The Stranger I Met Today

On Friday nights, the Philadelphia Art Museum hosts Art after 5.  Along with admission to the museum, tickets include musical performances at the base of the Great Stair Hall.  For anyone looking for a well-rounded evening of art to end the workweek, Art After 5 should be at the top of the list. 

My friends and I really wanted to experience everything that the museum had to offer that Friday night.  We knew that we’d eventually snag a café table and shoulder-salsa to the percussion driven, Cuban-influenced jazz of Arturo Stable and his band.  And I had a hunch we would order some wine and the cheese plate (we did).  But before we settled into the food and music, we opted to join one of the museum tours. 

At 5:30, we met Judith, our docent, at the front desk.  She described her background as she guided us to the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist gallery filled with Monet, Cassatt, and too many other artistic talents to name.  We officially started the tour in a circular room; the paintings were all equidistant from the center fountain.  The room was empty and full all at the same time.  The floor was bare and pockets of empty space were balanced with paintings that seemed much larger and reaching than the rectangular frames that surrounded them.    Judith had only 45 minutes to educate us on the shift from Impressionism to Modern Art.  I appreciated that she took on that challenge with commitment.    Judith used Cubism to bridge the two periods, pointing out elements of both ‘entering the painting’ and abstraction in Cubist painting examples.  When we reached Picasso’s Three Musicians, a bit of me (the close-minded bit of me) wanted to run back to Klimt and Renoir because the Cubism movement along with most art from the modern era are intimidating.    

Then we turned a corner and there it was.  Portrait of Mlle Yvonne Landsberg.  The oil on canvas painting was done by Henri Matisse in 1914.  He was commissioned by her parents to paint a portrait.  As Judith explained to us, the portrait they were hoping for was far different than the portrait that was completed.  At the conclusion of the numerous sittings, including a final session that featured Matisse using a knife or the sharp end of his brush to scrape ‘lines of construction’ around Yvonne, the Landsberg family declined to purchase the piece. 

“They didn’t like,” said Judith.  “The painting didn’t look exactly like her.  But, it’s been said that he loved her.”  After a pause, Judith said “That’s apparent from what’s in front of us.”  Reader, if you haven’t yet entered the name of this painting into a search engine, do it now.  Better yet, drop what you’re doing and head to the museum and see it in person. 

I wasn’t satisfied with Judith’s explanation, through no fault of her own.  She only had 45 minutes to explain over one hundred years of art.  I started researching the piece and couldn’t find anything to corroborate the story that Matisse loved young Yvonne Landsberg.  I found interviews with her brother, who claimed that the painting began as a true depiction of her physical presence, but then morphed over time to capture her spirit.  I discovered the works of Matisse.  Experts say that his work in Cubism blossomed after the Landsberg portrait.  I learned about the simultaneously friendly and competitive relationship that Matisse had with fellow artist Pablo Picasso.  But, I couldn’t find out if Matisse loved Yvonne and it’s killing me. 

Lesson Learned

I’m still not sure of the lesson I learned.  I think I can say with certainty, though, that art isn’t for the weak of heart or the complacent.