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Are We Dead Yet?

Up on the top floor of the Louvre, far from the madding crowds viewing the Mona Lisa, I found a very few Impressionist paintings (most are in the Musee D'Orsay across the Seine). This picture by François Biard shows a party of explorers stranded in the Arctic. Two are dead and the other two are waiting to die - ironically surrounded by scenes of fierce but unforgiving beauty. It reminded me of the late paintings of J.M.W. Turner, whose works (notably "Rain, Steam, and Speed") presaged the Impressionist movement.