One of my go-to paintings in the Met is Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage. I have visited the Met probably a dozen times since the turn of the millennium. Each visit, I have made a point of always stopping by the main hall of later European Paintings to pay my respects to Joan.
I don’t remember the first time I saw this painting; perhaps in high school, but definitely by the mid to late 90’s. From my first encounter, I was struck by several things:
- Joan’s beauty
- Her otherworldly gaze
- The scale of the painting
- The three mysterious saints bearing halos and floating to the center left of the painting
If I don’t get too distracted by all the other works at the Met, I will revisit Joan over the next several days during this NYC trip to really absorb this painting.