Wes Anderson’s films are known for their distinctive aesthetic. He transports viewers to different worlds, not with heavy-handed CGI effects or futuristic visions but with layered spaces, controlled color palettes and, yes, considered symmetry. The director’s latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, is no exception, although it includes a few details that are very much of this world — namely, a handful of original paintings, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, René Magritte and Floris Gerritsz van Schooten.
In the movie, these works are the property of Zsa-Zsa Korda (portrayed by Benicio del Toro), a wealthy businessman whose mansion is impeccably decorated. The decision to use originals was Anderson’s. “I thought it would mean something to the actors to be with these real objects, and you would feel in the movie that they were real; you can feel it on the set,” Anderson stated in the film’s production notes, per Artnet News. “You can tell the difference and it has an aura to it.”
The specific selections, which include Renoir’s Enfant assis en robe bleue and Magritte’s The Equator, were made by the film’s art curator, Jasper Sharp. Sharp was tasked with securing appropriate works in a matter of months, from sources close to where the film was being shot, in Potsdam, Germany.
According to Artnet, the actors did feel the aura Anderson described. Del Toro admitted that he was nervous around the Renoir. “His eyes widened,” Sharp informed Artnet, “and he gasped when I told him that Greta Garbo had owned the picture for about 50 years.”
