Review of Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore

A friend who knows me well handed me the novel Sacré Bleu, A Comedy d’Art. “You’ll love this,” she said. “It has all the themes you’d want in a book.” She couldn’t have been more correct.

Set in Paris during the reign of the Impressionists, Christopher Moore succeeds in bringing to life the artists we have come to admire as geniuses of color and light. Renoir, Pissarro, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet… all are developed with masterful strokes. The reason behind the omission of Degas, one of my favorite Impressionists, as a character in the mystery, is answered by the author in the afterword. I laughed my butt off.

The mystery centers around The Colorman, an ape-like creature who provides the purest tubes of pigment the artists need to mix their paint. Ultramarine, a color of blue precious to the painters, is at the center of the mystery. Why do the painters lose track of time when they use it? Where does their muse disappear to for months on end? Have canvases they remember having painted during the lost time been stolen? And why does The Colorman deny having known Vincent Van Gogh? The misshapen entrepreneur was definitely seen by witnesses in the area shortly before Van Gogh’s death.

The author successfully answers these questions and sweeps the reader into the every day life of the citizens of Montmartre. The smell of freshly baked baguette beckons you into the bakery where a frustrated painter has lost his muse. Where has she gone? Her reappearance, the tart that she is, moves the plot merrily along. If you like a cup full of craziness mixed with your art history, then this book is for you.

I am certain that the author is possessed by a muse; or maybe two. His sense of humor comes through this clever romp with ease. I can highly recommend this book.