Soleil du Dimanche 

Editor: Alphonse Mucha's "Soleil du Dimanche"—which translates to "Sunday Sunshine"—is a really striking lithograph poster, and has a definite feel of a spring day, so very hopeful! What draws your eye when you look at it? Curator: Ah, Mucha. He could turn melancholy into marketing. For me, it’s the flowers, of course. Not just their vibrancy against the gentle palette, but the way they both adorn and almost obscure her. Does it speak to a woman empowered or somewhat masked by artifice? Editor: Masked, that's an interesting reading... I initially saw them as celebratory, joyful. She seems to be composing music with branches! Is there more to that? Curator: Mucha liked his allegories! What seems decorative is very much symbolic. Consider the publication it's promoting, *Soleil du Dimanche*. She *is* Sunday Sunshine made incarnate – weaving light and life into something new. He’s taking something ephemeral and making it timeless, isn't he? Editor: I didn’t realize there was so much thought put into one advertising piece! I mean, Art Nouveau makes so much sense in this light, it’s art for everyone. Curator: Exactly! Art for the people, wrapped in beauty. And notice the intertwined linear designs, and gentle curves—he creates a visually poetic composition. Editor: Now I see much more clearly the amount of work that went into the composition. Each element contributes to the final effect of beauty and optimism. Curator: Indeed! Now, if we could only bottle that feeling...