It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience: the chance to see one of the greatest -- and most fragile -- works of European art before your very eyes. The illustrated manuscript known as the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry contains images that have shaped our view of the late Middle Ages, but it's normally kept under lock and key at the Château de Chantilly, north of Paris. It's only been exhibited twice in the past century. Now newly restored, the glowing pages of Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry are on show to the public for just a few months. "Approche, approche," the Duke of Berry's usher tells the visitors to the great man's table for the feast that will mark the start of the New Year. It's also your invitation to examine closely the illustration for January, one of the 12 months from the calendar in this Book of Hours -- a collection of prayers and other religious texts -- that form the centrepiece of this exhibition in Chantilly. It's su...
Near the top of our list of exhibitions we want to go and see: retrospectives of relatively neglected women artists. Also right up there: Nordic painters we would like to learn more about. So it's no surprise we were keen to explore Harriet Backer (1845-1932): The Music of Colours at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
Backer was Norway's most renowned female painter of the 19th century, if little known outside her homeland. We must have seen her work in the past in the old National Museum in Oslo, but she'll have been one of many unfamiliar names. Now, though, she's getting the full retrospective treatment with a show that's already been seen in the Norwegian capital and in Stockholm.
Backer's paintings are mostly intimate depictions of interiors, both domestic and church. There's a calmness to them, and often a very interesting treatment of light, with Impressionism showing an influence from time she spent in France. One or two of the pictures on show are absolutely stunning, such as this one: Evening, Interior.
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It's the first painting you encounter as you enter the exhibition, and it almost overshadows everything you'll see later on. That Japanese paper lamp on the right, with its gorgeous red and orange tones, throws a fascinating light on the young woman sitting at the table intently focused on the letter she's reading and creates a huge shadow on the wall behind.
Also near the start is Blue Interior, painted in Paris in 1883 and depicting her friend and fellow artist Asta Nørregard. Somewhere between Impressionism and realism, it's a beautifully restful picture. Critics described her treatment of colour and light as painting open-air scenes indoors.
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And here's another genre scene -- Backer was interested in Dutch Golden Age painting -- with a remarkable chiaroscuro effect. Apparently timeless, but the sewing machine at which the young woman is sitting was a relatively recent invention in 1890.
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Backer started her career with a rather precise and detailed method of painting -- she studied in Germany before going to France -- and it was only later that she adopted a somewhat looser style. A picture entitled Music, Interior in Paris from 1887 only really resolves itself in your vision from about 4 metres away, so it's not always easy to get the right feel for these works in the crowded galleries of the Musée d'Orsay. Music, by the way, played a large part in Backer's life, as the exhibition's subtitle suggests. Her sister Agathe was one of Norway's most important composers in her time.
There are a number of paintings showing farmhouse interiors in Brittany and Norway -- not so different, in truth, when you look at them -- but it's her depictions of churches that are perhaps most unusual and eye-catching. These are not at all like the soaring churchscapes of the Dutch 17th century; they're a lot more human. And the best in this show is without doubt the Christening in Tanum Church, in which the woman in the pew on the front right, eager for the arrival of the baby, draws your eye down the off-centre aisle and right out of the porch. While the curious architecture and costumes may be dated, the human touch is timeless; who hasn't looked back down the nave to see the arrival of the bride or get a first glimpse of the child due to be christened?
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Very different is this view of the historic stave church at Uvdal, whose plain wooden exterior hides a brightly painted interior, typically Norwegian, though perhaps unexpectedly so for a foreign visitor.
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So, for an antidote to the teeming city life and strenuous boating in the big Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men exhibition just a few metres away in the Musée d'Orsay, don't forget to look in on Harriet Backer for a hour of Scandinavian calm. It's still crowded, though....
Practicalities
Harriet Backer (1845-1932): The Music of Colours is on at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris until January 12. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 0930 to 1800, with late opening on Thursday until 2145. We spent just over an hour in this show. Full-price tickets to the Orsay's permanent collection and all exhibitions are 16 euros, but it's only 12 euros after 1800 on Thursdays and free on the first Sunday of the month. There's no need to book specifically for Backer, but if you want to get into the Caillebotte show, you'd be well advised to reserve a time slot and a ticket for the museum online here.
The Musée d'Orsay is on the south bank of the River Seine just across from the Tuileries gardens and the Louvre, and it has its own station on line C of the RER suburban-rail network. Solférino station on line 12 of the Metro is also close by.
The Backer exhibition will be returning to Norway next year, at the Kode Art Museum in Bergen from February 20 to August 24.
The Backer exhibition will be returning to Norway next year, at the Kode Art Museum in Bergen from February 20 to August 24.
Images
Harriet Backer (1845-1932), Evening, Interior, 1896, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland
Harriet Backer, Blue Interior, 1883, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland
Harriet Backer, Woman Sewing by Lamplight, 1890, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland
Harriet Backer, Christening in Tanum Church, 1892, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland
Harriet Backer, Interior of Uvdal Stave Church, 1909, KODE Bergen Art Museum. Photo: Dag Fosse
Harriet Backer, Blue Interior, 1883, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland
Harriet Backer, Woman Sewing by Lamplight, 1890, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland
Harriet Backer, Christening in Tanum Church, 1892, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland
Harriet Backer, Interior of Uvdal Stave Church, 1909, KODE Bergen Art Museum. Photo: Dag Fosse
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