Uh, ah, w-wait!

Renoir: Sigh, he's already gone.

Bazille: This is no time to stay still. Let's go after him!

Hey! Monet!

Monet: Yeaaah, time to paaaint!

Sisley: It's late and the party is already underway. Come on, calm down.

Monet: But Aniki gave me art materials!? I got no choice but to paint, ya know!?

Bazille: So do it tomorrow!

Monet: Nobody can stop me now!

Bazille: I said stop, idiot!

Sisley: Please stop, Monet…!

Renoir: Wouldn't it be better if we asked Manet-san to stop this again?

Bazille: Wouldn't it be even worse if Manet showed up under these circumstances…?

Monet: Heck yeaaaah! Just you wait, Manet-aniki! I'll definitely impress yaaa!

[paleparearchive]

Resolution Day

Monet's 1st initial 3★ story (2/2) ( 1 - 2 )

Location: café ; park (evening) | Characters: Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Bazille, Manet

Monet: (I'm really pissed off! My drawings, imitations of this guy called Manet…! What's more, they kept sayin' selfish things, such as me winnin' the prize by mistakenly thinkin’ it was Manet's painting!)

Manet: –Hmpf, that is not much to talk about. Why should I change the direction of my paintings?

Monet: (Huh? Is there some kinda dispute?)

Manet: My picture is perfect. We should change the thinking of the commoners who criticize me.

Former owner: Manet, don't be ridiculous.

Monet: (Manet... Maybe he's the guy who was mistaken as the author of my painting...?)

Former owner: If the museum is criticized to this extent, its image will be at stake. As the owner, I can't just leave it like this.

Manet: No matter what you say, there's no way I'm going to change my mind. I always just paint what I think is the best picture. No one, no matter who they are, is allowed to interfere.

Former owner: … I think you need to cool off your head a bit. When you change your mind, let's discuss it again.

Monet: (The guy in the suit who left, he said he was the owner, right? If I said anythin’ like that, they’d cut my contract…)

…

… Hey, ya there. You're the artist called Manet, right?

Manet: And who might you be?

Monet: I'm Monet.

Manet: Monet… That name sounds familiar. You're the guy who was impersonating me at the last exhibition. I still don't understand the thinking of the commoners to try to gain recognition in such a way.

Monet: What? I've been mistaken for ya, too, and I've had a lotta trouble with it!

Manet: Is that all you have to say? Then I'm leaving. I didn't expect to be summoned by the owner and then have to listen to the nonsense of the commoners.

Monet: Wait, hold on a sec!

Manet: … What? Do you want to take up any more of my precious production time? I don't think you're worth it.

Monet: Wha…

(What an obnoxious guy! I can't believe I was mistaken for this dude… But some would've said that even a guy like him's capable. And yet, the conversation we just had…)

… Lemme ask ya somethin'. I heard you and the owner had a fallin' out, what happened?

Manet: He was just a pathetic commoner who didn't understand the value of my paintings. The fact that "Olympia in Bed" was criticized is no reason to change one's style. There is no point in abandoning the ideals and beliefs that I have cultivated up to this point and being accepted by the world. If the public won't accept it, I'll do whatever I can to get them to accept it.

Monet: …!

~~~

Monet: … At the time, I honestly thought Manet-aniki was a horrible guy. But he had an incredibly strong will for paintin'. So after talkin' at the coffee shop, I went to see "Olympia on the Bed"... And I was moved beyond words. That's when I began to adore Aniki.

Renoir: I've heard how you came to adore Manet-san before, but I didn't know you met him at a coffee shop.

Monet: It's 'cuz... It's hard for me to say that I got into trouble with Aniki.

I'm still not as well-known as other artists. But I wanna become a charismatic leader like Manet-aniki and lead ya guys. So, I wanna create our own era!

Sisley: Monet… So that's what you were thinking about.

Monet: Hehe, guess so.

Renoir: But you're too reckless with everything, Monet. No matter how much you admire Manet-san.

Sisley: That's true. I wish you could rely on us more.

Bazille: As for me, I don't want to be pulled in by Monet. You never know where he's going to run off to.

Monet: W-Well… Uuh, I got nothin' to say back…

Bazille: … So, let's run together. Then you wouldn't have to do anything reckless.

Monet: Huh?

Sisley: Overdoing it is no good, but surely, production also requires stamina. It might be nice to run once in a while.

Renoir: This isn't the kind of thing I like to do. … But oh well, it should be okay with the three of you.

Monet: Guys… Thanks! Well then, let's aim for our era… Let's run towards the sunset!!

Bazille: No, we'll just do the usual physical fitness stuff. Hurry up, or the sun will set.

Sisley: That's right. Manet-san might also have returned, too.

Renoir: Monet, after youuu~

Monet: H-Hey!? What 'bout ya sayin' to be united earlier!? I mean, don't leave me hereeee!!

[paleparearchive]

Rembrandt

Room conversations

(Room voicelines, Secret monologues, Room conversations)

Room voicelines

Rembrandt: They said they painted the walls of this room blue togetheeer~ (Van Gogh & Gauguin's room)

Rembrandt: There's a picture of a muscular maan. Typical of Michelangelo-kun. (Michelangelo's room)

Rembrandt: There are so many mysterious things. I'll ask him about them next tiime~ (Da Vinci's room)

Rembrandt: There's a model of the museum! Where are we now? (Raffaello's room)

Rembrandt: There are soooo many sheep. Is it for Jan-kun? (Hubert & Jan's room)

Rembrandt: Manet's room is full of things that seem to have a story to teeell~ Which one should I check? (Manet's room)

Rembrandt: The star and moon decorations are beautiful. It looks like they have stories to teeell~ (Mucha's room)

Rembrandt: Woow, there's a big picture of a back. He must reaaaally like it~ (Ingres's room)

Rembrandt: It's kinda coool. Is this what rock is all about? (Delacroix's room)

Rembrandt: Courbet-kun's books… right, he said he doesn't read storieees~ (Courbet & Millet's room)

Rembrandt: I wish I could be here when all of them areee. I'm sure they'll have some fun stories to tell. (Monet, Renoir, Sisley & Bazille's room)

Rembrandt: There are toys next to Munch-kun's desk. Does he play with these with his friends? (Giotto, Watteau, Munch & El Greco's room)

Rembrandt: Ah, this is my room. That desk with the accessories is minee~ (Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens & Velazquez's room)

Rembrandt: WOAAAH!? … Ouch, I fell. Looks like I stepped on something… (Hokusai, Hiroshige & Kuroda's room)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Secret monologues

Rembrandt: You shouldn't get too involved with me. I'm sure… I'll make you unhappy too. (Secret monologue 1)

Rembrandt: Again. Once again... it's my fault. (Secret monologue 2)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Room conversations

Van Gogh: You almost drowned in the bathtub… but I thought you couldn't swim?

Rembrandt: That's riight. I get stuck when I'm in the wateeer.

Courbet: Why are you covered in mud... What happened this time?

Rembrandt: Hahahaa, the ground was muddy and I fell!

Da Vinci: I cannot really enjoy the cookies you made, Rembrandt-san…

Rembrandt: Maaybe it would've been better if I hadn't helped out.

Renoir: The last pick-up was amazing. I never thought it would come to that.

Rembrandt: Suddenly the glass was overturned and we were soaking weeet!

Michelangelo: Huh, an interview? That sorta thing... I'll pass on that.

Rembrandt: Huuuh, but I would've loved to hear your story with Da Vinci-kun.

Hokusai: Oh, ya interested in this accessory? Where was the store I bought it from…

Rembrandt: If you've forgotten, that's okaaaay. Let me know if you remembeeer.

Gauguin: You want to hear about me and Van Gogh? When I think about it... my stomach…

Rembrandt: Gauguin-kun, are you okaay? Let's stop talking about thiiiis!

Monet: Ya wanna hear how I met Manet-san? I'll tell ya all 'bout it!

Rembrandt: Woow, thanks! I would really, really love to hear about it!

Raffaello: You liked bread, am I right? I bought some, so I can share it with you.

Rembrandt: Raffaello-san, thank youuu! I love it, I'm soooo happy~

Munch: You want to hear Niko-chan's story? I wanna hear it too!

Rembrandt: Hahaha, that would be veeeru helpful! Well then, I look forward to you translating for meee.

Giotto: W-What the heck's with these sweets!? Hubert made them, didn't he…?

Rembrandt: I helped him out, but I got the salt and sugar mixed uuuup.

Sisley: If you want, would you like to go shopping together again sometime?

Rembrandt: You're good at finding bargains, so I'd love to!

Bazille: Courbet told me. Please go take a bath before the treatment.

Rembrandt: Okaaaay! Then I'll come to your room when I get ouuut.

Kuroda: If you want to interview me, you should ask me that after you have painted your best picture.

Rembrandt: My best picture… Well then, I'll do my best to paint iiit!

Ingres: Based on past experience, there's a 99% chance that you will fall within an hour.

Rembrandt: Hahaha... That's a very scary calculation. I'll try not to fall– woaaah!

Delacroix: Drownin' in the bathtub's a problem. How 'bout takin' a shower?

Rembrandt: Aahh, that's a greaaat idea! I'll try that next timeee.

Watteau: That last pick-up was a disaster! But we're not gonna give up, let's do it again!

Rembrandt: Yeah, yeah! It was tough, but it was fun, so I'd love to do it agaain.

Velazquez: I don't think listening to other people's stories is that interesting.

Rembrandt: You think soo? It's fun to hear what stories they have to teeell!

Velazquez: I see. But I see you've never told anyone your own story.

Rembrandt: Riiight… It's because my story isn't very interestiiing…

Rembrandt: Which accessories should I wear todaay?

Velazquez: How about these ones? I think they would be an intellectual and compatible match.

Rembrandt: Rubens-san told me that combination is baaaad.

Velazquez: I see... Fashion is really hard…

Van Dyck: Hey, can I borrow this accessory, just for today?

Rembrandt: Yeah, it's fine, it's fineee! But what happened, all of a sudden?

Van Dyck: I'm having dinner with Teacher tomorrow, but I can't find anything that matches my outfit.

Rembrandt: So thaat's how it is! I'd like to hear about it next timeee.

Rembrandt: Aaah... my clothes are all soaking wet…

Van Dyck: Woah… Did you fall into a pond this time? Or did it suddenly rain?

Rembrandt: Noo, a bucket fell from aboveee…

Van Dyck: Seriously, you're too unlucky…

Rubens: I think these clothes would fit you, don't you think, Rembrandt-chan?

Rembrandt: You're asking me if those are the kind of clothes I likeee? Also, what happened all of a suddeeen?

Rubens: I recently found these in a store and couldn't resist buying them♪

Rembrandt: Thanks, Rubens-san. I'd like to go to that shop toooo.

Rembrandt: Huuuuh? Where did I put the accessory I bought earlieer?

Rubens: Ara, they're gone, aren't they? You can use mine if you want.

Rembrandt: Thaanks! It's a very sparkly and cute accessory.

Rubens: Heh, that's the most gorgeous and cutest I own♪

El Greco: You want to hear about my island…? It's beyond the horizon, but that should be fine.

Rembrandt: Uuhm, maybe I should bring Munch-kun along too.

Jan: Rembrandt-nii, you don't know how to cooook?

Rembrandt: It seems so. I think I realized when I made a mistake!

Hubert: Uhm… you want to help me, Rembrandt-san…?

Rembrandt: You always cook for us, I wanna help out too sometimeees!

Millet: An old story of mine with Delacroix? I don't know if it'll interesting, but do you want to hear it?

Rembrandt: Yup, yuuup. It'll be very interesting to meee!

Manet: I'm warning you, do not come into the atelier while I'm working.

Rembrandt: Don't worryyy! Courbet-kun told me not to get too cloose.

Mucha: If only we could do something with your power to make business…

Rembrandt: Hmm… It sounds like it can only be used for bad thiiings.

Hiroshige: You fell spectacularly this time too. How about hiring a shadow warrior?

Rembrandt: Riiight… If it's a shadow warrior like Morita-san, I might want him to stay by my sideeee.

[paleparearchive]

Courbet

Room conversations

(Room voicelines, Secret monologues, Room conversations)

Room voicelines

Courbet: Does that guy have sunflowers in his room too? (Van Gogh & Gauguin's room)

Courbet: There's a sculpture in the making. Is he carving tombstones again…? (Michelangelo's room)

Courbet: There are lots of different inventions here. It's an interesting room. (Da Vinci's room)

Courbet: Is this... a religious painting? As expected, he's really good. (Raffaello's room)

Courbet: What can I say… it's an appropriate room for those siblings? (Hubert & Jan's room)

Courbet: I'm not particularly interested in it. (Manet's room)

Courbet: Moon and stars... Is he interested in celestial bodies? (Mucha's room)

Courbet: It's pretty tidy and organized. It's an appropriate room for Ingres. (Ingres's room)

Courbet: Woah… He's not going to clean this up? You wouldn't call this rock, would he? (Delacroix's room)

Courbet: It's me and Millet's room. There is nothing particularly unusual here. (Courbet & Millet's room)

Courbet: This is Monet and the others' room, right? I often hear laughter coming from here. (Monet, Renoir, Sisley & Bazille's room)

Courbet: Let's get out of here quickly. If I see Watteau, he'll invite me to another party. (Giotto, Watteau, Munch & El Greco's room)

Courbet: It's obvious who's in which seat. Rembrandt should clean up. (Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens & Velazquez's room)

Courbet: Ah! Don't leave paints on the floor! I almost stepped on them! (Hokusai, Hiroshige & Kuroda's room)

┈┈・୨ ✦ ୧・┈┈

Secret monologues

Courbet: Huh, those guys only fantasize about paintings. … I want them to just think about painting… (Secret monologue 1)

Courbet: Theory isn't something cold. It's something ardent that can move people's hearts. (Secret monologue 2)

┈┈・୨ ✦ ୧・┈┈

Room conversations

Van Gogh: Hokusai-san has some interesting stories to tell us! Would you like to join us, Courbet?

Courbet: Those kinds of stories... I don't believe them and I won't listen to them…!!

Da Vinci: Actually, there is a rumor that people come out of the paintings at night–

Courbet: What did you hear from Hokusai!? That can't be true!

Renoir: Why do you hate Manet-san so much, Courbet?

Courbet: Maybe it's because his paintings, his thoughts, everything about him is the opposite of mine.

Rembrandt: I saw Delacroix-kun running, what happeneeed?

Courbet: No, nothing in particular. I was just telling him the truth.

Michelangelo: Hmm… ya don't have enough pecs. How 'bout your lats?

Courbet: H-Hey… Stop touching me repeatedly.

Hokusai: Courbet, I've got an interesting ghost story, wanna hear it?

Courbet: I-I won't listen to you! Now shut up!!

Gauguin: I can't find Van Gogh... do you know where he is?

Courbet: He's probably in the atelier, listening to Hokusai's stories.

Monet: Sighhh, I wanna be like Manet-aniki…

Courbet: It's realistic to think that you're looking up to the wrong person.

Raffaello: You are liked by many women, Courbet-kun.

Courbet: I wonder why it sounds sarcastic when you say it.

Munch: Courbetti! My friends gave me some sweets, let's eat them together!

Courbet: Eeek… what the hell is that… I-I'm not going to eat them!

Giotto: Have you tried Munch's sweets? Those are soooo good!

Courbet: No way I'm going to eat them! Where the hell did he get them…

Sisley: Courbet-san, you received a letter from a fan.

Courbet: Sorry about that, as always. But still, I get so many letters from women…

Bazille: Sorry for bothering you again today. Guess I'd better get back…

Courbet: It's a guy who's trouble for the both of us, so it must be hard. Don't worry about it.

Kuroda: I have heard from Mucha and Rubens. Let's work together, shall we?

Courbet: I can't think of a stronger companion so far. I'm looking forward to your cooperation.

Ingres: It seems that you too have become Michelangelo-san's target.

Courbet: What the hell is that? At any rate, it doesn't seem to be praiseworthy.

Delacroix: Ya ain't rock enough, ya gotta care more 'bout your passion.

Courbet: First of all, take care of the deadlines. The deadline from that client is probably next week.

Watteau: Huuuh, dontcha have too many female fans, Courbet!? I'm sooo jealous.

Courbet: Is that so? I don't really get it, but I'm replying to them properly.

Velazquez: I'm thinking of taking a trip with Rubens, where would be the best place to go?

Courbet: How about you be realistic and check out the local area first?

Van Dyck: Listen to me! That Velazquez guy, it looks like he's going on a trip with my teacher!

Courbet: Ah, yeah... he told me... What's the problem with that, though?

Rubens: Ara, you and Mucha-chan are having a secret conversation? Let me hear it too♪

Courbet: There's no harm in asking for advice, is there? I've been trying to figure out what to do about Manet.

El Greco: Is this… a book on witchcraft? Don't be hasty... do not read it!

Courbet: This is a collection of law cases… but I don't think you got the message.

Jan: Courbet-nii! You have a magic book here, is that riiight!?

Courbet: Did you hear that from El Greco? There's no such unrealistic thing.

Hubert: Not only Munch-san's sweets are delicious, but they also have a nice texture–

Courbet: Okay, I get it, then give your feedback somewhere other than where I am!

Millet: Are you okay? You look kind of pale.

Courbet: Today, too, Rembrandt fell and Hokusai got lost…

Millet: Haha, so that's why you're tired. Would you like some hot soup?

Courbet: Yeah… sorry, as always. Being with you makes me feel at ease.

Courbet: Millet, how about we go to a cafe together sometime?

Millet: It's fine for me, but... what happened, all of a sudden? Is something bothering you…?

Courbet: You've been a big help to me. I thought to thank you in some way.

Millet: Thanks, Courbet. That feeling alone is enough for me.

Manet: Two people sharing a small room... Is this the wisdom of the commoners' life?

Courbet: It seems you're incapable of understanding the concept of "courtesy". Now get out!

Mucha: I saw Manet-san coming out of here, what seems to be the problem?

Courbet: You came just in time. Tell me how to socially ostracize that guy.

Hiroshige: Michelangelo-dono told me that all my muscles are no good…

Courbet: That's only natural, considering how much you rely on Morita-san.