City of light inspires generations of artists: the romantic allure and elegance of Paris is a perpetual magnet for painters around the world - Paris

Art Business News, March, 2002 by Audrey S. Chapman

Still, the thing that comes up again and again is the fact that Paris fuels these artists' imaginations and their dreams. "Though my paintings look like realism, it is not just realism taken from the real world, it is realism taken from my imagination," said Kondakova. "I have been dreaming of Paris since my childhood in Russia, and I will never be able to separate the real city from that of my dreams."

When Yong arrived in Paris in 1999, he said, "each place, each cafe, each corner, each sight of each wall would bring me back to my imagination and my dreams that I got from the literature, paintings and movies I saw as a child." As a result, he added, "I was inspired to present the city in my own hand. And I felt like I could paint it because the city had grown in my heart for so many years. It was like a seed embedded in my heart. I wanted to give birth to it."

That seed grew into a series of paintings that not only fulfills Yong as an artist but has been embraced by the public as well. "I'm very happy that the beauty of one part of the world can be appreciated by so many because I pulled my own heart out to depict the city," he said. "It was not just a mere depiction. I felt like it was a dialogue with my past, with my heritage."

These intimate relationships explain why artists, publishers and gallery-owners agree that paintings of Paris simply sell. Why? Hallam had difficulty pinpointing a specific reason. "I long ago gave up trying to figure out what it was that people wanted to buy," he said. "Nobody knows the answer to that question. People respond to paintings in a spiritual way. You really can't put a name to it or give a reason why. It just happens."

But painter Suljakov said people buy paintings of Paris because the city has a feeling unlike any other in the world. "There's an electricity about Paris that can even be felt by people who've never been there," he said. "It is an extraordinary city, one of great beauty. That is why images of Paris sell, have always sold and will always sell."

Kondakova said Hemingway may have put it best. "He said that Paris is a holiday that is always with you," she said. And sometimes, people want to hang a reminder of that holiday on their wall.