Imagining an Art Heist: Personal Connections to Masterpieces

We meet artist Nathanaëlle Herbelin to discuss her major solo show in Paris. A constant visitor to the Musée d’Orsay’s collections since childhood, Herbelin has been invited to put her canvases and sources of inspiration into perspective. An heiress to Les Nabis (active in Paris from 1888-1900), the artist brings their favorite subjects – daily life, domestic interiors and intimacy – up to date in resolutely contemporary compositions.

The presentation of her work at the Musée d’Orsay is very much in line with one of the focuses of the museum’s cultural project, which consists of extending “Orsay’s polyphony” to less classical artistic figures, in this case by presenting an emerging artist who has already won considerable critical praise. Her meteoric career since she graduated from the Paris School of Fine Arts less than ten years ago has drawn a great deal of attention and will also provide an opportunity to highlight the Musée d’Orsay’s interest in artists attending the school that is its neighbor, especially the alumni fascinated by its collections.

The Spring 2024 temporary exhibition will show how the artist delicately follows the path of the Nabis. Although the artist's subtle brushstrokes, chromatic palette, and preferred motifs may bring to mind Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, or Félix Vallotton, other figurative details bring us back to a more contemporary reality: the elements of modern life (cellphones and electronic power cables) that can be seen in her updated genre scenes, and the way she brings present-day issues into these compositions. Hence, the intimacy of the maternal body at her toilette may present the model in the act of depilating, or the whole genre is called into question by the transposition of a male sitter naked in the bathtub; another canvas even presents an intimate scene centered on female pleasure, or a couple depicted in the bedroom are illuminated by the midnight blue light of a portable computer set on the knees of a figure sitting up in bed.

Born in Israel in 1989 to a French father and an Israeli mother, Nathanaëlle Herbelin has always been drawn to make work that reflects her position within and between the two cultures. Her works contain subtle hints—both in subject matter and form—as windows into a world imbued with a quiet melancholy. Herbelin encourages the viewer to slow down, as a way of embracing the intimacy involved in viewing art. She has developed a formal style unique within the contemporary tendency towards figurative painting. Certain patterns and colours appear more defined than others in the softened memories that she so delicately captures. Earth tones give the works a quality evocative of a reverie and her loose brushwork recalls post-impressionist techniques. Herbelin has cited Les Nabis—a group of young painters active in Paris during the late 19th century—as a central influence in her practice. Most notably, she takes inspiration from the stylistic poetry that art historical figures such as Pierre Bonnard applied to domestic scenes.

This modern twist should indisputably be able to resonate with the paintings of Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard and Felix Vallotton, hung permanently in these galleries, with no conflict or impression of imitation since the world of Nathanaëlle Herbelin remains so sensitive and unique.

Follow @NathanaelleHerbelin and @MuseeOrsay

Thanks to @XavierHufkens and @GalerieJousseEnterprise

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