Wish You Were Here - Facts

 

The book starts with Diana's memory of her father painting the ceiling of Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central Terminalis a commuter rail terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The ceiling is composed of seven groin vaults, each of which has an ornamental bronze chandelier. The first two vaults, as viewed from leaving Grand Central, are painted with cumulus clouds, while the third contains a 1927 mural by Edward Trumbull depicting American transportation.

Diana visits her client, Kitomi Ito, at the Ansonia. The Ansonia  is a condominium building at 2109 Broadway, between 73rd and 74th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The 17-story structure was designed by French architect Paul Emile Duboy in the Beaux-Arts style. It was built between 1899 and 1903 as a residential hotel by William Earle Dodge Stokes, who named it after his grandfather, the industrialist Anson Greene Phelps. Over the years, the Ansonia has housed many conductors, opera singers, baseball players, and other famous and wealthy people. The Ansonia is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Diana works at Sotheby's. Sotheby's is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and maintains a significant presence in the UK.

The painting that Kitomi Ito owns is one by Toulouse Lautrec from his period in a brothel in 1897. Toulouse-Lautrec lived in Parisian brothels for extended periods, treating them as his "tent" and immersing himself in the residents' lives to capture their everyday realities, not just the glamor of sex work. His short stature and physical disability allowed him to observe and gain the trust of the women, leading to depictions of the brothel's mundane moments and intimate interactions, such as in his "Bed series" and "The Sofa".

In the book we learn that Toulouse Lautrec had a few mistresses: Marie Charlet, Suzanne Valandon, and Rosa La Rouge. 

Marie Charlet

Suzanne Valadon (23 September 1865 – 7 April 1938) was a French painter. She modeled for more than ten years for many different artists including  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.She modeled under the name "Maria" before being nicknamed "Suzanne" by Toulouse-Lautrec, after the biblical story of Susanna and the Elders as he felt that she especially preferred modeling for older artists. She was Toulouse-Lautrec's lover for two years, which ended when she attempted suicide in 1888.

"Rosa la Rouge" refers to a painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, titled "A Montrouge - Rosa La Rouge," which depicts the model Carmen Gaudin as this character, symbolizing the grittier side of Parisian life.

When Diana talks to her mother about visiting Galapagos, she mentions Lonesome George, a tortoise that was the last of its species that died. Lonesome George (June 24, 2012) was a male Pinta Island tortoise  and the last known individual of the subspecies.  In his last years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world. George serves as an important symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos Islands and throughout the world.

Diana travels to Galapagos. The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, 900 km west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of slightly over 33,000.

Diana stays on Isabela Island. Isabela Island  is the largest of the Galápagos Islands.