Heart Warming Art

It was a freezing December evening in 2006. People, all rugged up, were milling around the square. Some were seated on tables and chairs outside in the cold sipping coffee, hot chocolate or wine and/or eating crepe. The aroma of coffee and melting butter floated among the crowd. Gas heaters under umbrellas were suspended above their heads showering them with warmth.

Daylight was fast fading but rays of decomposed light from incandescent light bulbs were reflecting a mixture of hews radiating from myriad windows of varying sizes from all directions. These windows are the paintings of artists displayed on easels filling up the whole square.

This is the highest point of Paris, Montmartre, overlooking the glittering city with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The square is the Place du Tertre in the vicinity of the magnificent Sacre-Coeur Basilica (of the Sacred Heart) whose domes dominate the hill.

The lead up to the hill, through narrow cobble-stoned streets winding between windmills with bars and coffeehouses was also dispersed with homes of painters who displayed their works in the windows. Inside, the domicile turned studio, the painters were occupied in their creative work oblivious of onlookers. Brushes were sticking out of bottles and pallets lay on the table with blobs of paint in various mixtures. Their walls were filled with paintings some of which were rather unconventional and surrealist. The whole village created a bohemian atmosphere.

The peculiarity of this place is its history. Napoleon III planned to make Paris the most beautiful city in Europe. Most of the land in the city centre was given to Haussmann, the city planner and his financial supporters. The original citizens moved out to suburban areas, one of which was Montmartre. Here they were free of taxes and the local nuns made wine. The hill known as the 'butte' became an entertainment area.

The bohemian ambience both attracted artists of the same ilk and who in turn reinforced that lifestyle. Some of these artists were, Camille Pissarro, from the Caribbean, who started by painting coconut trees, Paul Cezanne, from Aix-en-Provence, who studied law but painted despite his father's resistance. He painted with Auguste Renoir from Haute-Vienne, the child of a working class family and visited Monet a Parisian. His father wanted him to go into the family grocery store business, but Claude Monet wanted to become an artist. Pablo Picasso was from Spain. Picasso slept during the day as he worked at night. In severe poverty, cold and desperation he had to burn much of his work to keep his small room warm. Vincent Van Gogh, from Holland, was an art dealer and pastor who shared a life of poverty with his people. Gen Paul and Utrillo were locals of Montmartre.

These artists expressed their art to impress something different from reality. They departed from the classics. Many of them developed close friendships which mutually provided new insights.

Auguste Renoir did not have enough money to buy paint. His movements were affected by severe rheumatoid arthritis. He was forced to paint by strapping a brush to his arm. Monet tried to commit suicide but he died of lung cancer. Picasso had affairs with several women and was alleged to have been abusive. Picasso had a young admirer by the name of Salvador Dali, the Spanish artist famous for surrealism and cubism. They met and could have shared studios in Montmartre. He seems to have spent more time in Montparnasse, the counterpart of Montmartre also known for its cafes and bars and dance halls and cabarets Dali was an eccentric character who wore long hair and sideburns and knee breeches, a bohemian symbol. Van Gogh was afflicted with mental problems. He cut off the lobe of one of his ears.

Van Gogh painted Rue Lepic, birthplace of Gen (Eugene) Paul, considered to be the last of the bohemian Montmartre artists. He worked in decorative furnishings and as a soldier in the First World War he was wounded twice and lost a leg. He was an alcoholic with chronic health problems. He was buried in Montmartre. Also buried in the same cemetery was the local born Maurice Utrillo who had many things in common with Gen Paul. In order to make the baby sleep his grandmother spoon fed him with wine. He was described as a young, half-mad alcoholic of Montmartre. Nevertheless he maintained a steady hand in capturing the bars and cafes of Montmartre.

Despite their severe circumstances of being penniless artists who lived a bohemian life, most of these exceptional artists, fired by their passion for art, challenged the conventional values of nineteenth century painting. They infused new energies and ideas into art. Considered impressionists and post impressionists they were influential in the Twentieth century art development.

These accomplished artists, most of who were impoverished and marginalized, were associated with the unorthodox, unconventional or anti-establishment in their views and they gave expression to them not only in their lifestyle but also in their art works. They lived like gypsies who were believed to have come from Bohemia. Because of the bars and coffee houses and arcane entertainment Montmartre became associated with bohemianism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In our time, the bohemian impulse appeared in the hippie movement in the 1960s and the punks in the late 1970s. They were considered subcultures or countercultures. They too encompassed distinct styles of music, ideology, visual art, dance, literature and film. They even went further to include drugs, race relations, sexual morals and women's rights. Jefferson Airplane, The Velvet Underground, Nico, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick used the canvas of psychedelic rock genre of music and art to present their bohemian philosophy.

Today painters from all over the world converge on Montmartre because it carries the magic of art. Most of the artists in the square may be street artists of no mean merit. It is those who are secluded in their domiciles on the streets who appear to be the serious ones who are building on the styles of their predecessors. They display in their windows modern and post modern styles of abstract art, some bordering on the bizarre.

The popular singer-songwriter, Charles Aznavour, in La Boh`eme, (1965), laments the fact that the new décor of Montmartre has lost its bohemian activity. But all is not lost. Montmartre has been officially designated a historical district. Its development is restricted in order to maintain its historical character. Much of the bohemian atmosphere remains.

On the Place du Tertre a note stuck on the easel of a Chinese painter with a charcoal stick says: "Your portrait, done in 10 mins." In the freezing weather there are men and women sitting and posing for the painters to do their portraits. Some are real life portraits while others are caricatures.

Christmas lights were still glimmering on the leafless trees. Art had warmed the hearts of the people. No one was complaining of the cold.

Back