"The pearl of the merchant" ("La perla del mercader", in spanish) is a painting by the Chilean artist Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma and it's on display at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Chile. He was born in Valparaíso in 1856 and died in Villejuif, France in 1909. He representes the climax of the Chilean formal painting. Valenzuela Puelma's themes are especially the human figure and portrait, and this painting is one of his masterpieces. He belongs to the so-called "Group of Four Masters," along with Pedro Lira, Juan Francisco Gonzalez and Alberto Valenzuela Llanos.
The first time I saw it was like 5 years ago, when I went to the museum with a very special person who was nothing more than a friend at that moment. We had already gone the museum before, but that time was special in some way. We fell in love with the painting at the first time we saw it because of its beauty and its meaning. I don't know how to explain this but, in some way, this painting is way more than just a man and a naked girl. It seems to be like a story of "A thousand and one nights", but painted by a Chilean artist. If you look closer, you can see that the girl is painted beautifully, much more than the merchant. And even when you are not trying to look at the girl, it's imposible not to see her. She is painted like she wasn't real, and that makes her so mysterious.
2 comments:
Awsome painting! At first I thought that it was a sculpture, like a staging, because it looks so real. I really like the interpretation you gave it, because it's true that it transmits a romantic meaning and feeling. I think it's an appealing painting, like it's constantly inviting you to look at it.
Great choice!
PS: And it's so sweet that it has that personal meaning to you!
I really like this painting as well. I need to go see it! I think part of the girl´s ethereal quality comes from Valenzuela Puelma´s use of light; the sharp contrast between the warm beam of light directed on her body and the shadows slightly hiding the merchant reminds one of a stagelight or ...a divine sunbeam. Haha. But, once again, I have a problem with the predominance of portrayals of women as objects, and especially as mysterious objects. (See Camila´s post).
Mystery is great, and I think we need to recuperate a large bit of it in our culture, but I would love to see some more representations of mysterious men, for example. Or, a female merchant selling a beautiful, statuesque man.
some corrections:
The first time I saw it was like 5 years ago, when I went to the museum with a very special person who *was* nothing more than a friend *at that moment*. We *had already gone* to the museum before, but that time was special in some way.
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