DERNIER REGARD (LE)

PORTRAIT DU FAYOUM - COLLECTION PALETTES

of JAUBERT Alain

FRANCE, 1997, 00:30:00

Production : ARTE, MUSEE DU LOUVRE, PALETTE PRODUCTIONS, SAADOUN Paul, PAINI Dominique, REUNION DES MUSEES NATIONAUX, LA SEPT, MUSEE D'ORSAY
Collection : Musée du Louvre
Genre : Documentary
Keyword : Art, History, Memory

Summary :
Choosing key-works in the imaginary of the Western culture, the series called “Palettes” tells in each episode the story of a different painting. In a word, it tells the genealogy of the painting. For a painting has its ancestors and its descendants. A double technical and philosophical knowledge, fed on by a long tradition, gave birth to the painting. And the painting itself gave birth, year after year, to a multitude of other images…
Assuming the idea that the deep meaning of a painting is conveyed by the choice of colours and themes, we dissect the canvas from its most visible composition to its deepest significance.


Hundreds of small painted wood panels are scattered in the greatest museums of the world. Found in Egypt and known under the name of “Fayoum portraits”, they represent the faces of men, women and children of the first centuries of our era. For a couple of generations, these objects, which are difficult to classify, intrigued Egyptologists and various theories flourished. Several discoveries and many indications allow us to understand a bit more about these portraits today. Are they family portraits or funerary portraits ?