Think you've seen the Mona Lisa.....think again.

Consider with me if you will this painting by Marie-Guillemine Benoist. Apparently acquired by the Louvre in 1818, it was and still remains the only representation of a black person as the main subject of the painting that I have been able to find in the museum. No different from any other major European galleries of its time of course, but Paris was where I found myself in the late 90's (some of you reading this were not even born then...) and so the Louvre was my point of reference. During my time living in Paris, I was stunned by the complete lack of any representation of Paris' black population which I knew existed anywhere around me. In the chic restaurant, boulevards and cafés of central Paris, the non-white population of France seemed to face total erasure. Perhaps this was why I searched for it in art. It was 1998 and talk of France's colonial past and or how the nation treated the immigrant population that emerged from that past was silent. In common conversation this subject appeared totally taboo. When I stumbled upon Marie-Guillemine Benoist's "Portrait d'une Negresse" I was stunned and transfixed all at the same time. I imagine that my sense of total wonder and amazement may have been a little like what many young children feel the first time they meet their fantasy heroes for the for the first time. Finding the painting with this undeniably black figure, staring back at me with anexpression that left my 18 year old mind perplexed was awesome and revelatory.

Finally there it was, some evidence of the black population of France's past. Evidence that might prompt a curious mind to search for more information on the contribution that black people may have made to French society and the culture of the past. Evidence that might prompt more equitable treatment of that population in the present. This lady might look uncertain. She may not be the author of her own destiny but the acknowledgment of her existence filled me with hope.

When I go to the Louvre I don't go to see the Mona Lisa, I go to this painting. A reminder that Africans and their descendants are not a recent and problematic addition to French society. They have been ever present and the depth and complexity of their contributions to that society should be more openly and honestly acknowledged and discussed.

#france #blackhistory #louvre #art #history