ART OF PARIS

Under construction

Louvre

Hundreds of my museum pictures were lost in computer crashes, cloud misunderstandings and iPad confusion. I wanted to include the museums in this section, so, here they are - along with the few pictures that remain for the Louvre, the L'Orangerie and the Rodin museum.

L'Orangerie is one of my favorite museums in Paris. Paul and I discovered it by accident walking back to our hotel on our first day in Paris in 2007.

You enter the museum at ground level - an incredible collection of mostly Impressionist work - the collection of one man! Paul Guillaume.

Down one floor is the collection the museum was built for: Monet's water lilies. When Paul and I visited we were the only two people there.

L'Orangerie

Along with this poster and book, there was a scale model of Paul Guillaume's home in Paris, showing where each of the paintings had been displayed....IN HIS HOME! He had had the foresight and taste (along with Gertrude Stein) to purchase these from the artists at the time (1914-1934). (From Wikipedia): Among the paintings are 25 Renoir, 15 Cezanne, 1 Gauguin, 1 Monet, 1 Sisley, 12 Picasso, 10 Matisse, 5 Modigliani, 10 Utrillo

Detail from Monet's water lilies paintings.

The Kiss

Rodin Museum

My favorite - The Hand of God

I remember Rodin sculptures in the gardens around the Louvre in 1969 and questioned myself. However, Rodin was so prolific, it's not an impossibility that there were pieces around the Louvre at that time.

Believe that may be the Musee D'Orsay in the background.

The Burghers of Calais - one of the most poignant, beautiful pieces I think. Do you know the story?

The Rodin museum was closed on the one day I had open in Paris in 2015, but hope to return one of these Covid-free days!

It memorializes an event in the Hundred Years War (1346). Calais had been held captive, in seige by the British for eleven months. Its people were starving. The English king offered to spare the city if six of the city's leaders would surrender to him for execution. He demanded that they walk out of the city with nooses around their necks and carrying the city's keys. The wealthiest citizen of the town volunteered to surrender and five others followed. They expected to be executed - and this is the moment Rodin captures. Their lives were spared by the queen who persuaded the king to be merciful.

Musée

d'Orsay

When I first visited Paris, the 19th and 20th C paintings that included the works of the Impressionists and contemporary artists were displayed at the Jeu de Paume. This was/is a beautiful, light-filled building in a corner of the Tuileries Gardens. I fell in love with the impressionists, partly because of how beautifully they were shown in 1969.

When Paul Sr. and I visited in 2007, the Jeu de Paume collection had been moved to the Musée d'Orsay, a former train station. While the building was impressive, the impressionists were displayed in an awful, dark area that was being renovated.

Now these beautiful works are at home in a lovely, light-filled space again. While it lacks the intimacy of the smaller Jeu de Paume, the grander space allows the works to be seen by throngs of visitors.

Paul Gaugin

Vincent Van Gogh

Claude Monet

Edouard Manet

My favorite..............

Toulouse Lautrec

Niki de Saint Phalle's "Stravinsky Fountain"

Paul and I ran across this delightful water structure in 2007, after a brief visit to the Pompidou Center. There was no sign to indicate the artist or what it was, but children were thrilled by it. When we got home I did a google search on fountain-Paris-colorful and it came up with the artist and the fountain's name.

A gifted, creative artist, Niki de Saint Phalle worked in a variety of media and styles, both in her native France and later, near her home in San Diego, California. The sixteen sculptures, which move and spray water, represent the works of Igor Stravinsky.

The black pieces are by Jean Tinguely; the fantastic colored pieces by Saint Phalle. They include: The Firebird, The Spiral, The Elephant, The Serpent, La Coeur, L'Amour.

Musée de Jacquemart Andre

This museum was formerly the private home, used to display the art collection of the couple who lived here. It is situated on the Boulevard Haussmann, the entrance set back from the street - which heightens the oasis-like feel of the space, once you're inside.

So, here in the heart of Paris, you find this incredibly light-filled space with a distinctly "island" kind-of vibe with the palms, ferns and raspberry-colored walls - very Bahama-like.

picasso-mania

I timed my visit to Paris in 2015 to coincide with an exhibit at the Grand Palais called "Picasso-mania." I had thought the exhibit would be of Picasso's works; I thought it would be jam-packed with people; I thought I knew a lot about Picasso - pretty much wrong on all counts!

I had reserved the first showing on the first day of the exhibit. On my first pass trying to find the entrance to the Grand Palais, I saw a stack of shipping crates from New York and wondered why - surely Paris had enough Picasso's for a showing.

The reason for the containers quickly became clear. This was a showing about how Picasso had influenced other artists. While there were some Picasso's there, they were representative of his evolving visions and how those visions affected the work of (mostly) American artists.

As you entered the exhibit, there was an entire floor to ceiling wall with pictures of artists which lit up as each artist, in his/her own words, described the influence of Picasso on their work. Artists such as Roy Lichtenstein.

and David Hockney (British)

Along with Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol there was a slew of artists represented, including artists Basquiet, de Saint Phalle,and many others.

A room was dedicated to Picasso's Guernica and its influence on world politics, and anti-war movements across the world.

The variety of media was fantastic - and really did my heart good to see more than "the usual" - including quilting, masks, assemblages and a video. The video captured Irish children's reaction to seeing Picasso's "The Weeping Woman." These children had all been touched by "the troubles"- violence in their homeland. Their impressions of, and the stories they saw in the picture attest to the evil of war that results in the loss of childhood innocence.