WARPAINT ETIQUETTE

Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage

At the 1880 Salon, Bastien-Lepage, himself a native of Lorraine, exhibited this painting, which represents the moment of Joan of Arc’s divine revelation in her parents’ garden. His depiction of the saints whose voices she heard elicited a mixed reaction from Salon critics, many of whom found the presence of the saints at odds with the naturalism of the artist’s style. (from the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

I went to the Met yesterday with my friend Dan, who took me around to the paintings he thought I would enjoy the most. In the midst of Picassos and Renoirs and Van Goghs and Monets, this painting is the one that struck me the most. When you see it, it hits you how real the figure of Joan looks. She is hovering above the painting itself—lost in thought, in images, in ghosts and visions. Her illusions bring her to the museum itself, and she is there with you.