Smart Art (Industrial Impressionism Edition)

 

Pont Boieldieu in Rouen, Rainy Weather, 1896

The theme is the bridge near the Place de la Bourse with the effects of rain, crowds of people coming and going, smoke from the boats, quays with cranes, workers in the foreground, and all this in grey colors glistening in the rain...what particularly interests me is the motif off the iron bridge in wet weather with all the vehicles, pedestrians, workers on the embankment, boats, smoke, haze in the distance; it's so spirited, so alive.

--Camille Pissarro, born on this day in 1830

Smart Art (Eat, Drink, and Be Quarry Edition)

 

French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on this day in 1841 (he died in 1919.) Let's take a brief look at what's probably his most famous painting, along with a quote from someone who seems intent on combining his screen image with his passion for art:

For over thirty years I made periodic visits to Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party in a Washington museum, and stood before that magnificent masterpiece hour after hour, day after day, plotting ways to steal it.

--Edward G. Robinson

Robinson leaving the museum after a guard noticed him.