6 museomag 02 ‘ 2016 “velasQueZ‘s paintings: i have no idea hoW he did it...“ h. craig hanna’s first large museum exhibition is currently on display until June 26 After acquiring in 2015 “Arrangement of Dancers”, a majestic painting of the Amercian artist H. Craig Hanna, the Musée national d’histoire et d’art exhibits more than fifty of his works (2007- 2014). This is the first large museum exhibition dedicated to his œuvre. Thematic interview. landscapes You rarely represent landscapes, but when you do so, they are very intense. How do you explain it? Inbetween doing the figure paintings - there’s a certain labor involved that is exhausting -, I like to meditate on a landscape. In order to fall in love with painting again. Landscape is like a meditative break to me. Landscapes are more free, more spontaneous, not so thought out. Corot, Constable, Menzel are painters who brought landscape to a very high level. They’re like the Rembrandt and Velasquez of landscape paintings. It’s a challenge to reach those heights. Sometimes when I’m walking in a field or a wood, I can see what a great landscape painting it would be. Too beautiful to mean nothing. So I need to make it permanent. sKetchbooKs In one of your sketchbooks you write: “Each painting has to portray one of the elements of the human condition, boredom – loneliness – laughter - confusion”. Is this also true for the portraits on display at the MNHA? When someone sits for you and poses, it’s an accumulation of many hours of observation. The model experiences hundreds of emotions while they’re posing. It’s a possibility that some of the emotions come out. Someone once said: ‘A photograph captures a moment in time. A painting is time.’ Another quotation from your sketchbook says that “decide from the beginning that you will die and investigate what is worthwhile…eating, drinking and talking about war, romance and gossip or predict it…I don’t try and see into future I feel the future”. Please elaborate! The quote just kind of says it all! beauty “Beauty is not an opinion, it’s a reaction”. How is this reflected in your art? True beauty in music, in poetry, in writing: when it’s good, it touches a nerve in everyone. This is something that all humans feel. Like the sun on your face, everyone can feel it. You should never read the plaque in order to appreciate the painting. © éric chenal “When someone sits for you and poses, it’s a possibility that some of the emotions come out.”