Lola de Valence by Manet

Monday with Edouard Manet!

Lola Melea, known as "Lola from Valencia," was the principal dancer for the Mariano Camprubi dance troupe s from the Theater Royal in Madrid. When Manet saw her dance in Paris in 1862 he was taken by her sensual appeal and attractively good looks. She served as the model for a woman dancer dressed in traditional Spanish costume.

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France, 1862

Two dancers in the studio (dance school) by Degas

Wednesday with Edgar Degas!

private collection, c. 1875

Woman in a pink dress by Manet

Monday with Edouard Manet!

Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, Germany, 1881

Dancers in pink and green 1890 by Degas

Wednesday with Edgar Degas!

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, USA, 1890

The artist's sister Edma at a window by Morisot

Tuesday with Berthe Morisot!

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA, 1869

Portrait of Isabelle Lemonnier with a muff by Manet

Monday with Edouard Manet!

Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX, USA, c. 1880

Hyde Park, London by Monet

Art surprise Friday!

c. 1871, Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA

Interior by Degas

Wednesday with Degas!

[From Wikipedia] 'Described by Theodore Reff as "the most puzzling of Degas's major works", it depicts a tense confrontation by lamplight between a man and a partially undressed woman. The theatrical character of the scene has led art historians to seek a literary source for the composition, but none of the sources proposed has met with universal acceptance. Even the painting's title is uncertain; acquaintances of the artist referred to it either as Le Viol or Intérieur, and it was under the latter title that Degas exhibited it for the first time in 1905.'

It is also described as one of the most staged of Degas' works. According to Gordon and Forge, it is "the most theatrical of all Degas's compositions of modern life."

For more, read the full entry at Wikipedia.

Interior, or The Rape, 1868-69, Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, USA

The bath by Morisot

Tuesday with Berthe Morisot!

Also known as "Girl arranging her hair."

Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, USA, 1885-86

Interior at Arachon by Manet

Monday with Edouard Manet!

Like his "In the garden" this one, too, seems to epitomize of the power of impressionism.

At first glance it may seem a bit bleak, but for me it captures simply and succinctly a quiet moment in the lives of two people who happen to be sitting in the same room: one staring out to sea, hypnotized by the infinite perhaps, the other just having looked up from his book, thinking about the passage he had just read, or perhaps something else altogether unknown.

Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, USA, 1871

Happy Birthday to the French Tarte!

And Degas wishes you well, too!

Clark Institute, Williamstown, MA, USA, 2011