I was directed to their website to choose from the 250,000 paintings 1st Art Gallery has in their stock images. It was a bit overwhelming at first, and I was quickly lost in a sea of options: impressionism or abstract? classic or modern? landscape or portrait? pastel or moody colours? The biggest challenge was that any of the above would work in my living room, but I couldn't choose them all. After going back and forth a few times in my head, I decided that a more classic Impressionism (my favourite art movement) painting would be a more timeless choice for my home; and of late I was really into portrait, so an Impressionism portrait painting it was.
Screenshot below from 1st Art Gallery web site: after I selected the "Impressionism" movement, I was prompted to a page where I could pick the paintings by orientation, artist, color and subject.
I was mesmerized by this Renoir number titled "Madame Henriot" during an exhibition at National Gallery of Art in DC a few years ago. Madame Henriot is reminiscent of the eighteenth-century portraits in pastel that Renoir admired. It is a subtle, nuanced work and one completely devoid of pretension. I thought I would try my luck and see if 1st Art Gallery could reproduce it.
And they can! I picked 30x40" in size for the space over my fireplace mantel.
Jenn took care of the rest of the ordering process. The painting was handpainted by an artist over a period of at least 10 days. Afterwards, it was dried and cured for a couple of weeks, then packed and ready for shipment. It took much longer to get to me because the painting was initially shipped to someone else, returned to the Gallery, then finally came home to its rightful owner.
Picture above: Madame Henriot oil on canvas, reproduced by 1st Art Gallery, 30x40"
Their artist did such a great job at capturing the muse's delicate yet radiant smile, and serene yet brilliant gaze. The painting is so like a happy dream.
The fluidity and lightness of the diaphanous fabric came alive through the artist's thinly applied strokes.
The champagne-toned frame complements the pastel portrait painting.
So this is it. The painting makes my living room feel so bright, and happy!
Note: this is a sponsored post as the painting was provided to me by 1st Art Gallery, but all the opinions were my own.
