Studying 19th century French art has opened my eyes to a lot of customs I didn’t know about before this trip. The idea of the mistress is something I was aware of, but I did not understand the degree it affected artists, their lovers, and society. As we continue to learn about muses, playboys, and socialites the themes of love and infidelity are constantly surfacing. From Rodin and Claudel to Picasso and Marie Thérèse, the mistress is a theme that has been present for centuries.
While learning about these scandalous affairs I tried to contextualize these relationships in their time periods; I told myself things were different back in the day, marriage and divorce were different situations. Yet the more I tried to tell myself this, the more I realized these circumstances it in present day life. When I see men returning in their work clothes late at night I wonder…have they been with their mistress? While walking around in the evenings we see much younger women with older men and end up dramatizing their lives. Although much of this may be my imagination, I have been observing more and more situations that remind me of artists and their many mistresses.
French customs are so different than American culture and this issue has been something I continually compare and contrast. This is one of the many things I have observed during my stay in Paris, and I found it intriguing that some traditions have not changed since the 19th century.
Good Valerie but I would like to read about interactions with French people of any age ... though I totally appreciate and understand your musings abut what might be going on around you.
ReplyDeleteYou speak some French so I would like to hear about your excursions in the country that is the French language and its native speakers! Why not have a conversation with French person about these topics, these apparently profound differences?