L'Oiseau bleu (painting)
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''The Blue Bird'' (French: ''L'Oiseau bleu'') is an oil painting created in 1912–1913 by the French artist and theorist Jean Metzinger. ''L'Oiseau bleu'', one of Metzinger's most recognizable and frequently referenced works, was first exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Indépendants in the spring of 1913 (cat. no. 2087),Société des artistes indépendants. 29, Catalogue de la 29e exposition, 1913 : Quai d'Orsay, Pont de l'Alma, du 19 mars au 18 mai inclus / Société des artistes indépendants (cat. no. 2087)
/ref> several months after the publication of the first (and only) Cubist manifesto, '' Du "Cubisme"'', written by Jean Metzinger and Albert Gleizes (1912). It was subsequently exhibited at the 1913
Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon (First German Autumn Salon) was the title of an art exhibition that was organized in 1913 by Herwarth Walden in Berlin. Henri Rousseau memorial exhibition The exhibition opened on 20 September 1913 in rented rooms ...
in Berlin (titled ''Der blaue Vogel'', cat. no. 287).Herwarth Walden, ''Erster deutscher Herbstsalon'', Berlin 1913
No. 287, p. 25
Apollinaire described ''L'Oiseau bleu'' as a 'very brilliant painting' and 'his most important work to date'. ''L'Oiseau bleu'', acquired by the City of Paris in 1937, forms part of the permanent collection at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.


Description

''L'Oiseau bleu'' is an oil painting on canvas with dimensions 230 x 196 cm (90.5 by 77.2 in). The work represents three nude women in a scene that contains a wide variety of components. ''L'Oiseau bleu'', writes Joann Moser, uses a wealth of anecdotal detail "which comprises a compendium of motifs found in earlier and later paintings by Metzinger: bathers, fan, mirror, ibis, necklace, a boat with water, foliage and an urban scene. It is a mélange of interior and exterior elements integrated into one of Metzinger's most intriguing and successful compositions." The central standing 'foreground' figure is shown affectionately holding in both hands a ''blue bird'' (thus the title of the painting). The reclining figure wearing a necklace shown in the lower center of the canvas is placed next to a pedestal fruit bowl and another bird with the unmistakable coloration of the rare Scarlet ibis (''L'Ibis rouge''), a rich symbol for both
exoticism Exoticism (from "exotic") is a trend in European art and design, whereby artists became fascinated with ideas and styles from distant regions and drew inspiration from them. This often involved surrounding foreign cultures with mystique and fantas ...
and
fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
. Costume designers for Parisian cabarets such as Le Lido, Folies Bergère, the Moulin Rouge and ''
haute couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...
'' houses in Paris during the 1910s used the feathers of the scarlet Ibis in their shows and collections. The Ibis is a bird to which the ancient Egyptians paid religious worship and attributed to it a 'virgin purity'. A mysterious pyramidal shape is seen as if through a porthole to the right of the reclining figure's head, though it remains a matter of speculation whether there exists any relation to the ibis or pyramids of ancient Egypt. In front of the pyramid appears a shape that resembles a
sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
, perhaps meant as the element of time, or 'duration', as the clock placed in the upper right hand corner of his '' Nu à la cheminée (Nude)'' of 1910. Two other birds, in addition to the blue bird and scarlet ibis can be seen in the composition, one of which resembles a
green heron The green heron (''Butorides virescens'') is a small heron of North and Central America. ''Butorides'' is from Middle English ''butor'' "bittern" and Ancient Greek ''-oides'', "resembling", and ''virescens'' is Latin for "greenish". It was long c ...
. A large steamship can be seen bellowing gaseous vapor from its funnel in the distant sea or ocean, and a smaller boat (or ''canot'') is visible below. On the left half of Metzinger's ''L'Oiseau Bleu'', holding in her right hand a yellow fan (éventail) is a sitting nude who in her left hand holds a mirror into which she gazes. In the rest of the scene, various items and divers elements are placed, including in the upper center (practically at the highest point of the painting) the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point of the city. This popular monument is just up the hill from where Metzinger lived and worked (Rue Lamarck) prior to his move to Meudon around 1912. It is also a short distance from Le Bateau-Lavoir, widely known as the birthplace of Cubism.


The flag

Edward F. Fry writes in ''Cubism'' (1978): "Three female nudes are in various postures, and the blue bird is held by the uppermost figure; in other parts of the composition are numerous birds, grapes in a dish on a table, the striped canopy of a Paris cafe, the dome of Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre, and a ship at sea." (Bold added). Noticeably, the 'striped canopy' to which Fry refers has the same color pattern as the American flag. Recall that ''L'Oiseau bleu'' was painted as the International Exhibition of Modern Art (the Armory Show) in New York was beginning to materialize; when
Arthur B. Davies Arthur Bowen Davies (September 26, 1862 – October 24, 1928) was an avant-garde American artist and influential advocate of modern art in the United States c. 1910–1928. Biography Davies was born in Utica, New York, the son of David and Phoeb ...
and Walt Kuhn came to Paris in the fall of 1912 to select works for the Armory Show, with the help of
Walter Pach Walter Pach (July 1, 1883 – November 27, 1958) was an artist, critic, lecturer, art adviser, and art historian who wrote extensively about modern art and championed its cause. Through his numerous books, articles, and translations of European ar ...
. The paintings of Metzinger, however, did not appear at the exhibition (to the surprise of many in his entourage); and this despite Picasso's 1912 recommendation. In a note to Kuhn, Picasso's handwritten list of artists recommended for the Armory Show include Gris, Metzinger, Gleizes, Léger, Duchamp, Delaunay, Le Fauconnier, Laurencin, La Fresnaye and Braque. He did however exhibit at the ''Exhibition of Cubist and Futurist Pictures'', Boggs & Buhl Department Store, Pittsburgh, July 1913. His '' Portrait of an American Smoking (Man with a Pipe)'', 1911–12 (Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin) was reproduced on the front cover of the catalogue. It is highly likely, since Walter Pach knew practically all the artists in the exhibition (a good friend of Metzinger and other members of the Section d'Or group; e.g., Gleizes, Picabia and the Duchamp brothers), that he had something to do with the organization of the show. Sponsored by the
Gimbel Brothers Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the compa ...
department store from May through the summer of 1913 the Cubist and Futurist show toured Milwaukee, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York.Laurette E. McCarthy, ''Walter Pach (1883–1958). The Armory Show and the Untold Story of Modern Art in America'', Penn State Press, 2011
/ref> Metzinger had already been interviewed, circa 1908, by Gelett Burgess for his ''Wild Men of Paris'' article, published in ''The Architectural Record'', May 1910 (New York). In 1915 (8 March - 3 April) Metzinger exhibited at the ''Third Exhibition of Contemporary French Art''—Carstairs (Carroll) Gallery, New York—with Pach, Gleizes, Picasso, de la Fresnaye, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Derain, Duchamp, Duchamp-Villon and Villon. Metzinger would soon exhibit six works in New York at the Montross Gallery, 550 Fifth Avenue (4–22 April 1916) with Gleizes, Picabia, Duchamp, and
Jean Crotti Jean Crotti (24 April 1878 – 30 January 1958) was a French painter. Crotti was born in Bulle, Fribourg, Switzerland. He first studied in Munich, Germany at the School of Decorative Arts, then at age 23 moved to Paris to study art at the ...
. In 1917 Metzinger exhibited at the ''People's Art Guild'' (founded in 1915 to disseminate art to the masses) in New York, with Pach, Picabia, Picasso, Derain and Joseph Stella. In December 1917 Metzinger exhibited at the ''Exhibition of Paintings by the Moderns'', held at Vassar College (located in the heart of the Hudson Valley in New York), with Pach, Derain, Edward Hopper, Diego Rivera and
Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...
. Duchamp, Picabia, Gleizes and his wife (via Hamilton Bermuda) would soon leave for New York where they would stay an extended period of time. Maurice Metzinger, Jean's brother, made several trips to the United States, in 1906, 1910 and would soon move there permanently in pursuit of his career as a Cellist. In light of the turmoil surrounding his non-acceptance at the Armory show, his brother's experiences in New York, his soon to be exposition at the ''Cubist Exhibition'', Boggs & Buhl's, and the representation of a steamship in the upper right quadrant of ''L'Oiseau bleu'', it would not be out of the question that Metzinger made reference to the American flag (as opposed to a red and white stripped canopy of a Parisian café as suggested by Fry). This would be remarkable in light of the growing trend of Nationalism surrounding modern art exhibitions in Paris, within which Metzinger was recognized as a French Cubist, and his work, in the French tradition: 'cubisme dans une tradition française'. Painting an American flag might have been seen as provocative, especially so as
Roger de La Fresnaye Roger de La Fresnaye (; 11 July 1885 – 27 November 1925) was a French Cubist painter. Early years and education La Fresnaye was born in Le Mans where his father, an officer in the French army, was temporarily stationed. The La Fresnayes were ...
was painting French flags:
Fourteenth of July
', 1913-14 (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX), and ''The Conquest of the Air'', 1913 (Museum of Modern Art, New York), two of his most original contributions to the diverse salons.
André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...
appears to show both the flag of the United Kingdom and the stripes of the American flag in his ''
L'Escale L'Escale (; oc, L'Escala) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. It is located on the eastern bank of the Durance opposite Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban. Geography The Bléone forms the commune's sout ...
'', of 1913 (Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris). The Futurist Gino Severini, too, included the French flag in his 1913 painting ''Train of the Wounded''.


Divisionism to Multiple perspective

As in the works of Étienne-Jules Marey and Eadweard Muybridge there is no smooth transition between the elements and sections of Metzinger's painting, but when sutured together (with the eye) in succession or simultaneously a dynamic ensemble emerges. The composition is divided, fragmented, splintered or faceted into series, not only of individual rectangles, squares or 'cubes' of color, but into individual planes or surfaces delineated by color and form. Just as other paintings by Metzinger of the pre-war period (such as '' En Canot'', 1913) there is some continuity that transits between the foreground and background, blending perspective of objects close and far, the notion of
depth perception Depth perception is the ability to perceive distance to objects in the world using the visual system and visual perception. It is a major factor in perceiving the world in three dimensions. Depth perception happens primarily due to stereopsis an ...
has not been abolished, i.e., the spatial attributes of the scene have not been flattened, yet there is no absolute
frame of reference In physics and astronomy, a frame of reference (or reference frame) is an abstract coordinate system whose origin, orientation, and scale are specified by a set of reference points― geometric points whose position is identified both mathema ...
. Though not the first painting by Jean Metzinger to employ the concept of
multiple perspective Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
—three years had passed since he first propounded the idea in ''Note sur la peinture'', published in 1910—''L'Oiseau bleu'' arguably exemplifies the extreme, a maxima, a ''
summum bonum ''Summum bonum'' is a Latin expression meaning the highest or ultimate good, which was introduced by the Roman philosopher Cicero to denote the fundamental principle on which some system of ethics is based — that is, the aim of actions, which, ...
'' of such pictorial processes, while still maintaining elements of recognizable form; the extreme activity of geometric faceting visible in ''L'Oiseau bleu'' is not frenzied to the point that any understandable link between physicality or naturalness is lost. Yet, what is achieved is, of course, fundamentally anti-naturalistic; at great distance from the appearance of the natural world. Aimed at a large audience (the Salon des Indépendants, rather than a gallery setting), ''L'Oiseau bleu'' deliberately sets out to agitate and confront the standard expectation of art, in an attempt to implicated the viewer, to transfer beauty and elegance into a fresh cohesive dialogue that most accurately represents Modernism—one that is in tune with the intricacies of modern life, one that describes Cubism, his Cubism, whose order was only a phase in a continuous process of change. To achieve his goal, Metzinger raises the concept of ''mobile perspective'' (as opposed to single-point perspective of the Renaissance) to a poetic principle: a form of
literary art Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
which uses the
aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
qualities of
iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the
prosaic Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
ostensible
meaning Meaning most commonly refers to: * Meaning (linguistics), meaning which is communicated through the use of language * Meaning (philosophy), definition, elements, and types of meaning discussed in philosophy * Meaning (non-linguistic), a general te ...
. ''L'Oiseau bleu'' contains something that Metzinger spoke of as early as 1907; a "chromatic versification", as if for syllables. The rhythm of its pictorial phraseology translates the diverse emotions aroused by nature (in the words of Metzinger).Jean Metzinger, ca. 1907, quoted in Georges Desvallières, ''La Grande Revue'', vol. 124, 1907, as cited in Robert L. Herbert, 1968, Neo-Impressionism, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York ''L'Oiseau bleu'' no longer represented nature as seen, but was a complete byproduct of the human 'sensation.' A departure from nature it was, and a departure from all that had been painted to date it was too. Metzinger's
Divisionist Divisionism, also called chromoluminarism, was the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting defined by the separation of colors into individual dots or patches which interacted optically..Homer, William I. ''Seurat and the Science of ...
technique had its parallel in literature. For him, there was an emblematic alliance between the
Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...
writers and Neo-Impressionism. Each brushstroke of color was equivalent to a word (or "syllable"). Together the pigments formed sentences (or "phrases") which translated the various emotions that nature would pass on to the artist. This is an important aspect of Metzinger's early work, and an important aspect of Metzinger's entire artistic output (as a painter, writer, poet, and theorist). Already then, Metzinger coupled Symbolist/Neo-Impressionist color theory with Cézannian perspective, beyond not just the preoccupations of Paul Signac and
Henri-Edmond Cross Henri-Edmond Cross, born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix, (20 May 1856 – 16 May 1910) was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism and he played an important role in shaping the second phase of t ...
, but beyond too the preoccupations of his avant-garde entourage.Robert L. Herbert, 1968, Neo-Impressionism, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York
"I ask of divided brushwork not the objective rendering of light, but iridescences and certain aspects of color still foreign to painting. I make a kind of chromatic versification and for syllables I use strokes which, variable in quantity, cannot differ in dimension without modifying the rhythm of a pictorial phraseology destined to translate the diverse emotions aroused by nature." (Metzinger, 1907)

An interpretation of this statement was made by Robert L. Herbert: "What Metzinger meant is that each little tile of pigment has two lives: it exists as a plane where mere size and direction are fundamental to the rhythm of the painting and, secondly, it also has color which can vary independently of size and placement." (Herbert, 1968)
During Metzinger's Divisionist period, each individual square of pigment associated with another of similar shape and color to form a group; each grouping of color juxtaposed with an adjacent collection of differing colors; just as syllables combine to form sentences, and sentences combine to form paragraphs, and so on. Now, the same concept formerly related to color has been adapted to form. Each individual facet associated with another adjacent shape form a group; each grouping juxtaposed with an adjacent collection of facets connect or become associated with a larger organization—just as the association of syllables combine to form sentences, and sentences combine to form paragraphs, and so on—forming what Metzinger described as the 'total image'.


Underlying geometric armature

Though the primary role of Metzinger's
syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
was played by the relations of its intricate parts within the whole, there was another key factor that emerged: the mobile underlying geometric armature organized as a dynamic composition of superimposed planes. Metzinger, Juan Gris and to some extent Jacques Lipchitz, would develop this concept further during the war; something Gleizes would notice when he returned to Paris from New York, and develop further still in '' Painting and its Laws (La Peinture et ses lois)'', written in 1922 and published in 1923. In that text Gleizes would attribute to this underlying armature 'objective notions of translation and rotation', words in which 'movement is implicit'. In this sense Metzinger's ''L'Oiseau bleu'' was a precursor in its genre, more so perhaps than his '' Le goûter (Tea Time)'' of 1911, ''
La Femme au Cheval ''La Femme au Cheval'' (also known as ''Woman with Horse'', ''L'Écuyère'' and ''Kvinde med hest'') is a large oil painting created toward the end of 1911, early 1912, by the French artist Jean Metzinger (1883–1956). The work was exhibited in ...
'', 1911–12, or ''
Dancer in a café Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...
(Danseuse)'' of 1912. Now, the emergence of the 'total image' arises out of a
multiplicity Multiplicity may refer to: In science and the humanities * Multiplicity (mathematics), the number of times an element is repeated in a multiset * Multiplicity (philosophy), a philosophical concept * Multiplicity (psychology), having or using multi ...
of relatively simple interacting planes or surfaces, loosely based on the
Golden triangle Golden Triangle may refer to: Places Asia * Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production * Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development * Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...
and Fibonacci spiral. Whereas before, each disconnected element would unite forming complex relationships as a collective, now (and progressively), the collective components would be organized into an abstract mathematical concept that is much more general; giving rise to a global topology. This underlying geometric armature would facilitate the union of a set (or sets) of complex structures on a given orientable surface.


Symbolism and interpretations

In ''The Introduction to Metaphysics'' (1903)
Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson
described in his theory of images how uniting a collection of disparate images acts on the consciousness and intuition, creating an alogical disposition. The Symbolist poet
Tancrède de Visan Tancrède de Visan (17 December 1878 in Lyon – October 1945 in Seyssinet aged 66) was the pen name of French writer Vincent Biétrix. Life After studying at the College des Minimes in Lyon, Vincent Biétrix obtained a literature degree at the ...
, who prior to 1904 and some time leading up to 1911 attended the lectures of Bergson at the College de France, met regularly with the Cubists at the poet Paul Fort's soirees at the fashionable . He related Bergson's notion of 'accumulated successive images' to the writings of Maurice Maeterlinck circa 1907, and in 1910 advocated the technique in ''Vers et Prose''.Mark Antliff, Patricia Dee Leighten, ''Cubism and Culture'', Thames & Hudson, 2001 In ''Note sur la peinture'' of the same year Metzinger argues that Delaunay's ''Tour Eiffel'' combines several different views captured throughout the day in one image. 'Intuitive, Delaunay has defined intuition as the brusque deflagration of all the reasonings accumulated each day'. The following year, in ''Cubisme et Tradition'' (1911) Metzinger writes of the immobility of paintings of the past, and that now, artists permit themselves the liberty of 'moving around the object to give, under the control of intelligence, a concrete representation derived from several successive aspects.' He continues, 'The painting possesses space, and now it also reigns in the duration' voilà qu'il règne aussi dans la durée", With motion and time, intuition and consciousness, Metzinger could now claim his art had moved closer to nature, closer to a true, yet subjective, reality. Parallel to the theories of Bergson, embraced by Metzinger, Gleizes and other members of the Section d'Or, Maeterlinck's ideas became of interest. Bolstered by mathematics, Reimannian geometry, and new discoveries in science that revealed existence of unseen realms (such as X-rays), and attracted to the concept of extra dimension (in addition the three spatial dimensions: the
fourth dimension Fourth dimension may refer to: Science * Time in physics, the continued progress of existence and events * Four-dimensional space, the concept of a fourth spatial dimension * Spacetime, the unification of time and space as a four-dimensional con ...
), Metzinger likely responded positively to Maeterlinck's popular stage play ''The Blue Bird'' (written in 1908), finding in it, perhaps, the analogy to the Cubist quest for higher realities.Laura Kathleen Valeri, ''Rediscovering Maurice Maeterlinck and His Significance for Modern Art''
Supervisor: Linda D. Henderson, The University of Texas at Austin, 2011
Maeterlinck’s play, ''The Blue Bird'', premiered in Moscow in 1908, New York 1910, and on 2 March 1911 the play premiered in Paris at the Théâtre Réjane (owned and run by the French actress Réjane from 1906 to 1918). The play subsequently was adapted to several films titled '' The Blue Bird''. The French composer Albert Wolff wrote an opera (first performed at the N.Y. Metropolitan, 27 December 1919, in the presence of Maeterlinck) based on Maeterlinck's original 1908 play. Due to the early popularity of the play and Metzinger's various interests in science and Symbolism, and as his 1913 painting bears the same name as the play, it is relatively safe to assume that Metzinger was familiar with the work of Maeterlinck. Edward Fry commented in ''Cubism'' that Metzinger's ''L’Oiseau bleu'' has "no significant connection with Maeterlinck’s 1910 play of the same name" may not be entirely justified. Aside from the presence of the ''blue bird'' (The Blue Bird of Happiness in Maeterlinck's play) there is no iconographic evidence relating to the painting to the play, but at the very least a connection between Maeterlinck and Symbolism, with Bergson and Cubism, has been established through Tancrede de Visan.
"The Cubists also found support in Maeterlinck for their ideas regarding successive images and simultaneity. Contemporary critics like Visan recognized the parallel between Bergson and Maeterlinck, claiming that Maeterlinck had anticipated Bergson’s technique of successive images in ''Serres chaudes''. While Bergson argued that the artist must induce an alogical state in the beholder by juxtaposing images as disparate as possible to enable the spectator to reconstruct his or her original intuition, Maeterlinck took the same approach in ''Serres chaudes'', according to Visan. Furthermore, Maeterlinck used words and gestures in unusual ways and placed them in strange contexts with the same aim in mind. Maeterlinck’s highly popular ''L’Oiseau bleu'' and other writings, including ''Le temple enseveli'', espoused a continuity of time previously suggested by Bergson. In addition, the faceted diamond of ''L’Oiseau bleu'' not only gave the children "true sight" that closely mimicked the X-ray, but also allowed them to perceive distant times and places. Clearly responding the play, Metzinger, in his painting of the same name, breaks the objects into facets and reveals a simultaneous view of places separated by great distance. Just as Poincaré advocated that a combination of multiple perspectives could represent a higher-dimensional object, Metzinger must have seen a parallel with Maeterlinck’s diamond—a faceted object that revealed higher reality". (Laura Kathleen Valeri, 2011)
LIGHT: "We are in the Kingdom of the Future," said Light, a character in Meaterlinck's play, "in the midst of the children who are not yet born. As the diamond allows us to see clearly in this region which is hidden from men, we shall perhaps find the Blue Bird here..."Maurice Maeterlinck, ''The Blue Bird, A Fairy Play in Six Acts'', 1908, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos in 1910 (Full text)
/ref> THE FAIRY: (Pointing to the diamond) "When you hold it like this, do you see?… One little turn more and you behold the past…. Another little turn and you behold the future…" LIGHT: "We are in the Kingdom of the Future, in the midst of the children who are not yet born. As the diamond allows us to see clearly in this region which is hidden from men, we shall very probably find the Blue Bird here..." The enchanted diamond in ''The Blue Bird'', when turned, has the virtue of setting free the spirits temporarily, a diamond " which opens your eyes" and "makes people see", even "the inside of things". The same year that he painted ''L’Oiseau bleu'' Metzinger wrote: 'We will not consider the forms as signs of an idea, but as living portions of the universe.' (1913) Guillaume Apollinaire, in a poem written in 1907 entitled ''La Tzigane'', writes of a ''blue bird'': "Et l'oiseau bleu perdit ses plumes Et les mendiants leurs Avé". He does so again in 1908 in another poem, entitled ''Fiançailles'': "Le printemps laisse errer les fiancés parjures, Et laisse feuilloler longtemps les plumes bleues, Que secoue le cyprès où niche l'oiseau bleu". And yet again, this time in 1918, in ''Un oiseau chante'': Moi seul l'oiseau bleu s'égosille, Oiseau bleu comme le coeur bleu, De mon amour au coeur céleste". '' The Blue Bird'' is also 1910 silent film, based on the play by Maurice Maeterlinck and starring Pauline Gilmer as Mytyl and Olive Walter as Tytyl. It was filmed in England. The original Broadway production of ''The Blue Bird'' or ''L'Oiseau Bleu'' by Maurice Maeterlinck opened at the New Theatre in New York (followed by the Majestic Theater) on October 1, 1910, and closed on January 21, 1911. Revivals were produced in 1911 and 1924.


L'Oiseau bleu (Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky)

L'Oiseau bleu et la Princesse Florine appear in a
Pas de deux In ballet, a pas de deux (French language, French, literally "step of two") is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together. The pas de deux is characteristic of classical ballet and can be fo ...
, Act III of '' The Sleeping Beauty'', a ballet in three acts first performed in 1890. The music was by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (his Opus 66). The original scenario was conceived by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and is based on
Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...
's ''
La Belle au bois dormant ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...
''.
Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (russian: Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818), was a French ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters an ...
choreographed the original production. The premiere performance took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1890. Russian composer
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
, working for Sergei Diaghilev and the
Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...
, achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: '' The Firebird (L'Oiseau de feu)'' (1910), '' Petrushka'' (1911) and '' The Rite of Spring'' (1913). The rhythmic structure of these compositions were largely responsible for Stravinsky's enduring reputation as a musical revolutionary who pushed the boundaries of musical design. Stravinsky's admiration for Tchaikovsky is well documented. Stravinsky's music has often been compared with Cubism. His path often crossed with the Cubists, notably Picasso and Gleizes, and through Ricciotto Canudo contributed to and became closely associated with the pro-Cubist publication ''Montjoie''., Gleizes published an article in Canudo's Montjoie entitled ''Cubisme et la tradition'', 10 February 1913. It was through the intermediary of Ricciotto Canudo that Gleizes would meet the artist
Juliette Roche Juliette Roche (1884–1980), also known as Juliette Roche Gleizes, was a French painter and writer who associated with members of the Cubism, Cubist and Dada movements. She was married to the artist Albert Gleizes. Life She was born in 1884 t ...
(soon to become Juliette Roche-Gleizes); a childhood friend of Jean Cocteau. Stravinsky would later collaborate with both Picasso (Pulcinella, 1920), and Cocteau (Oedipus Rex, 1927). Albert Gleizes painted the ''Portrait of Igor Stravinsky'' in 1914. The connection between Tchaikovsky's ''L'Oiseau Bleu'' and Metzinger's ''L'Oiseau Bleu'' is not entirely far fetched in light of the close association between Stravinsky and both circles: that of the
Russian Ballets Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and that of the Cubists. At the opening night of the Ballets Russes in Paris, May 1909, Vaslav Nijinsky's performed with Tamara Karsavina in the ''Bluebird pas de deux''.


L'Oiseau bleu (Madame d'Aulnoy)

The title '' L'Oiseau bleu (The Blue Bird)'' can be traced back to a French literary fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy (1650/1651 – 4 January 1705), published in 1697. When d'Aulnoy termed her works ''contes de fées'' (fairy tales), she originated the term that is now generally used for the genre. Prince Charming, in the story, is transformed by the fairy godmother into a blue bird. Aside from the subject of the title of Madame d'Aulnoy's story, there is further iconographic evidence in Metzinger's painting that suggests a link between the two. The first relates to the woman gazing into a mirror on the left side of Metzinger's painting. In the Madame d'Aulnoy 1697 story it is written:
'The entire valley was a mirror. Around the valley there were more than sixty thousand women who gazed at themselves with extreme pleasure... Each saw herself as she wanted to be: the redhead seemed blonde, the brunette had black hair, the old thought she was young, the young didn't become old; finally, all defects were so well hidden that the people came from all over the world'.Madame d'Aulnoy, L’Oiseau bleu, 1697
full text in French
With reference to the fruit visible in Metzinger's work, a link could be established as articulated in d'Aulnoy's tale: 'As soon as the day broke, the
lue Lue or LUE may refer to: People * Andrew Lue (born 1992), Canadian retired football player * Cachet Lue (born 1997), Canadian-born Jamaican footballer * Lue Gim Gong (1860–1925), Chinese-American horticulturalist * Lee Lue (1935–1969), Laotian ...
bird flew deep into the tree where fruits served as food.' And with reference to the necklace worn by Metzinger's reclining figure, a comparison could be made with d'Aulnoy's story:
'No day passed without he Blue Bird – King Charmingbringing a present résentto Florine: sometimes a perl necklace, or the brightest and well-made rings, fastened with diamonds, an official marking es poinçons with bouquets of precious cut gems, that mimic the colors of flowers, pleasant books, medals, finally, she had a collection of wonderful treasures'.


Diversity and inspiration

It is difficult to ascertain to what extent Metzinger was influenced, moved, provoked or inspired by the works of Maeterlinck, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky or d'Aulnoy. What does emerge is the closer iconographic detail visible in Metzinger's painting with the original version of ''L'Oiseau bleu'' (the first version, that also happens to be French, of 1697) by Madame d'Aulnoy. In fact, it is the only version of ''L'Oiseau bleu'' that appears to be mirrored iconographically in Metzinger's painting. The fact that the difficulty even exists attests to the diversity of Metzinger's interest in widely disparate subjects, widely faceted interests and sensitivities, ranging from women to fashion, from literature to science, in passing through mathematics, geometry, physics, metaphysics, philosophy, nature, classical music, opera, dance, theater, cafés, travel and poetry. He was open to all the idioms that he considered genuinely popular.Daniel Robbins, Jean Metzinger: At the Center of Cubism, 1985, Jean Metzinger in Retrospect, The University of Iowa Museum of Art, p. 22 :'The art that does not pass leans on mathematics' Metzinger wrote, 'Whether the result of patient study or of flashing intuition, it alone is capable of reducing our diverse, pathetic sensations to the strict unity of a mass (Bach), a fresco (Michelangelo), a bust (antiquity)." "Jean Metzinger, then" wrote art historian Daniel Robbins, "was at the center of Cubism, not only because of his role as intermediary among the orthodox Montmartre group and right bank or Passy Cubists, not only because of his great identification with the movement when it was recognized, but above all because of his artistic personality. His concerns were balanced; he was deliberately at the intersection of high intellectuality and the passing spectacle."


Selected exhibitions


Salon des Indépendants, 1913

The Salon des Indépendants was held 19 March through 18 May, the Cubist works were shown in room 46. Metzinger exhibited three works: ''Paysage, Nature Morte'', and his large ''L'Oiseau bleu'', number 2087 of the catalogueAlbert Gleizes exhibited three works: ''Paysage'', ''Le port marchand'', 1912, Art Gallery of Ontario, and '' Les Joueurs de football (Football Players)'' 1912–13, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. m. 1293 of the catalogue — Robert Delaunay, ''L'équipe du Cardiff F.C.'', 1912–13, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, n. 787 of the catalogue —
Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
, ''Le modèle nu dans l'atelier (Nude Model In The Studio)'' 1912–13, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York — Juan Gris, ''L'Homme dans le Café (Man in Café)'' 1912, Philadelphia Museum of Art. In room 45 hung the works of Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, František Kupka,
Morgan Russell Morgan Russell (January 25, 1886 – May 29, 1953) was a modern American artist. With Stanton Macdonald-Wright, he was the founder of Synchromism, a provocative style of abstract painting that dates from 1912 to the 1920s. Russell's "synchromie ...
and Macdonald-Wright. This was the first exhibition where Orphism and
Synchromism Synchromism was an art movement founded in 1912 by American artists Stanton Macdonald-Wright (1890–1973) and Morgan Russell (1886–1953). Their abstract "synchromies," based on an approach to painting that analogized color to music, were amon ...
were emphatically present. Apollinaire in ''L'Intransigeant'' mentioned la Salle hollandaise (room 43), which included Jacoba van Heemskerck,
Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...
, Otto van Rees,
Jan Sluyters Johannes Carolus Bernardus (Jan) Sluijters, or Sluyters (17 December 1881 in 's-Hertogenbosch – 8 May 1957 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch painter and co-founder of the Moderne Kunstkring. Sluijters (in English often spelled "Sluyters") was a leading ...
en Leo Gestel and Lodewijk Schelfhout.


Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon, Berlin, 1913

20 September — 1 November 1913: Metzinger exhibited ''L'Oiseau bleu'' (''Der Blaue Vogel''), catalogue number 287, at Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon in Berlin, an exhibition organized by Herwarth Walden (Galerie Der Sturm). Artists include Henri Rousseau, the Delaunays, Gleizes, Léger, Marcoussis, Archipenko, Picabia, Kandinsky, Severini, Chagal, Klee, Jawlensky, Russolo, Mondrian and others. Following the Salon d'Automne of 1913 in Paris this show took place at Potsdamer Strasse 75, Berlin. 75 artists from 12 countries exhibited 366 works. This exhibition was supported financially by the manufacturer and art collector Bernhardt Köhler. Apollinaire described the Herbst salon of 1913 as the first Orphist Salon. There were many works by Robert and Sonia Delaunay, in addition to abstract works by Picabia and Cubist works by Metzinger, Gleizes, Léger and a large number of Futurist paintings. This exhibition was a turning-point in Apollinaire's artistic strategy for Orphism. After becoming entangled through some remarks in an argument between Delaunay and
Umberto Boccioni Umberto Boccioni (, ; 19 October 1882 – 17 August 1916) was an influential Italian painter and sculptor. He helped shape the revolutionary aesthetic of the Futurism movement as one of its principal figures. Despite his short life, his approach ...
about the ambiguousness of the term ‘simultaneity’ he did not use the term Orphism again in his art related articles. The artists labeled Orphists also brushed off the term and developed stylistic trends of their own.


Paris International Exposition, 1937

The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life, was held from May 25 to November 25, 1937, in Paris. ''L'Oiseau Bleu'' (n. 11) was exhibited in a show entitled ''Les Maitres de I'Art Indépendant 1895-1937'', held at the Petit Palais, in Paris. ''L'Oiseau Bleu'' was purchased by ''la Ville de Paris'' (the City of Paris) the same year. The Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, within the Palais de Tokyo, which would soon house ''L'Oiseau Bleu'', was designed for the International Art and Technical Exhibition of 1937. This exhibition provided the opportunity for some remarkable acquisitions including: ''The Dance (La Danse)'' by Henri Matisse, ''Nude in the bath'' and ''The Garden'' by
Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist ...
, ''The Cardiff Team (L'équipe de Cardiff )'' by Robert Delaunay, ''The River'' by
André Derain André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. Biography Early years Derain was born in 1880 in Chatou, Yvelines, Île-de-France, just outside Paris. I ...
, ''Discs (Les Disques)'' by
Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
, ''The Stopover (l'Escale)'' by
André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...
, ''L'Oiseau Bleu (The Blue Bird)'' by Jean Metzinger, Les Baigneuses (The Bathers) by Albert Gleizes, four Artists’ Portraits by Édouard Vuillard, which still number among the museum's masterpieces, not forgetting the large murals by Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Albert Gleizes and Jacques Villon, acquired during the exhibition (donated by the
Salon des Réalités Nouvelles The Salon des Réalités Nouvelles is an association of artists and an art exhibition in Paris, focusing on abstract art. A first exhibition with the name was held in 1939 in Galerie Charpentier, organised by Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, Nelly ...
in 1939). For this same massive exhibition Metzinger was commissioned to paint a large mural, ''Mystique of Travel'', which he executed for the ''Salle de Cinema'' in the railway pavilion.


Paris 1937, l'art indépendant, 1987

Paris 1937, l'art indépendant: MAM, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris. From 12 June to 30 August 1987 ''L'Oiseau bleu'' (n. 254) was exhibited at the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris in a show entitled ''Paris 1937, l'art indépendant'', held for the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Paris International Exposition of 1937. At the 1987 memorial exhibition, consisting of 122 artists exhibiting 354 works, there were displayed considerably less works than the 1,557 presented in 1937.


Centre Pompidou, Kunstmuseum Basel

''Le cubisme'', 17 October 2018 to 25 February 2019, Centre Pompidou, the first large-scale exhibition devoted to Cubism in France since 1973, with over 300 works on display. The 1973 exhibition, ''Les Cubistes'', included over 180 works and was held at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux. The motivation for the Pompidou exhibition resides in broadening the scope of Cubism, usually focused on Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, to include the major contributions of the Salon Cubists, the Section d'Or, and others who participated in the over-all movement. The exhibition is held at Kunstmuseum Basel, from March 31 to August 5, 2019.


''L'Oiseau Bleu'' postage stamp

For the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Cubist manifesto '' Du "Cubisme"'', 1912–2012, a French postage stamp was printed with the image of Metzinger's ''L'Oiseau bleu''. A postage stamp representing ''Le Chant de guerre, portrait de Florent Schmitt'' (1915) by Albert Gleizes was also printed, in a series that includes stamps representing the works of other Cubists such as
Roger de La Fresnaye Roger de La Fresnaye (; 11 July 1885 – 27 November 1925) was a French Cubist painter. Early years and education La Fresnaye was born in Le Mans where his father, an officer in the French army, was temporarily stationed. The La Fresnayes were ...
,
Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...
,
Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
, Pablo Picasso and others. For the same occasion in 2012 the Musée national de la Poste (France) (the logo of which is a blue bird) mounted an exhibition entitled ''Gleizes-Metzinger. Du Cubisme et après'' dedicated to Jean Metzinger and Albert Gleizes, in which appeared the works of other members of the Section d'Or group.


1913 in context

Niels Bohr presents his quantum model of the atom. —
Robert Millikan Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American experimental physicist honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the elementary electric charge and for his work on the photoelectric e ...
measures the fundamental unit of electric chargeGeorges Sagnac demonstrates the Sagnac effect, showing that light propagates at a speed independent of the speed of its source.William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg work out the Bragg condition for strong X-ray reflection — Publication of the 3rd volume of '' Principia Mathematica'' by
Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found applicat ...
and Bertrand Russell, one of the most important and seminal works in mathematical logic and philosophy — February 17 - The Armory Show opens in New York City. It displays works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century —
Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
, ''
Swann's Way ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...
'' —
D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
, '' Sons and Lovers'' — Franz Kafka, ''
The Judgement ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
'' — Blaise Cendrars, ''
La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France ''La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France'' (Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Jehanne of France) is a collaborative artists' book by Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay-Terk. The book features a poem by Cendrars about ...
'' — Guillaume Apollinaire, ''Alcools: Poemes 1898-1913'', edited by Tristan TzaraWeb page title
"Guillaume Apollinaire (1880 - 1918)"
at the Poetry Foundation website, retrieved August 9, 2009

2009-09-03.
Blaise Cendrars, ''
La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France ''La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France'' (Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Jehanne of France) is a collaborative artists' book by Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay-Terk. The book features a poem by Cendrars about ...
'', a collaborative artists' book with near abstract pochoir print by
Sonia Delaunay-Terk Sonia Delaunay (13 November 1885 – 5 December 1979) was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She was born in Odessa (then part of Russian Empire), and formally trained in Russian Empire and Germany before moving to Fr ...
Francis Jammes Francis Jammes (; 2 December 1868, in Tournay, Hautes-Pyrénées – 1 November 1938, in Hasparren, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) was a French and European poet. He spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Basque Country and his po ...
, ''Feuilles dans le vent''Web page title
"Poet Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938)"
at The Poetry Foundation website, retrieved August 30, 2009
— 29 May -
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
's ballet score '' The Rite of Spring'' is premiered in Paris — 12 December - Vincenzo Perugia tries to sell '' Mona Lisa'' in Florence and is arrested. Apollinaire had been a suspect in Paris for its theft — 30 December - Italy returns '' Mona Lisa'' to France — 23 September - Aviator Roland Garros flies over the Mediterranean


Further exhibitions

*''Apollinaire critique d'art'', Pavillon des Arts, Paris, 1993, n. 86 * ''De Picasso à Soulages'', Otsu (Japan), Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, 3 April 1999 – 9 May 1999, Akita (Japan), Akita Senshu Museum of Art, 15 May 1999 – 13 June 1999, Tokyo (Japon), Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art, 19 June 1999 – 15 August 1999 * ''De Picasso à Soulages'', Marugame (Japan), Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, 21 August 1999 – 26 September 1999 * ''Der Sturm - Aufbruch zur Moderne'', Wuppertal (Germany), Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, 11 March 2012 – 11 June 2012 * ''Apollinaire, le regard du poète'', Paris (France), Musée de l'Orangerie, 5 April 2016 – 18 July 2016, n. 97 * ''Le Cubisme : Repenser le monde'', Paris (France), Musée national d'art moderne, Centre de création industrielle, 17 October 2018 – 25 February 2019 * ''Paris Moderne'', Schwäbisch Hall (Germany), Kunsthalle Würth, 15 April 2019 – 15 September 2019 * ''Accrochage automne 2019'', Paris (France), Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 8 October 2019 – 31 December 2020


Further reading

* Fry, Edward F., ''Cubism'', Londres, Thames and Hudson, 1966, p. 191 * ''Les Cubistes'', Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1973, cat 156 p. 83 * ''Chefs-d'oeuvre du Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris'', Paris-Musées et SAMAM, 1985, pp. 38, 140 * Caffin Madaule, Liliane, ''Maria Blanchard 1881-1932'', catalogue raisonné tome I, Canterbury, UK, 1992, p. 173, * Pagé, Suzanne, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: ''La collection'', Paris Musées, 2009, pp. 372–373, * ''Gleizes-Metzinger, Du cubisme et après'', Musée de la Poste, 2012; Musée de Lodève, 2012; École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, 2012, pp. 35, 43–47, * ''Der Sturm-Zentrum der Avant-Garde'', Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, 2012, p. 189,


See also

* List of works by Jean Metzinger


References


External links


Jean Metzinger Catalogue Raisonné entry page for ''L'Oiseau bleu''

Jean Metzinger: Divisionism, Cubism, Neoclassicism and Post Cubism

Agence Photographique de la Réunion des musées nationaux et du Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées


1913, by Georgette Leblanc [Madame Maurice Maeterlinck. Edited and arranged for schools, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, Silver, Burdett & Company, 1913 (Full text, illustrated)] {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Bird, The Paintings by Jean Metzinger 1912 paintings Birds in art Paintings in Paris Paintings of Montmartre Ships in art Nude art Paintings in the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris