Sacre-Coeur

This is a large format painting I have just finished of Sacre-Coeur in Paris. As I mentioned before Sacre-Coeur is at the top of the highest hill in Paris. The area is called Montmartre (the mountain of the martyr) and it is full of shops and cafes aimed at tourists. I was so excited to go there because the area is famous for the local artists who sit in their stereotypical berets, paint the street scenes, and sell canvases to tourists all day long. The souvenir I wanted the most from Paris was a small watercolor or oil painting from the top of Montmartre.

Disappointingly, I found these older Parisians, mostly gentlemen with gray hair, hard at work, creating art which was not based on observation, but only representing big tourist attractions. (In retrospect I should not have been surprised.) I just found it sad that in a city in which almost every view is beautiful, no one was painting from life. One of these older Montmartre gentlemen was applying generous amounts of glitter to a small work of art, making the Eiffel Tower silver, and the Moulin Rouge red. Perhaps the great French Impressionists would be rolling in their grave. (Or perhaps the impressionists just never thought to use glitter in their paintings of water lilies and sunflowers. Who knows?)

Here is my own piece of Montmartre, painted here in the U S of A. Although this church has been painted far more beautifully by far better artists than I, I was still very pleased to spend a few weeks working on this and remembering the food and wine of Paris. This painting is accurate in the combination of both the carnival like atmosphere at the foot of Sacre-Coeur and the serene grandeur of the church itself.

I know what everyone is thinking... this painting just needs a little bit more glitter!