Night of the Masks by Anne Bachelier
(LAFAYETTE, NJ) -- On Saturday, May 3, 2025, the Skylands Museum of Art cordially invites the public to spend an afternoon with Anne Bachelier, the internationally recognized French surrealist artist and creator of the 26 oil paintings currently featured in the museum's acclaimed temporary art exhibition, The Phantom of the Opera. Bachelier, who arrives from France, will spend the afternoon at the museum to meet and greet visitors and will participate in special events throughout the day, including an Artist's Reception, Book Signing and a Silent Auction.
As a homage to Bachelier and the enigmatic Phantom character, visitors are encouraged to wear masks and costumes. As a souvenir of the day the museum will present visitors with gothic costume masks as keepsakes. The festivities will take place Saturday, May 3, 2025, from 12:00pm to 4:00pm, when the exhibition will conclude and the works return to France, unlikely to be reunited again. An entry donation of $10 per person is suggested to support the museum.
Skylands Museum’s inaugural temporary exhibition of Bachelier’s paintings has garnered regional and state wide notice (The Phantom of the Opera,' 100 this year, is feted with art exhibit/Bergen Record; Painter Anne Bachelier Captures 'The Phantom of the Opera' at Skylands Museum of Art Discover Jersey Arts) for its artistic merit and popular cultural resonance. Bachelier first painted the evocative oil paintings on exhibit in 2007, in anticipation of Neil Zukerman/CFM Gallery’s 2009 limited edition publication of Gaston Leroux’s novel. Bachelier’s art then served to illustrate and illuminate Leroux’s original Gothic text. Since then, select editions of Neil Zukerman/CFM Gallery’s 2009 publication illustrated by Bachelier have become collector’s items.
Bachelier’s visit will also feature the unveiling of her new painting inspired by The Phantom of the Opera and the enthusiastic public support surrounding Skylands Museum’s exhibition of her work. Intended by Bachelier as a gift in support of fundraising for the museum, the 6” x 16” oil painting will be featured in a silent auction, a highlight of the afternoon’s special events. The panel depicts a red-cloaked Phantom, with the beautiful Christine, plus three other figures each wearing masks, awash in imagination, detail and mysterious light.
In addition, the last of three special editions of her exquisite book, The Phantom of the Opera, for which she created the imaginative and beautifully toned paintings as illustrations to the original text by Gothic writer Gaston Leroux, will be offered to attendees that day. Two are over size slipcase editions and one is a large format folio, with individual pages that are ready for framing. These are the last known items available from the 2009 limited production of Neil P. Zuckerman/CFM Gallery.
The museum’s exhibition serendipitously concurs with the 100th anniversary of the original 1925 silent film of The Phantom of the Opera and announcement of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new national Broadway beginning November 2025. The setting of the story, Palais Garnier Opera House in Paris, is also celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.
During the afternoon Bachelier will be available to sign and personally inscribe her illustrated books, which also include The Wizard of Oz, The Princess of Wax, and 13 Plus One by Edgar Allan Poe. Posters from the artist’s unique interpretation of Alice in Wonderland will also be available during the event.
Anne Bachelier is a contemporary French artist and illustrator known for her surreal and fantastical paintings and detailed painting style. Her art frequently centers around classic tales, literature and mythology. Born in Louvigne du Desert, France in 1949, Anne studied and received her degree from the Ecole des Beaux Arts, La Seyne-Sur-Mer between 1966 and 1970. Her work is characterized by a unique blend of dreamlike imagery and detailed brushwork. The artist captivates her audience with compelling, highly imaginative images that are distinct, unique, inventive and immediately recognizable, which evoke feelings simultaneously powerful, peaceful, and protective. This unique otherworldliness, untouched by time or place, engages the viewer in the eternal dance of transformation and regeneration.
Bachelier’s 2005 version of Alice in Wonderland has been called the only Alice where the illustrator has enhanced the story. The art of Anne Bachelier is exhibited in museums and private collections throughout Europe and North America and is on permanent exhibition in New York City, New Jersey and New Orleans. Galleries representing her work include Hôtel de Saulx Gallery in Beaune, France and Galerie Vent des Cimes in Grenoble, France as well as Imagine Gallery in England. Anne Bachelier currently lives and works near Grenoble, France.
The Skylands Museum of Art opened in October 2023 and has been gaining recognition as an important venue for American and international 20th and 21st century art focusing on realism and modern surrealism. Complete with a sculpture garden, the museum is a delightful sanctuary where art, nature, mythology and humanity harmonize. The Skylands Museum of Art is home to a permanent collection of over 300 works of sculpture, paintings, illustrations and more. The collection depicts characters both real and imagined from fairy tales, literature, myth and from the artists’ deep personal connections with the world around them.
The gallery rooms are filled with thoughtfully curated examples of approachable surreal and realistic works exploring Fairy Tales, Dragons, Sacred Spaces, the Human Psyche, Faces and Flowers, Baba Yaga (a Ukrainian fairy tale), Eastern vs. Western Animals and Mythology. The museum’s three floors are home to works by noted artists including Anne Bachelier, Brian Branch, Salvador Dali, Ailene Fields, Brian Froud, Leonor Fini, Pablo Picasso, Massimo Rao and many more.
The Skylands Museum of Art is open to the public each Friday and Saturday from 12:00pm - 4:00pm and is located at 15 Route 15 in Lafayette, New Jersey. A $10 per person donation to support the museum is suggested.
The Skylands Museum of Art is a 501(c)(3) organization, a proud member of ArtPride New Jersey, New Jersey Association of Museums, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council and the Sussex County Chamber of Commerce. The museum is supported in part through the generosity members and visitors whose donations have contributed to our expanded hours and programming.
Skylands Museum is a first-time grant recipient, meriting funding made available in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through the State/County Partnership Block Grant Program, as administered by Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council.
