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“The supreme truth of life is in art.”
Marcel Proust
What would it be like to experience a stay alongside original artwork by Jacques-Emile Blanche, Giovanni Boldini, Jean Béraud, Eduardo Leon Garrido or Jean Cocteau?
Choose the room in which it hangs and make your wish come true.
It’s an intriguing scene. The artist has represented his assistant preparing a model for a pose. The assistant is carefully placing a pipe into the mouth of the model, who looks particularly passive, with blank eyes and a pallid complexion. We can make out a strange cut around the neck. Suddenly, everything is clear! It is a wooden mannequin being prepared for the next pose, this time with a live model.
The painting hangs in the Princess Mathilde Junior Suite.
At the centre of the canvas, reclined, yet not languishing, her back slightly arched in her corset, showing a patch of bare skin and milky arms, an elegant lady holds a fan, simpering. With a hiked up skirt revealing her petticoats, she looks at the painter as her bare foot rests on a plush cushion. Her left hand seems to be tapping on the armrest… the précieuse awaits. A statue of a female nude rests on the console, in a nod to what will follow.
The painting hangs in the Amélia of Naples De Luxe room.
A rosewood outfit contrasts with dark eyes and a barely sketched smile, imparting mysterious charm to this young woman. Everything about her attire is subtle: the crimson rose tucked in her hair, the delicate gem set on a black velvet ribbon, her dainty earrings, and, unusual for the time, a ring adorning her wedding finger. Reflecting her diaphanous milky complexion rather than a mere accessory, her parasol is a symbol of a type of elegance that reached its peak in the Second French Empire.
The painting hangs in the Hélène Standish De Luxe room.
From which secret boudoir has this full-figured, young woman slipped out? Summer sultriness is here. Framing his subject in a curtain of greenery, the artist has delicately captured the heat of the sun as it pierces through dark foliage. Holding back her white dress with one hand, the coquette appears to be suspended time, subtly hinting at love notes, tender moments, and stolen kisses. Embracing the voluptuousness of life, Parisian women were more than ever seen as unchaste at the turn of the century.
The painting hangs in the Colette Junior Suite.
Tucked behind foliage, eyes downcast as she holds a rose, an elegant lady indulges in melancholic daydreams, under the indifferent gaze of two frolicking stone cherubs. Although her attire suggests other times, her pose is anything but this. Here, the painter has playfully placed his beautiful model in an unconventional position: an elegant high-heeled red shoe rests on the bench beneath a gown of shimmering gold silk. We can almost hear murmurs of a party in the distance.
The painting hangs in the Comtesse Greffulhe Junior Suite.
With pouting lips and blue eyes, he is tender faced. The young man has the irresistible charm of youth still filled with questions and promises. Like so many Parisians, this dandy is passionate about opera, the theatre, and balls, which have been at the heart of social life for two centuries. He frequents both the splendours of the capital and Palais Royal cocottes and their naughty smiles, always exquisitely dressed despite their limited incomes.
The painting hangs in the Robert de Montesquiou De Luxe room.
Exquisitely elegant in a fur-collared dress typical of the Roaring Twenties, Marthe Chenal strikes a pose. An elasticated sash erases her hips, tracing an elongated silhouette typical for the times, as is the cloche hat that is fixed to her flapper hair. Ordained the “most beautiful woman of Paris” by the international press, the well-known opera singer rightly appreciated her portrait.
It hangs in the Comtesse Potocka De Luxe room.
Although honourable, Madeleine Lemaire’s talent has all too often been reduced to an appreciation for roses. With its masterful composition and colour scheme, this genre painting proves the point. A disturbing detail is the faintly sketched face of a smiling woman which seems to look down at her from the wall. Does it express the artist’s remorse, or her wish to illustrate the pianist’s daydreaming?
The painting hangs in the Madeleine Lemaire Junior Suite.
This aquatint celebrates the painter’s virtuosity and his incredible capacity to capture movement and grace in bold, sinuous, smooth brushstrokes. Here, Giovanni Boldini has captured an elegant woman deep in conversation. The artist, a passionate music lover, has sketched an upright piano behind her.
The painting hangs in the Léontine de Caillavet Junior Suite.
In the foreground, a black dress contrasts with the harmony and softness of the other colours, giving the scene unexpected intimacy. The strangeness of the scene is highlighted by a third character, with a demeanour which is as serious as that of the others: a woman sits at the foot of the model, who is dressed as a man.
The painting hangs in the Geneviève Straus De Luxe room.
Who was Mr Darquier, who the man who is staring so enigmatically at the painter? The high pictorial quality of this portrait of a gentleman is captivating. Having painted the likes of Victor Hugo, Léon Gambetta, Louis Pasteur, and the Duke of Aumale, Léon Bonnat was a master portraitist: no fewer than two hundred important personalities of his time passed through his studio.
The painting hangs in the Charles Haas De Luxe room.
Loving the theatre justified endless parading in exquisite evening gowns: with the First French Empire, times had turned to simplicity, removing crinolines and hoop skirts which were so hard to fit into Louis Vuitton cases. For this full-length portrait, the woman is clothed in a sumptuous pink taffeta and white gossamer gown adorned with delicate lace.
The painting hangs in the Sarah Bernhardt Junior Suite.
In his biographical study, Émile Zola seems to have written the following words for this portrait of Manet: “His hair and beard are light brown; his eyes are narrow and sunken, with a lively, juvenile spark; his mouth is typical—thin, moving, slightly scoffing. // Moving down from the face to his character, we see in Édouard Manet a man of exquisite kindness and politeness, with distinguished features and a friendly appearance.”
The painting hangs in the Édouard Manet Junior Suite.
She is taking one small step at a time, warmly wrapped up in a sable collar coat. Is this elegant woman having as much pleasure when looking at as when she is being looked at?
Drawn with a dry line point, this delicate and graceful full-length portrait
reveals the talent of the artist who, during his lifetime, had an international success. With his supple and accurate line, Helleu, king of the social portrait, knew how to capture
with tenderness the most beautiful women of the high society of his time.
On a beautiful summer afternoon, a woman is reading under the shade of great trees, oblivious to the imposing sculpture near her. The artist has used wide strokes to paint the foliage in a palette of greens, enveloping the silhouette in a gentle harmony. In the distance, characters dressed in white can be imagined, providing a touch of movement to a peaceful, bucolic scene.
The painting hangs in the Claude Monet De Luxe room.
A charming scene with perfect composition. A woman wearing a hat and gloves daydreams on the riverbank, most likely the Loing, as the artist lived and worked for many years in Grez-sur-Loing. With light touches, subtle shadows, and a play of light filtering through greenery, we have a typically impressionistic scene in a natural setting. Like an invitation to travel, a rowboat is hinted at on the left of the canvas.
The painting hangs in the August Renoir Junior Suite.
Against a rich decor of darkly sophisticated shades, the yellow dress of this woman in an elegant hat stands out like a ray of sunshine. As she leans casually against a dresser, she gazes at a sculpture which has caught her attention. To the left of the composition are flowers, a visual nod to Baudelaire and his Flowers of Evil, the painter has sketched a parasol, the precious accessory owned by all women of that era. Perhaps it is “in a shade that matched the falling petals of her gown…” (Marcel Proust).
The painting hangs in the Charles Baudelaire Junior Suite.
With one hand, she is clutching the fur collar of her scarlet velvet coat. Filled with erotic restraint, the woman gazes defiantly at the painter with long-lashed eyes like coals. Her stance exudes fierceness. Such presence! The painter has wrapped her in a flamboyant red coat, a red as intense as the gaze of the beautiful Spanish woman herself.
The painting hangs in the Anna de Noailles De Luxe room.
A naked woman sits before a mirror. She is doing up her bun as she chats to a seemingly old lady on her left, most likely her confidante. We cannot help but think of Zola’s character Nana.
The painting hangs in the Émile Zola De Luxe room.
It is necessary to have a certain skill to be able to hold in the same hand a pencil and a cigarette. Three fingers to hold the pencil, two to retain the cigarette whose ash
will soon spread on the ground. This drawing is like a self-portrait. In a moment,
perhaps, a poem will emerge:
Sometimes at night in the forest
The lost traveler sees
A good light and runs
With a heart full of hope
To the ogre’s house
J.Cocteau
A luminous palette announcing Impressionism to represent a sunny afternoon, a vast blue sky, and the infinite ocean. Between the sand and the sea, a slender young woman on a beach walk strikes a pose with her dog at her feet. Her eyes are closed as she breathes the sea air. What could she be thinking of? In the distance, we can spot a sail and seagulls. In the Remembrance, seagulls are metaphors for young girls in flower walking on the beach. “Making her progress along the sand that first evening,” Albertine “was a marine creature, like a seagull…”
The painting hangs in the Marcel Proust Junior Suite.
Teasing his painter friend who immortalised the elegant women of the Second French Empire, Émile Zola spoke of “Toulmouche’s delightful dolls.” With her long silken gown, her gloves and lace shawl casually thrown on an armchair to better pluck the note that has been tucked into her bouquet of roses, this striking brunette must surely be in love. Indeed, who would a Parisian be without love?
The painting hangs in the Marcel Proust De Luxe room.
This original painting of Marcel Proust, painted at the tail end of the 19th century, offers a detached and sophisticated view of the author of the Remembrance. A student and disciple of the Symbolist Gustave Moreau, here Jacques Aymer de la Chevalerie uses realist codes in honour of his Symbolist master, rendering an unadorned painting with undeniable elegance. Proust’s dark circles are visible under bright eyes that stare intensely at the viewer. The addition of rings, which are not seen in any known photographs of the author, bring a whimsical note to the image, perfectly defining the turn of the century atmosphere in which Proust lived, charged with both sweet abandon and radiant melancholy.
The painting hangs in the Marcel Proust Executive Suite.
Elève de Gervex, disciple de Manet et de Degas, Jacques-Emile Blanche, peintre du plus célèbre portrait de Marcel Proust conservé au musée d’Orsay, fréquenta la haute société de son temps. Il présente ici ce portrait d’un homme de qualité au nœud papillon à la mine rosé et au sourire jovial.
Ce tableau est présenté dans la Suite Executive Marcel Proust.
Collection Maisons Particulières | Maison Souquet | Maison Athénée
Maison Proust, 26 rue de Picardie – 75003 Paris | +33 1 86 54 55 55 | contact@maison-proust.com
| Mentions Legales |
Collection Maisons Particulières | Maison Souquet | Maison Athénée | Maison Proust, 26 rue de Picardie – 75003 Paris | +33 1 86 54 55 55 | contact@maison-proust.com
Mentions Legales