1. Friday afternoon, I walk into the Picasso exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery on 21 street, I'm wearing my white H&M dress with stripes and a cherry necklace. Security Guard tells me not to swing my leather handbag. "Hold it down. Keep it down..." Tall, wild haired French man (looks like an architect in mustard spectacles) smirks at me as we stand next to each other in the first room. He has a leather handbag too.
2. Photographs of Picasso's lover/muse- Look carefully at Marie-Thérèse Walter. Look again. She seems happy in some photographs, especially when she is 17. Also she looks tough. Harsh. Stern. Swiss? She is not glamorous and graceful enough for Picasso...is she? She looks down to earth though...this is a good quality in a muse.
Actually...I think I may know her. Not really. She could look like someone who I've obsessed about though. Marie Therese looks like an ex-boyfriend's ex girlfriend. I think.
3. Am I talking to myself or am I talking to the painter? If I ever could own one of these paintings of Marie Therese, I'd never be able to leave my apartment. I'd stare all day, and let the painting confuse me, frustrate me and drive me koo-koo. All in the best ways possible.
3.5. Picasso? Good teacher. Good lover? I wouldn't want to be his muse...could he be mine?
4. "Marie-Thérèse Accoudee" Concentrate on tiny details of this stunning portrait while being careful not to swing handbag. Concentrate on fingernails and eyelashes. How clever these little details are. Line and drawing in the painting. Emphasized by color choices. Take note.
5. Stand back (Ignore didactic twerp wearing shorts who is trying to impress his old lady girlfriend/mother?) Nothing is effected or snarky or smarty pants here. There is Dimension/ Composition/ Figure and Background all work together with the colors....
"Picasso, lets discuss your under-painting? Which colors came first? How did you make that green? What is behind it all anyway? Alizarin Crimson?"
6. The painting that I've been staring at and talking to for the past ten minutes has completely changed in composition. Now I see Marie-Thérèse is sitting in a different space than I had seen before. And what difference does it make? The painting is probably more about emotions and psychology than about small details and color choices.
7. Move on. Stay at Gagosian until guards kick me out. Go back to Marie-Thérèse in the first room...one more time before i leave. She is beautiful. And in a way that i don't want to forget.
8. Leave Chelsea and talk passionately about Picasso for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Get cheap manicure on 8th street...try to match the nail polish of Marie-Thérèse. Drink wine at outdoor cafe on 6th avenue. Eat French fries. Look at people passing by. Love New York but wish I could be back in Paris.
I know you love Paris but New York is where it's at baby!
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