A Thai princess' intricate paintings of classic realism and surrealistic fantasy are on view at Paragon for the next month
Forty-nine years after her last exhibition in Bangkok, "Marsi" opens today in Siam Paragon's Hall of Mirrors - 35 oil paintings with a debt to Dali and many others.
The Princess - who isn't making the trip home with her paintings - is steeped in classical literature and music and art history and is passionate about animals and nature.
All of this merges with Greek mythology and Renaissance architecture in her surreal landscapes. Her paintings are sophisticated, fanciful - and eccentric.
Marsi was educated at Bangkok's Mater Dei School and in Switzerland, France and Spain, earning PhDs in literature at the University of Paris and in art history from the University of Madrid.
She has lectured on Far Eastern civilisation at Madrid and on art history at Chulalongkorn University.
"Her father never forced her to paint, but he bought her all the tools," says the Princess' friend Nutchanand Osathanond. "She loved drawing comic strips and gave them to her friends."
Marsi didn't take up art seriously until age 30, setting aside teaching to train herself and learn from the masterpieces in the museums and an artist-architect friend, Andr? Poujet.
"The village of Annot in the south of France was home to many artists, and she was charmed by the natural surroundings," says Nutchanand. "She bought some land there and built a studio, and since 1970 she's been living in a residence there named Vellara, which was designed by Poujet."
Set in a garden among trees, her home is a menagerie of cats, dogs, chickens and other birds - her animal models.
"There are bird cages and birds' nests everywhere in the studio and birds flying around freely - she has a shield over the easel to keep off the bird droppings," says Atidtaya Kulmony, who studied preserving and restoring paintings in Annot with the Princess' support.
It was Atidtaya's task to prepare Marsi's paintings for the Bangkok exhibition, and a great deal of time was spent scraping off bird spatters and bits of their food - evidently onion slices are ideal for the cleansing job.
The Princess learned much from the Renaissance masters, and she began by focusing on rock textures in contrasts of light and shade, not unlike those seen in Da Vinci's work.
A series that followed, in which different flowers combined to form images of parrots, was inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, famed for his portraits of human composed of fruit.
From Bosch, Titian, Botticello and Bellini, Marsi learned composition, posing and the delicate rendering of elaborate costumes. In Joseph Redoute's work she discovered botanical accuracy, right down to foreshortening the petals of a blossom.
"She makes great use of fanciful elements, but she's quite capable at painting portraits," says Nutchanand. "She's painted lifelike portraits of Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
"Her paintings hang in the palaces at Chitralada, Vimanmek and Bang Pa-in, and Chalerm Yoovidhya and Rasri Bualert are among her local collectors."
"Le Mariage mystique de Noui-Noui" is considered Marsi's masterpiece - a scene of an extravagant wedding party for her beloved pet, a Saint Bernard named Noui Noui. The assemblage of animals, the natural background and the architecture surrounding Noui Noui and his owner are brilliant.
Princess Marsi writes with her left land but always wielded a brush with her right, but a stroke in 2004 paralysed that side and she hasn't painted since.
Meanwhile her long-time wishes are coming true.
She wanted to establish a charitable foundation in France, but because French law complicates the matter, her cousin MR Jisnuson Svasti has set up the Marsi Foundation in Thailand.
She also wanted to open a permanent public gallery in her home in France, but that ambition will instead also be realised here. Land is currently being sought for a facility that will house 100 paintings.
