Monday, December 12, 2011

Poudroyer

Peter Ilsted 1910
The winter sun. You may have seen this painting many times before like me, but now I know there is a definite expression for this effect so prized by children and so anoying for housekeepers.
" le soleil qui poudroie..."
It says so right there in Perrault's La Barbe Bleue.
The tale is light years away from this image,
but words are a heady drug.
Powdering Sun, you make common dust anything but ordinary.

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12 comments:

  1. helen tilstonDecember 12, 2011 at 3:40 PM

    Such a beautiful and powerful expression and the painting is enchanting and beautifully executed.
    Thanks for sharing
    Helen xx

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  2. Bruce BaroneDecember 12, 2011 at 4:16 PM

    I have never seen this. Thank You for sharing!

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  3. Valéry LorenzoDecember 12, 2011 at 5:24 PM

    Superbe !
    Dorénavant, je poserai un nom, sur cette sensation qui fait remonter des lumières depuis très loin en arrière...

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  4. gésbiDecember 12, 2011 at 6:31 PM

    Helen and Bruce, Thank you both for commenting. Glad you both liked this. Ilsted was one of several turn of the 20th century painters in Denmark who painted especially meaningful interiors and home life.

    Valéry: et ça sonne bien!

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  5. Mlle ParadisDecember 12, 2011 at 9:15 PM

    I like very much this term! Especially considering the state of my house at the moment! Now if only that famous L.A. sun would shine again so I can poudroie, poudroie all the live-long day.....

    lovely painting!

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  6. gésbiDecember 12, 2011 at 9:59 PM

    Mlle: No sun in L.A.?! I always thought that fairies had materialized in these shafts of sunlight when I was little. La fée de logis est peut-être très demandée ailleurs ?

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  7. LaurentDecember 13, 2011 at 1:42 AM

    A beautifully delicate posting, very sparklingly enhanced by the ensuing dialogue - to which I can only add the sense of seeing the painting fulfilled.

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  8. columnistDecember 13, 2011 at 6:49 AM

    Aha - Denmark! I thought there was such the slightest similarity to the work of Vilhelm Hammershoi, (if slightly less monochromatic). But terrific to see.

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  9. gésbiDecember 13, 2011 at 8:42 AM

    Laurent: Light, image, word - it all pieced together.

    Columnist: Yes, Hammershoi could have worked too with his more monochromatic, geometric compositions. In fact, Hammershoi was Ilsted's brother-in-law.

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  10. columnistDecember 13, 2011 at 11:49 AM

    Oh, well now that makes perfect sense then.

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  11. Sanity FairDecember 16, 2011 at 2:14 AM

    Sun stripes! Alas, some of my favorite fabrics know it well.

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  12. UnknownDecember 18, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    Interesting. My mother used to fret about the sun and the dust. I am perhaps more used to dust:)?

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