La Orana Napoleon
Gauguin: "Ia Orana Maria" (1891)
David: "Napoleon in His Studio"
Cezanne: "Still Life with Peppermint Bottle and Blue Rug" (1893-95)

The scene is evidently in Tahiti, an island conquered by the French. Napoleon in his Emperor dress and tricorne stands amid the luxuriance of a flowering vegetation, in front of a table with food. Two native girls passing by, salute him with clasped hands.

In fact, the table roaded with drink and fruits is a Cezanne's still life and the background is of Gauguin's "Ia Orana Maria" (Ave Maria).

In a letter to Daniel de Moufreid, March 1892, Gauguin wrote: ".....I have done one painting, a size 50 canvas. An angel with yellow wings point at two Tahitian women, Mary and Jesus are Tahitians as well--naked, dressed in the pareo, a sort of flowered cotton fabric attached as one pleases to one's belt. Very dark mountain background and flowering trees--deep violet path and emerald-green foreground; on the left some bananas. I'm quite satisfied with it...."

Actually behind the two Tahitian worshippers, there is an angel standing among the flowers, rich and calm, looks like a flower himself.

The apparition of white men on the so-called "Primitive" or "Barbarian" tribes changed the world. They were received with curiosity and reverence at the beginning in general. Unfortunately many turned to be "Conquistadors" in various ways and different forms, even with the "Cross" on hand or on neck.

In this T. F. Chen's version of Gauguin's Tahiti, which role would be played by Napoleon who brought the Western food with him?

In this synthetic painting, Cezanne's horizontal white table cloth reflects gracefully the Emperor's white dress in vertical while its mountain-like shape corresponds marvelously the tricorne on Napoleon's head and the dark mountain on the background. ( by T. F. Chen )

Napoleon Picnic
Giorgione: "Rural Concert" (1510)
Gauguin: "Two Women on the Beach" (1891)
David: "Napoleon in His Study"
Bonnard: "Yellow and Red Still Life" (1931)

In this synthetic painting by T. F. Chen, Napoleon is there with his right hand on his belly but without his tricorne. In front of him there displayed a basket of fruits, a teapot, a box of something sweety etc. A Tahitian maid in pink sits nearby on a red carpet with a white pet dog. On the grass behind them three musicians from Italian High Renaissance seem to communicate before playing. Through some trees and a forest appears on the horizon the silhouette of New York Manhattan with the Twin Tower. It's a description of an imagery beyond time and space, a happy scenario before 911 incident.

Leaving the philosophical or ideological interpretations to everyone and just judging from the esthetic view, we may find it's interesting to discern the mixing elements of the painting and the harmonious interactions of color and form of its different motives.

The red and yellow on Bonnard's still life resound the red carpet and the pink maid which are joined by the dark red on the Guitarist's clothing and cap as well as the nude's skin and the table with a bouquet near Napoleon. All these are synthesized by the brown earth climbing up to the sky. On the other hand the deep green of the forest with the shadowy green of the grass are accentuated by the blue-black in the Emperor's uniform and the black brances of the tree. The above described contrast as well as the complementation of the red and the green in rich variation and subtle gradation are enhanced by silky white of the Emperor's uniform echoing in dispersed whites all over the canvas, especially the white dog. Thus each element contributes to the orchestration of harmony and order of this composition.

Taking off the duty, Emperor Napoleon might like to enjoy a picnic outside. Where is the Empress? ( by T. F. Chen )

Music-Loving Napoleon
David: "Napoleon in His Studio"
Renoir: "Girls at the Piano" (1892)
Monet: "Two Haystacks" (1891)
Still Life a la Bonnard.

Not satisfied with just building an Empire, Bonaparte embellished it. He liked to make Paris the Center of Europe.

On his embarkation to conquer Egypt, he invited 100 artists, scientists and linguists to accompany him. He used to amass, by force or not, a lot of booty back to France among them paintings, sculptures and even monuments. He honored artists, visited Salons and Expositions, ordered commission, went to David's studio to admire his "Coronation", inspected architectures, presided at the erection of public institutes, theaters, schools and libraries, places and fountains, gardens and canals, and specially made the Tulerie and the Louvre the attraction of the world.

His Imperial Guard looked heroic and magnificent, his court, luxury and dazzling. Ceremonies and feasts were manifestation of color and music. Indeed, Napoleon's France was an energetic era of creation and activity.

Only one thing regrettable to him: the infertility of Empress Jocephine which resulted in a "dutiful" divorce. Napoleon did have a son, the "King of Rome", with Marie-Louise, the new Empress. Yet how he desired to have more, two daughters for example.

In T. F. Chen's painting, Napoleon was standing by a piano as two young ladies were playing. Are they his "Princesses"? On the wall we recognize an artwork by Monet: "Two Haystacks".

According to the art history of the Impressionism, Monet and Renoir used to paint "en plein air", side by side, at the Grenouillere and Argenteuil in the 1870s. But in 1892 while Renoir painted the two Parisians at the piano, Monet had already left Paris to paint haystacks. But, as suggested by T. F. Chen's post-modern painting of this, both artworks are collected by Napoleon, the greatest art patron of France!! ( by T. F. Chen )

Riding Towards the Pacific
Gauguin: "Riders on the Beach" (1902)
David: "Napoleon Bonaparte Crossing the Alps by the Great Saint Bernard Pass"
Goya: "Vincent Osorio de Moscoso" (1786-87), "The Young Woman with a Letter" (c.1812-14)

In 1800, while designated as the Commender-in-Chief of the army to Italy, the then First-Consul Napoleon Bonaparte led his army acrossed the Alps by the very steep and dangerous Great Saint Bernard Pass under the snow for a surprising attack on Prussian army, and won the battle. Such a historical event was eternalized by Jacques-Louis David, the "Artist of the (First) Empire" who also painted the well-know "Coronation".

Taking David's Napoleon on horseback in climbing posture, T. F. Chen put it on a beach in Tahiti amid Gauguin's "Riders". It looks as the Commender-in-Chief was escorted by a bunch of native guard. Two small dogs, unfamiliar with the majestic new rider, barked at the horse which, surprised, jumped up with its forefeet in the air.

Did Napoleon go to Tahiti? Of course not. It's just Chen's scenario. Nevertheless, the scene is amazing to the eye as the composition, pleasant. The two little dogs are borrowed from Goya's as the Spanish dogs were in standing posture which fit finely to explain why Napoleon's horse was jumping on a flat beach.

The composition of this post-modern painting is very interesting, regarding the proportions, and directions of the riders and the distances and spaces among and between them. The rosy ground contrasts the blue sky in turmoil suggesting a coming storm. Napoleon's white horse and his gorgeous brilliant uniform enrich the whole scene, excellent to be reported back to France that the expedition toward the Pacific is full of glory and excitement!

Vivre La France!!
Vivre Napoleon!!

( by T. F. Chen )

Art-Loving Napoleon
David: "Napoleon in His Studio"
Renoir: "On the Terrace" (1881)
Gauguin: "Two Women on the Beach" (1891)
Picasso: "La Toilette" (1906)

This painting by T. F. Chen could be well classified into his "Happy Collectors Series". Napoleon, a passionate collector of beautiful fine objects, would certainly collect Picasso's, Gauguin's and Renoir's artworks to put together with his portraits by David.

Renoir's "On the Terrace" was widely admired by the public as well as artists. The intimate mother-child apparition used to be a sight of a secure and happy society. Here we see a slightly pensive mother and an innocent pretty girl on the terrace in a soft and warm spring day. The bright red accounts are drown from the mother's modish hat to the basket of fruits into the child's headgear, together enhancing the brightness and serenity of the surrounding. In Chen's new scenario, Napoleon stands behind them as to take a souvenir photo for their visit. What in their relationship?

On the wall of Napoleon's study, hung two masterpieces of modern artists: Gauguin and Picasso. Gauguin might serve as the Emperor's missioner, to Tahiti as his exotic paintings were so inspiring. Picasso, being a Napoleon in art, would be respected by the Emperor for his talent. The silky white color on Napoleon's uniform knit marvelously the three above-mentioned unities in an accordance of harmony and mutual-enrichment. ( by T. F. Chen )

Noa Noa Napoleon
David: "Napoleon in His Study"
Renoir: "Bather Seated on Rock"
Gauguin: "Fatana te Miti (By the Sea)" (1892)

This painting may cause serious investigations on Napoleon's life to see whether he had any secret "liaison" with any woman, for example, this sensual and erotic "Bather". Maybe Napoleon ever thought of escaping from Elba to live in an island for far far away in the Pacific, spending the rest of his life with natives and nature.

Those who are familiar with art history will easily point out Renoir's "Bather Seated on Rock" and Gauguin's "By the Sea" and David's portrait of Napoleon are integrated in this post-modern speculation by T. F. Chen which may mislead some historians eager for new discoveries.

"I look at nude, there are myriads of tiny tints, I, I must find the ones that will make the flesh on my canvas live and quiver", Renoir said. With myriads of tiny soft-brushstrokes saturated in various colors, Renoir was able to produce many tender, lyrical, and sumptuous nudes and Bathers. Their ivory like skin and gracious contour are delicately modulated to become a manifestation of juicy "joie de vivre".

To protect such "Angels on Earth", Napoleon stands there as a guardian. The Blonde seems secure, goes on her summer toilet "en plein air" while on the beach nearby, some Tahitians are swimming or fishing.

Gauguin made Tahiti famous by his poetic presentation of an utopian society where men and women co-exist with nature and spirits. He called such kind of harmonious presentation "music". That means not to imitate the nature, but "to faithfully obey one's inner necessities, to sacrifice nothing to external necessities; not to be a slave of nature, but to conquer her, to use her only as a pretext for the creation of the feeling or thought that enchants" (Charles Morice, 1893, "Morcure de France"). Therefore Gauguin's Tahiti is an idealized one, a dreamt one, a forged one, and must be different from the real, unequal, and somewhat oppressed colony of France.

As Gauguin's Tahiti is his aesthetic masterpiece, so will be Chen's Neo-Iconographic speculative manifestation. Don't look for historical secret of Napoleon here, and please just enjoy such a post-modern scandal. ( by T. F. Chen )

Fighting the War
Picasso: "Guernica" (1937)
David: "Napoleon Bonaparte Crossing the Alps by the Great Saint Bernard Pass"

According to the testimony of artworks, Spain suffered at least twice the destruction of the war. Picasso's "Guernica" and Goya's "Third of May, 1808" and etchings.

Though Napoleon forbade pillage of his soldiers upon the occupation of conquered lands, specially in Spain, and condemned and executed those who found guilty of pillage, uncontrollable incidents occurred frequently. The atrocity of massacre and the cruelty of war filled Goya's etching in abundance and Picasso's painting in particular.

Picasso's "Guernica" is the best-known 20th-century work of art. It related to a specific historical event. The monumental presentation of the theme is phenomenal. Picasso employed his innovated synthetic Cubistic treatment in exaggeration, distortion, symbolism yet well-controlled virtuosity. It's a allegorical description of the destructive war yet not without hope for peace and justice.

In T. F. Chen's "Fight the War", David's three-dimensional Napoleon rides his horse into Picasso's two-dimensional battlefield and takes the central stage. With this sudden invasion of a colorful Napoleon on horseback, the originally black-white-blue Guernica gains colors as a sign of hope.

Though we do our best to avoid the war, when war is inevitable, it's better to fight the war in order to stop the war, as dropping atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to stop the Second World War. ( by T. F. Chen )