Tiffany A

IT'S COLD OUTSIDE. LET'S WATCH ANOTHER MOVIE


another movie for the art nerd that is. and speaking of cold,
although this one i am about to talk to you about is also fabulously stylish because it stars audrey hepburn of course. it is also a bit on the dreamy side because her side-kick is peter o'toole.

now, for anyone who hasn't guessed already - we will be geeking out about "how to steal a million"{2}. if you haven't watched the film, consider yourselves warned about the spoilers that will follow.
{via}
the film begins with an art auction, where a (very questionable indeed) cézanne is up for bid. the camera zooms in on the face of the collector who is selling the piece, and then you see audrey hepburn casually driving in ehm... impeccable mid 60's style, listening to the auction on the radio clearly agitated.

fast forward a little later and you figure out why. the aformentioned, questionable cézanne is indeed a forged painting, created by none other than her own papá (accented at the last syllable of course). you find this out while watching papá adding some final strokes to his "van gogh".

peter arrives late at night, breaks into her home to sample the paint on the van gogh, and about five minutes later audrey has shot him and they are kissing. it is truly the best accumulation of mid 1900's hollywood clichés. i am certain you will agree with me. naturally, there follow plenty moments of flirtation, an impromptu engagement, and a delightfully always present museum director and his somewhat incompetent but adorably clutzy security force.

it is not just the cast however, or the funny yet actually captivating storyline, not as mr. o'toole put it - the givency clad audrey, or his own glimmering blue eyes that make this movie so fantabulous. no. it is also the numerous artworks - real and fake - that parade throughout the movie. most importantly, it is what said paintings do to my inner art historian who has been working on overdrive these past few weeks. not that i actually managed to pause every single scene but the products of my observations are still fun(ny).
{via} the rembrandt in the museum was "a portrait of jacob trip" currently in the national gallery {3}, london.

papa's "van gogh" was somewhat of a mizture but basically sought to resemble what i can only assume was "weat field with cyprusses" that can be seen at the metropolitan museum of art, new york. what i found most amusing was papa's musing about how he's doing a favor to van gogh who "only sold one painting when he was alive" whereas he has "already sold two in this lifetime".

this is what the actual cellini venus {4} looks like. It is a bronze statue with cupid at her feet in a private collection.
{via} in the scene above, directly behind the american suitor's shoulder you can see a portrait of a woman which appears to be gauguin-like. in fact you might notice a resemblance to "portrait of a woman against cèzanne 's still life with apples" at the art institute of chicago {5}. the "marvelous" cèzanne sold in the beginning was a pretty poor copy of his female portraits {6}.
{still from the trailer} speaking of the american suitor (who was really just interested in the venus sculpture). he has a talk with his chief art dealer in an office which seems to be a sort of vault. directly above the dealer's head, behind his desk is a tribute to manet's "water lilies" {7} too. moreover, during some of the walks in the museum aside from the curious arrangement of the artworks you can't help but notice a moving colorful sculpture that i feel was probably some sort of tribute to alexander calder's mobiles {8}. generally, the entire film is full of references to famous artists, and it is a fun rainy-day game to spot and identify them throughout the film.

all jokes aside however, i'd really like to look into the layout a bit more. there's certainly much to come from rethinking and considering how works are organized in a museum, especially today, when art institutions are called more than ever before to redefine themselves and adapt to new technologies and communication platforms. nonetheless, i have sneaky suspicions about the amount of thought that went into the layout of this particular (yes, fictional) museum.

{1} a fun review of the film scene-by-scene
{2} imdb on the movie
{3} the rembrandt portrait
{4} the cellini venus looks like this apparently
{5} see the gauguin painting here
{6} Similar to this one
{7} Water Lilies
{8} see similar alexander calder mobiles here
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