Oval design for a ceiling painted with clouds 1850 - 1900

Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise created this design for a ceiling painted with clouds with watercolor and graphite. Lachaise, born in Paris to a family of artists, carried with him an acute awareness of the social and cultural milieu in which art was produced. Looking at this design, one could see how Lachaise challenges traditional representations of the sky. The two-toned rendering disrupts the conventional idea of a uniform sky, suggesting a world of shifting perspectives. There’s a subtle beauty in the watercolor washes. The clouds, rather than being clearly defined, blend into each other, inviting introspection. Lachaise’s cloud design makes you think about the subjective experience of space and the natural world. How might this design change the perception and feeling of the room it was intended for, transforming an interior space into an environment that blurs the boundaries between the man-made and the natural?