Paintings

For centuries, millions of people have looked at the same scene and reached an almost inevitable conclusion: the woman portrayed by Jan van Eyck appears to be about to give birth. Her rounded belly, the hand gathering her dress, and the solemnity of the encounter seem to announce the arrival of new life.

Imagine a spring afternoon in a quiet corner of the French countryside. The sun shines gently through the branches of the trees, and a light breeze makes the leaves whisper ancient songs of nature. It is in this idyllic setting that Pierre Auguste Cot invites us to step into his painting, "Spring."

There is a hill, a windy Sunday, and a woman turning to look at the painter. She carries a pale parasol and a veil lifted by the air. Lower down, among the grass, a little boy peeks out. No one speaks in the painting, yet everything moves: the clouds, the dress, the grass bending as if the sky were breathing.

A young man, standing in a doorway, draws a young woman to steal a kiss from her... which she seems to have come looking for! The eroticism of stolen pleasure is the third party between two worlds. Two attitudes are expressed by the posture, the face of this young woman, divided between the attraction of forbidden fruit and respect for morality. “The Stolen Kiss” (Le Baiser à la dérobée) by Jean-Honoré Fragonard represents a frozen instant of furtive intimacy between two lovers.