June 9th -- Théâtre de la Ville & Musée d'Orsay

This morning we met with Claire Verlet, the dance artistic director at the Theatre de la Ville. We were privileged to have Claire lead us on a tour of the theater and then present an insightful discussion of the philosophy behind dance programming at the national French theatre. She also discussed the theatre’s commitment to developing long-term relationships with their artists. Claire’s rich background as a contemporary dance performer and an arts administrator enhanced the presentation of dance artist Susanne Linke’s work. Claire defined the German dance legacy that informs Linke’s work; thus, we were better prepared for the powerful performance event that we would view later in the week. It was an exceptional opportunity to learn about contemporary European dance and arts programming.




In the afternoon we had a lecture at the The Musee D’Orsay by Art Historian Anne Catherine Abeccasis. Anne Catherine situated us in this former train station, built for the Universal Exposition of 1900, at the advent of the electric engine. In the 1980’s the outdated rail station was converted into a museum and it now displays art works created between 1848 and 1914. First, we walked upstairs for a look at an ornate, highly decorated waiting room that was very much in fashion when the train station was built. This room served as a visual reference point for the rest of our lecture. In order to better contextualize the revolutionary style the modern painters were adopting, we were asked to think about this room as a benchmark and indicator of poplar tastes for beauty and art at the beginning of the 20th century. We moved from these traditional notions of beauty to the works or Courbet and Manet whose canvasses were creating a sensation with their painting style and subject matter. Anne Catherine used Courbet’s “Burial at Ornan” and Manet’s “Le Dejenure sur Le’ Herbe” to elucidate the transformation that was taking place in painting.


These two artists were the launching point for our discussion and lecture on how the rules and techniques of painting were moving away from the academy and evolving into a modern form.