When I was visiting my parents in Houston, they took me to the art museum there. They had purchased tickets for a special exhibit (which just happened to be the last day of the exhibit). My mother had told me that it was an exhibit about French painters but I had NO idea what was really in store until I got there and noticed a temporary gift shop put up just for this particular exhibit and a sign that said, "MET Gift Shop". OH MY!!! No wonder we were in an extremely long line JUST to get in!! It was a special exhibition from the Metropolitan Museum of Art!!! I was totally psyched about this, of course. MAN!! I saw some amazing paintings...some which I've only dreamed about seeing in person. The work was mostly pre to post French impressionism (which is really the most popular time for French art). Wow! Gauguin, Cezanne, Corbet, Corin, Manet....the list goes on and on!! But, nothing took my breath away (and others I'm sure from the look of awe on the faces of at least 15 people at all times standing in front of this painting) quite like THIS painting. 'Jeanne d'Arc' by Jules Bastien LePage. This was a pretty large painting...100 x 110 in. Painted in 1879. It wasn't the size of the painting that was so magnificent or even the subject matter (although the realistic style of putting Joan of Arc in a natural garden setting as opposed to placing her in a mythical, magical world (which would have been the norm for such a painting at the time) is a stark example of the 'Realists'), but the glow that radiates from this image. The crisp lines and the detailed scenery. It is really, really magnificent and to look at it now....well, you just have to see it in person, it really isn't the same at all here.....
