Claude Debussy

CLAUDE DEBUSSY

COMPOSER SERIES

Finished Renaissance Oil Collage painting

What I love about being an artist is that whenever I decide to start a new series, I feel the need to learn all I can about the subject matter in which I am about to embark. Take this new composer series I have started for instance. Claude Debussy was the first composer chosen and as I stated in an earlier posting, he is the first painting I have ever created using a male as my subject. (I have sculpted males though) The reason for this is because most of my paintings and sculpture are accompanied by a story I have written and quite frankly, I don’t think I could write a "man" story. I don’t understand them well enough to capture the essence of what they are about.

Crackled musical score

In creating the painting, in which I used the Renaissance Oil method, I turned up my CD player and listened to “Clair De Lune” the entire time I painted. This piece, composed by Debussy is one of my favorites. It took me back to the early 1900’s when Debussy was composing some of his finest pieces.

Debussy started playing piano at the age of 7 and by the time he was ten, he showed very promising musical talent. By 1900, he had achieved great success in Paris with his opera, Pelleas et Melisande.

Old time sepia of a woman depicting the women in Debussy's life

I added a sepia picture of a young woman to the collage to represent the women in his life. He had two wives and several other entanglements including women. One can only read between the lines to know that after marrying twice and with one wife and a prior girlfriend both trying to commit suicide, he had to have led a complex life.

Close-up of depressed expression on Debussy's face

I painted a heavy brow to depict Debussy’s depression, which continued into his later life. He died of cancer at an early age in 1918 at the young age of 56. He was working on a series of chamber music at the time of his death. I wonder what magical compositions we have all missed because of his early death.