Last week, we took an 'art break' and headed to the city for the Impressionist Paris: City of Light exhibit at the Legion of Honor which is concurrent with Birth of Impressionism at the de Young.
Of the over 150 prints, drawings, photographs, paintings, and illustrations, this photograph above along with one of the most evocative passages in Emile Zola's novel L'oeuvre (The Masterpiece, 1886) really spoke to my heart the most ~
Claude was quivering with delight, "Ah! This Paris!" he cried. It's ours! All ours for the taking! Each one of them was thrilled almost beyond words as they looked on the scene with eyes that shone with desire. Did they not feel glory being wafted over the whole vast city from the top of that Avenue? Paris was here, and they meant it to be theirs.
[photograph by Charles Marville]
