Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Question - 541


What French expression originated from this piece of art? (Aside: the expression may resonate with many quiz/trivia aficionados)

Answer: The expression is Le Violon d'Ingres or Ingres's Violin. It refers to a hobby or pastime that one excels at. It is a reference to the French painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres who was also an excellent violin player. Matti Tapaninen, Vetti, tsp, Dinesh, and Hirak got it right. As Hirak points out, the expression did not really originate with this piece of art.

5 comments:

matti tapaninen said...

Le Violon d`Ingres meaning Hobby.

Vetti said...

LeViolin D'Ingres means hobby

tsp said...

violon d'Ingres

Dinesh said...

Ingres' violin means a hobby

hirak said...

Raghu:
The f-holes from the purported violin resonated rather deeply :)

It's incorrect to say that the art/picture lead to the French expression. Ingres was long dead and the expression much in vogue before Man Ray decided to take this picture of his muse Kiki with painted f-holes on her back and riff on the popular idiom.