A strange character, dressed entirely in white, draws attention. That innocent face, with a questioning look, emerges almost by chance from a large white satin dress, puffed sleeves curled up, on his feet two white slippers embellished with precious pink satin ribbons. We are talking about Pierrot, the painting also called Gilles for a long time, created by the French painter Antoine Watteau (1684 - 1721). The writer Bernard Dufour defined it as “enigmatic”, because very little is known about this famous portrait, apparently so familiar. Its origins are not known exactly, and there is no trace of it in any writing that appeared before 1826. This exhibition in the Parisian museum is also the opportunity to delve deeper into the history of this painting that fascinated and inspired numerous artists and poets from Fragonard to Picasso to Nadar, from André Derain to Marcel Carné. The exhibition presents sixty-five works (paintings, drawings, engravings, books, photographs and film extracts), including seven paintings by Watteau, thanks to the support of various French, European and American museums, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, the Wallace Collection and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The City of Lights is a gift waiting to be unwrapped this holiday season. From the charms of Paris to the excellence of Bvlgari, every facet of the experience is a treasure.
