“I Would Like to Paint Happiness”
Let’s go on an art walk. Plunge your senses into the beauty of these neo-impressionist paintings plus one surprise at the end.
Dear Beautiful Friends,
If you could paint happiness, what would you paint?
I’d paint something like this:
But we’re embarking on an art walk here, so let’s turn toward the writer of this “happiness” quest, neo-impressionist painter Henri-Edmond Cross.
Google’s Art & Culture app spoon-feeds me paintings every day, and if something strikes my fancy, it’s assured I’m a goner—lost in the endless art gallery of the WWW. A happy place.
So I thought of you, my beauty hunters & appreciators, and thought:
Let’s go on a gallery walk together!
It’s summer, so let’s start with a seasonal delight.
”Bathers”
“I would like to paint happiness,” neo-impressionist H-E Cross wrote to his pal Paul Signac, in 1893.
He didn’t say he DID or WILL or WOULD… but he’s like to.
“The Flight With the Nymphs”
The thick pointillistic tiles that defined neo-impressionism are such lapping, joyful strokes to these senses. I want to be a nature spirit frolicking and flighting morning noon and night with the nymphs above.
These paintings are delicious escapes. Or invitations?
Let’s return to the idea of painting happiness. Specifically:
What was “happiness” in 1893 France to a band of neo-impressionist painters?
Anarchy! And a future vision of it, which Cross found too difficult to render
In his letter to Signac, Cross wrote:
The happy beings that men may be in a few centuries . . .when pure anarchy will be achieved; but, not being up to it, I content myself with making a lot of sketches leading toward this result: sinuous lines of women amid the verticality of pines.”
Cross was painting “L’air du Soir” around the time he wrote his “happiness” letter. Shortly after, he moved to St. Tropez with his partner. The Riviera was fast becoming the perfect settling spot for French anarchists, who saw the Mediterranean coast as the ideal spot for their future society.
Read about the French anarchist movement vis-a-vis neo-impressionism here.
After Cross finished “L’air du Soir,” an up-and-comer by the name of Henri Matisse saw it. Monsieur Matisse was so inspired, he painted this— not a piece I’d ever attribute to Matisse. Would you?
“Luxe, Calme, et Volupte”
(Luxury, Calm and Voluptuousness)
Isn’t it cool, to get the inside stories of how artists have influenced each other?
Our art walk is winding down. On that note, how about this stunner, a day’s end in violets.
“Sunset Over the Sea”
We now come to our final Cross, but first—a compare and contrast.
When you think of a painting of a shipwreck, you might think of something like Turner’s “The Shipwreck.” Dramatic, frightening, ominous, the things nightmares are made of. Here it is:
Here’s Cross’s seafaring tossup:
“Shipwreck”
Look at that shipwreck! The golden sail, the brightening froth of whitecaps, the red and aqua hues of the sea stack, a dappled, purple sky. The style of this work, in all its impressionistic glory, evokes afternoon picnics, women in parasols, men paying for cold drinks at the park. But the title says, We’re going down. It’s like a pop song with upbeat melody lines and mad-sad lyrics.
I’m mad for it.
Now is time to bid Cross adieu, and move on to TWO FINAL paintings before we part.
We can’t pass over Paul Signac. Signac and Cross were friends, they held court together, led art movements, and you can see how their work played off each others’. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if a piece was a Signac or a Cross. Friendship binds.
This Signac painting makes me smack my lips. It’s carnivalesque, isn’t it? I must be hungry for a lot of bight, bold jewel tones this summer. How about you, what’s ticking your fancy art & culture & beauty wise?
“Le Corne d'Or, Le Pont”
(The Golden Horn, the Bridge)
I’m not sure how this Georgia O’Keeffe piece snuck in here! While the previous paintings offered oohs-and-ahhs via fantasy and escapism, here’s an ooh-and-ahh to calm and ground you.
“Pink Moon Over Water”
Let this Pink Moon landscape bring you back to a place where white cranes pass by overhead, water laps in the distance, the sound of kids playing trickles down the street, a loved one is smiling at you . . . this is a vast love of a painting.
That’s it for the first Friday Art Walk. Thanks for coming.
Share this with someone you love, someone who would love an art walk.