The Magic and Naughtiness of Art

I stayed up late (again) to finish this review book by Christopher Moore called Sacré Bleu A Comedy D’Art..  I have many loves, and art and art history is most definitely one of them....so much so I have a minor in art history just for my love of art not for any practical purpose.  As an artist, I am not.  I do not have that talent and envy others who do.  My boys seem to have a little of that love....Calvin is intrigued by architecture and Henry loves to paint while Nate loves to draw and draw and draw.  Not sure about Benny yet.
So when I received this book in the mail (hardback edition)....I could not wait to dive into it. This is my first Christopher Moore book, and I may now be an addict.  I was delighted by his writing…the wit, the intrigue and the naughtiness that kept me turning pages.  It begins in Auvers, France in 1890 on the day Vincent Van Gogh dies.  Was it suicide or murder?  Why would a man walk a mile with a gunshot wound to the chest to get help if he wanted to die?  Was he simply a mad man? Or is there more to it?  These are questions the author has left to Vincent’s friends to unravel. 
The story focuses on Paris in the 1890’s and the artist’s that get their inspiration from this city.  The story centers around the characters called The Colorman and his female friend.  The Colorman sells colors (paints) to artists since art supply stores have yet to be created. He makes the colors and peddles them from town to town on his donkey.   He has one unique color that the artists are attracted to….Ultramarine…the Sacré Bleu.  The mystery of this story is in the color. 
The reader joins Lucien Lessard (baker and artist)  as well as artists such as Monet, Manet, Renoir & Toulouse-Lautrec on their  journey as they begin to unravel the mystery of the Blue and the women they call their muses.  We get to live as these artist may have lived: drinking lots, taking opium and “bonking” many women as we travel through an amazing time in art history.