Théâtre National de Bretagne
Direction Arthur Nauzyciel
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Festival TNB
En partenariat avec Lillico
Revisiting the models in a famous painting by Édouard Manet, Gaëlle Bourges heals art history’s amnesia and brings a fresh perspective.
In 1863, Édouard Manet painted Olympia. The piece caused a scandal. In the foreground, Victorine, white and naked, is lying down. Behind her, Laure, a black woman, is offering her a bouquet. Of these two models, historians only remember the name of the first, Victorine, condemning the second, Laure, to silence. Gaëlle Bourges makes amends in this show that reinvents and rearranges the canvas to make Laure the leading heroine, an equal to Victorine. A voiceover narration punctuates the unfolding of this silent ballet and exposes the harsh reality of a rough, misogynistic 19th century.
The choreographer and director Gaëlle Bourges is inspired by everything in art. Her piece Conjurer la peur (Warding off fear) was based on a fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and sparked by a text written by TNB associate researcher Patrick Boucheron. In 2018, she presented Le bain (The bath) at TNB, a piece based on two 16th century paintings.