I gave my last two tours of the French Moderns exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery on Thursday and Friday.
The Thursday tour was for thirty -three university students taking an art history course and the Friday tour was for eighteen grade three students from a private Winnipeg school.
The university students didn’t talk much. They listened intently though and many were busy making notes since they had an assignment to do based on the tour.
The eight year olds were buzzing and full of queries, comments and ideas. They were so excited to be at the art gallery!
I have toured many different kinds of groups through the French Moderns exhibit since June, from three year olds to senior citizens.
In the process I have come to know many of the people in the paintings as friends. During my last two tours I bid a fond farewell to them.
The solemn and charming siblings in The Elder Sister by William Bourguereau.
The three amazingly strong and beautiful women in Jules Breton’s The End of the Working Day.
The colorful Egyptian entrepreneur in Jean-Léon Gérôme’s The Carpet Merchant of Cairo.
The perfectly posed and winesome Young Girl on A Bench by Édouard Manet.
The entrancing American philanthropist Florence Blumenthal in Giovanni Boldini’s Portrait of a Lady.
The doting mother and her loving child in Berthe Morisot’s portrait of her cousin Mme Boursier and Her Daughter.
The pensive and lovely Madame Léon Maître by Henri-Fantis Latour.
The aloof distracted woman and the woman throughly engaged with her child In The Omnibus by Mary Cassatt. 
The hardy windblown French farmer in Shepherd Tending his Flock by Jean-Francois Millet.
The mysterious veiled lady in Marie Laurencin’s Woman in Scarf.
When I go to the Winnipeg Art Gallery this morning for a meeting the process of taking down all these paintings of my friends will have begun. I am going to miss them.
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ML I just missed you on Friday as I finally got to see this exhibit. In my opinion it was outstanding.Sometimes these hyped shows don’t live up to their billing. This one did.
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So sorry I missed you. I could have given you a personal tour.
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