Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris 1830 - 1890

Editor: So, this drawing, "Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris," created sometime between 1830 and 1890 by Eugène Cicéri, is fascinating. It's a mix of pencil and coloured pencil. The composition seems almost dreamlike. What grabs you most when you look at it? Curator: Well, you’re right about the dreamlike quality. For me, it’s the suggestion of something grand yet incomplete. This isn't just a landscape, is it? Think of it, someone envisioned an entire world, then captured just this fragment. The sparse detail…it leaves so much to the imagination. Almost as if it exists purely in a beautiful reverie. Does it feel grounded to you or more like a fleeting vision? Editor: I get that. It feels a bit ethereal, like a half-remembered tropical vacation. But also slightly rigid, I think the geometric shapes and pencil feel quite firm and precise despite that looseness. I wonder if the use of geometric and straight lines hints at the more industrial aspect of the time? Curator: Perhaps! This piece seems like an intimate dance between the natural and artificial worlds, and all set on the proscenium, a dream to be played for our benefit, the players stepping into the landscape. Don't you feel as though we're privy to his initial imagining? Editor: Definitely! It’s amazing to consider how much artistry and technical skill goes into creating what the audience sees as just "the set." Curator: Exactly! A landscape, literally made, of our hopes and longings and dreams.