Printemps in the Air: Nat'l Gallery's Inspiration on a Plate

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BEFORE KALEIDOSCOPIC DRIPS ever suggested subject, object or setting, there was plein-air painting. Impressionism was on the horizon, and artists trained in Neoclassicism were still painting things that looked like, well, what they look like.

In the exhibition "In the Forest of Fontainebleau" at the National Gallery, we are invited to see what Corot, Monet and others saw, where they may have picnicked and even what they ate. And through June 8, the gallery's Garden Cafe is offering an eating tour of the woods, the cottages and the romantic realism that finds its echo in the art. Four local chefs have created a menu steeped in this lush aesthetic.

Patrick Orange of La Chaumiere contributed a slow-cooked boeuf bourguignonne comprises Angus eye of round, fingerling potatoes and a garnish of bittersweet chocolate to finish the jus.

Scott Chambers, of Chevy Chase's La Ferme, provided a crab remoulade featuring buttery chunks of crabmeat, red onion and avocado, and spiked with a zippy brandy-infused sauce.

Alexandria's Le Refuge is represented by chef Jean-Claude Le Lan's chocolate mousse with creme anglaise. Soft peaks of milk chocolate get a welcome kick from powder. Its ideal pairing is a handful of garden berries on the side.

And the National Gallery's executive chef, David Rogers, has devised a sprawling buffet that could easily fit in one of the paintings. The quiche Lorraine is a rustic standard. But the smoked trout salad -- embellished with pickled red onions and watercress that looks like it has been ripped from one of Rousseau's landscapes -- is positively homey, as are the chilled fingerling potatoes with black truffle.

Poached Anjou pairs wading in a flirty port reduction maintain their succulence and lose the mealy texture that occasionally spoils the flavor. If chocolate mousse sounds too sinful to approach, the pears and hazelnut tuile are subtler.

But diners flocked to the chicken fricassee with wild mushrooms, carrots and leeks. It suggests the earthiness and delicacy of Corot's "Le Rageur, Forest of Fontainebleau" and Renoir's "The Inn of Mother Anthony," both lovingly produced depictions of the quiet life on the French countryside, disrupted only by the rattle of leaves and the swish of a paintbrush.

» National Gallery of Art, West Building, 4th Street & Constitution Avenue NW; 202-737-4215. (Archives-Navy Memorial)

Written by Express contributor Christopher Correa
Photo by Rob Shelley/National Gallery of Art