In recent months, we have been treated to several novels that talk about art – we are thinking of Watch over her, Mona’s eyes, The unknown woman in the portrait. This first novel by a French director and artistic director imagines the crazy project of restoring The Mona Lisa.
Crazy project because it triggers heated debates between those who do not want one of the most famous paintings in the world to be touched and those who believe that the painting is disappearing over time behind a tide greenish caused by the oxidation of its varnishes. At the heart of the novel is the museum curator Aurélien, who is entrusted with the reins of this perilous mission and who must find, despite his own hesitations, the artist who will be able to carry it out. If you are interested in the museum environment and works of art, you will like this dive behind the scenes (fictional) of the illustrious Parisian museum, where it is a question of marketing and communication strategies, attendance rates as well as very technical details on the restoration of works of art. But beyond the “Mona Lisamania” which emerges in the novel around the legendary work of Leonardo da Vinci, other issues also emerge such as the commodification of art in the name of performance. A daring subject when we think of all the major restorations which have turned into fiascos and the very current challenges that museums must face to survive financially.
Paul Saint Bris will be in Montreal next week for the Blue Metropolis festival, for a discussion with Éric Chacour at the Gallimard bookstore (April 25 at 12 p.m.) and a round table at the Hotel 10 (April 27 at 1 p.m.).
Lightening of varnishes
Philip Rey
349 pages