Many of the world's most prized paintings from French Impressionism and Post Impressionism graced the walls of the de Young's Herbst Exhibition Galleries.

In our last issue, we reported on the first of the Musee d'Orsay exhibitions to visit the de Young.

Below is a sampling of the art treasures which were part of the second of these exhibitions, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond: Post Impressionism Masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay.

The information below each painting is based on the Musee d'Orsay's published descriptions.

Vincent Van Gogh 1853-1890, Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888 ... In Arles,Van Gogh was fascinated with depicting "night effects". In April 1888, he wrote to his brother Theo: "I need a starry night with cypresses or maybe above a field of ripe wheat." In June, he confided to the painter Emile Bernard: "But when shall I ever paint the Starry Sky, this painting that keeps haunting me" and, in September, in a letter to his sister, he evoked the same subject: "Often it seems to me night is even more richly coloured than day". During the same month of September, he finally realized his obsessive project.

His first nocturnal sky was  Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles. Next came this view of the Rhône in which he marvelously transcribed the colors he perceived in the dark. Blues prevail: Prussian blue, ultramarine and cobalt. The city gas lights glimmer an intense orange and are reflected in the water. The stars sparkle like gemstones.

A few months later, just after being confined to a mental institution, Van Gogh painted another version of the same subject: Starry Night which resides in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This painting shows that the violence of his troubled psyche is fully expressed. Trees are shaped like flames while the sky and stars whirl in a cosmic vision. The Musée d'Orsay’s Starry Night is more serene, an atmosphere reinforced by the presence of a couple of lovers at the bottom of the canvas.

Paul Gauguin 1848-1903, The Yellow Christ, 1889 ... Painted on the eve of Gauguin's first trip to Tahiti, Portrait of the Artist with the Yellow Christ is a veritable manifesto. Gauguin's piercing stare expresses the burden of his problems. His wife left him with his children and went back to her native Copenhagen, and he was having trouble getting permission to settle in the French Colony of Tahiti.

Two of his paintings behind him are in conflict, one the Yellow Christ whom Gauguin painted in his own image and the Red Pot in the form of a grotesque head. Gauguin called this pot "the head of Gauguin the savage."

These background paintings expressed Gauguin's thoughts as he was about to embark on a great human and artistic adventure which would take him halfway round the world.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 1864-1901, The Clowness, Cha-U-Kao at the Moulin Rouge, 1895 ... Cha-U-Kao's name appears to be of Japanese origin, but it is not. The "Cha" comes from a dance called the "chahut," an acrobatic version of the cancan. The "U-Kao" refers to the uproar when she came onstage. This is a scene of the Parisian night life of the late 19th century. She belonged more to the circus world than to the world of the cabaret, but both Cha-U-Kao and Toulouse-Lautrec loved the life of both worlds.

Felix Vallotton 1865-1925, Dinner by Lamplight, 1899 ... Up to 1899, Vallotton created bold black and white block print motifs. In 1899, he continued his explorations of dark and light in his paintings. In this painting, Vallotton's silhouette is front and center, flanked by his bride Gabrielle, his stepson Max Rodrigues and his stepdaughter Madeleine. A member of the Nabis, Valloton often painted domestic and private interiors. Valloton was influenced by Dutch genre paintings, especially those of interior scenes by Pieter de Hooch.

Paul Cezanne 1839-1906, Rocks above Chateau Noir, c 1904 ... Around the turn of the 20th century, Cezanne returned to where he was born, the harsh landscapes and marvelous light near the Mont Sainte-Victorie. In many of these landscapes, the subject becomes irrelevant. Instead, Cezanne creates a euphoria where forms and colors become one, a vibrant orchestration of frenzied marks and allusive brushstrokes. Form is split into its multiple facets. Color contributes to his lyricism; transparent blues, greens browns and mauves dance rhythmically. Cezanne's unique approach embodies some of the essential foundations of modern painting.

Vincent Van Gogh 1853-1890, Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase, 1887 ... Imperial Fritillaries are a tulip-like bulb popular in Dutch and French gardens at the end of the 19th century. Van Gogh painted this while in Paris, when he was in close contact with Paul Signac. The background is pointillist brushwork with two complementary colors, blue and orange.

Alfred Sisley 1839-1899, Moret Bridge, 1893 ... Alfred Sisley was an English ex pat, painting most of his career in France. He was the most dedicated among the impressionists to plein air painting. His most notable paintings are of bridges in the suburbs of Paris, tranquil scenes in pale shades of green, pink purple and dusty blue. Sisley's work compares well with those of fellow impressionist Claude Monet, but Sisley's work is more subdued.

Claude Monet 1840-1926, Study of a figure outdoors: woman with a sunshade turned to the right, 1886 ... This is one of a pair of studies in 1886. Monet was inspired seeing Suzanne Hoschede (later his step-daughter) strolling on the Ile aux Orties near his home in Giverny. Brushstrokes create the feel of a cool bracing wind.

Monet avoids detail of the subject's face, rather choosing to focus on the figure within the landscape.

Vincent Van Gogh 1843-1890, Self Portrait, Saint Remy de Provence, 1889 ... This may well be Vincent Van Gogh's last self portrait, done in September of 1889 shortly before he departed from Saint-Remy-de-Provence. Over his career, he painted about 30 self portraits. In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent wrote, "You will need to study [the picture] for a time. I hope you will notice that my facial expressions have become much calmer, although my eyes have the same insecure look as before, or so it appears to me."

Georges Seurat 1859-1891, The Circus, 1891 ... This painting is important as the most impressive application of Divisionist theory, a scientific approach to color requiring the eye to mix dots of pure color optically. What Seurat was hoping to create was a symbiosis between artistic creation and scientific analysis. He died of diphtheria at the age of 31 before the painting was completed. His son died two weeks later of the same disease.

Henri Rousseau 1844-1910, The Snake Charmer, 1907 ... Henri Rousseau didn't begin painting until late in life. He didn't travel much and his tropical jungle paintings originated from experiences in Paris. His jungle related paintings were based on trips to the Natural History Museum and the greenhouse in the Paris Botanical Gardens. Pablo Picasso was one of Rousseau's admirers and once remarked to Rousseau, "Basically, you do in an Egyptian style what I do in the modern style." This painting, with this fantastic world, is a forerunner of Surrealism.

Vincent Van Gogh 1853-1890, Bedroom in Arles, 1888 ... There are three versions of this painting; one is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, one at the Art Institute in Chicago and a third at the Musee d'Orsay.

Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo explaining that he wanted to express the tranquillity and bring out the simplicity of his bedroom using the symbolism of colors. Van Gogh explained: "The Japanese lived in very simple interiors, and what great artists have lived in that country."

Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919, A Dance in the Country, 1883 ... This cheerful painting is done in bright light, with warm colors.

The models for the dancing figures are Paul Lhote, Renoir's friend and Aline Charigot, who later became Renoir's wife.

Paul Durand-Ruel commissioned the painting as part of a group based on the theme of "the Ball." The other paintings were Dance in the City and Dance at Bougival. Durand-Ruel kept this painting until his death in 1919.

Paul Gauguin 1848-1903, Tahitian Women on the Beach, 1891 ... In 1891, Gauguin fled Paris to get away from his money problems. He considered the French colony of Tahiti to be free of the money culture of Paris, and that he could live there in ecstasy, calmly pursuing his art. Here, large figures seem comfortable as they fill their own space. Their color and pose are both elegant and decorative. Behind them, gentle rolling waves lap the shore of a lagoon. Their restfulness contrasts with the busy staccato life Gauguin left behind in Paris.

Claude Monet 1840-1926, London, Houses of Parliament, The Sun Shining through the Fog, 1904 ... This was Claude Monet's view from his terrace room at the St. Thomas Hospital in London. Overlooking the Thames, he observed the home of the British Parliament located in the Palace of Westminster. Monet's eyesight was failing and he went to London for medical procedures and treatment. He ended up painting a series of Parliament paintings, 19 of which are known to exist today. As was Monet's practice, once back at Giverny, he would work from photographs, and apply paint onto multiple canvases of the the series simultaneously. This caused some negative reaction, but Monet's reply was that this was his means of creating a work, it was his own business and it was up to the viewer to judge the final result.

Below are clips from films in which Joshua Meador made contributions. Each of these films are noted in Joshua Meador's listing on IMDB (the Internet Movie Data Base).

As Director of Animation Effects, Josh was part of many studio projects in films, TV and Disneyland. Joshua's son Philip Meador described his dad's job as this: "Josh put the fairy dust in Tinkerbell and the "Z" in Zorro." Josh never took credit for any one thing he accomplished, and he would be the first to say emphatically that making animation films is a collaborative process.

Walt loaned Josh's services twice in 1956, to MGM for their 1956 sci-fi thriller Forbidden Planet and to Cecil B. DeMille for a scene in The Ten Commandments. DeMille needed assistance for the "pillar of fire" scene, holding back Pharaoh's charging chariots.

Below are clips showing some of Meador's film contributions. Ten of these films, The Old Mill, Bambi, Dumbo, Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Fantasia, Mary Poppins, Forbidden Planet and The Ten Commandments have been included in the National Film Registry.

Bentonville, AR
Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art

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