After the portrait class, I went straigth to the Vincent van Gogh Museum. at Friday evening they are open It is good tradition: in the hall there is a bar, easy chairs and a band starting to play. It is a kind of lounging with Van Gogh. At 18.30h hardly anybody was there. Actually there were more security people than visitors. Inspired by my zoo experience of the day before I visited the exhibition Fierce Friends: artists and animals. Well, maybe the difference is not so big. Both follow their instincts. They are related species, often endangered. The exhibition explored everything in relation to animals in art. It was done well: there were even footprints of a bear on the door. A few things struck me: how Delacroix is able to paint wild animals, the painting of Turner Noachs Arc, Gericaults horse with lightning sky the impressionist painting of Liebermann Parrot man at the zoo (Artis) and the fact that Picasso purchased a painting made by a monkey.

But the most of all I did an interesting finding in the bookshop of the museum. There I found a book Boudin Dessins full with sketches of Eugene Boudin in pastel, pencil and watercolor. For examples see http://www.galerieneffegravurehonfleur.com/baudelaire_boudin.htm .
As the son of a sailor, Boudin excelled in views of the beaches along the Channel coast of France He was a plein-air painter of light, water, and the crowd. Not surprisingly he was a friend of Jongkind and the teacher of Monet. It is amazing how he can suggest the space of the sea and the beach on a small size of paper with just a few pastel colors. Every stroke is right. He does not seem to possess an eraser.

www.edgarportraits.com