Paris came to Canberra.

Bonjour!

English:
I love Paris. It's beautiful and full of history and art and culture.

French:
J'aime Paris. C'est bel et plein d'histoire et d'art et la culture.

A piece that made me stop and stare for a while was Rest (Hvile) by Vilhelm HammershǾi painted in 1905.
Rest is beautiful and intriguing. Who is she? What's her face look like? Is she married? Where does she live? Is she well off? Is she loved?
I love that so many questions can be raised because of some pigment on canvas.

This painting isn't traditional in some aspects but is in other ways. The main feature in any portrait is a face but her back, posture and surroundings tell us more than her face could if it was present. I feel it works well. There's this kind of loud silence the viewer can hear while looking at her, unable to make out if she's sad or tired or reminiscent or all of them.

The use of soft lighting, visible brush strokes and the obvious use of angles makes me feel like it's bordering on being an impressionist painting but the use of black, the fact the painting has taken place inside and the lack of vibrant colours seems to tip the scales in the traditional direction.

Au revoir!