Jean-Philippe Delhomme became the first artist in residence on Instagram at the Musée d'Orsay in January 2020 to May 2021. Every week he shared fragments of the lives of the artists whose artwork is kept in the reserve collections. These paintings were created on the occasion of the artist’s duo exhibition “Légendes des réserves” (Legends from the reserves) with French writer Maylis de Kerangal, a project based on their joint visits to this secret part of the museum.
Jean-Philippe Delhomme has produced a series of almost thirty paintings based on his observations.
In Emile Friant's painting, the protagonists are placed in front of a wall. The frontal light source directed from the bottom up highlights their hands and faces. Under their dark clothes, their bodies are reduced to silhouettes. Beyond the simple anecdotal representation of a genre scene, this painting illustrates Friant's reflection on the history of painting, as well as the ties this work has with its contemporary art movements.