A Great Proust Exhibition At The Thyssen

We visited the Museo Thyssen-Bournemisza in 2017 and were greatly impressed with this family collection purchased by the state not all that many years ago. Whereas the Prado does the Spanish masters of yore, and the Reina Sofia does modern and contemporary stuff, the Thyssen does a bit of everything, in a new building, beautifully lit and appointed. As usual, I took pretty much the same pix in 2025 that I did in 2017 (https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2017/04/museo-thyssen-bornemisza.html; https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2017/05/museo-thyssen-bornemisza-2.html), and won't post them here all over again. Rather, I'll post some of the pix from a great special exhibition, Proust and the Arts, ongoing at the time of our visit. It's all about the many artistic characters and references in Proust's great masterpiece, A La Recherche du Temps Perdu (translated currently as In Search of Lost Time and previously as Remembrance of Things Past). Writing a dissertation on memory in the 70s, I bought all seven volumes of La Recherche, thinking something of interest might come of them. Involuntary memory, for example..."all them memories come floodin' back...". But the books languished, collected dust, and yellowed on our bookshelves for 40 years, and reside now possibly at the University of Montana library, or maybe the Missoula Public Library, or more likely in a landfill somewhere. Be that as it may, the Proust exhibition at the Thyssen was intriguing and enlightening, and I may try La Recherche again sometime, maybe the Readers' Digest version on Kindle.

Portrait of Proust, aged 21, in 1892, by Jacques-Emile Blanche;
the only known painting of Proust

Georges Clairin, Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt, 1876;
Proust's character of Berma was based on Bernhardt;
Clairin among his artistic friends

Renoir, After the Luncheon, 1879; upper class life is much
the subject of La Recherche

Vermeer, Diana and Her Nymphs, 1652; Vermeer was among Proust's
favorite artists; one of the main characters, Charles Swann, is writing
a book about Vermeer

Monet, The Thaw at Vetheuil, 1880; Proust's artist character Elstir
was based on Monet, among others

Degas, At the Milliner's, 1882

Hubert Robert, The Great Jet at Villa Conti, Frascati, 1761,
mentioned in La Recherche and other works

Turner, The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, 1834; Turner
was among Proust's favorites, the character Elstir again based in part on
him

Ruskin's copy of a Botticelli (clearly another Simonetta...);
Ruskin was the 19th century's foremost aesthetician, and
champion of Turner, better known for his writings than
art work; he was also one of Proust's main influences, so
much so that Proust learned enough English to (collaboratively)
translate two of Ruskin's books

Exemplary interpretive signage throughout the exhibition

Another Monet for good measure; there were several;
this from the Trouville/Deauville area of Normandy, important
in the novel(s)

And another...see explanation below

Obligatory Monet lilies

Proust and close personal buds; it was noted his mom
did not approve of this picture

Original editions of La Recherche

Proust's corrections on the printer's proofs (Swann's Way)

Exhibition gift shoppe

Interesting display therein

In the museum's resto

Edvard Munch walking shoes in the Thyssen's excellent general gift
shoppe...now our favorite museum in Madrid