Paris Museums

We love Paris' museums large and small.  We structure most of our days around deciding which museum to visit, how to get there and back (usually all or part of each trip is on foot) and where will we eat before or after.  For us, it's a great way to see Paris, check out diverse neighborhoods and see wonderful art.
We mentioned Musee Marmottan in our first blog as it and the Jardin de Ranelagh are practically our neighbors here in the 16th.  There are beautiful Monets donated from the artists' private collection by his son, Michael, and  a nice sampling of other Monet contemporaries.  Also, it's a lovely walk in a park.

Another day we visited the Musee Nissim de Comondo in the 8th, a mansion built to emulate 18th C furnishings and art, that was willed to be maintained as a museum in 1936. Count Moise de Camondo was a wealthy financier passionate about 18th C decor; unfortunately all of his heirs were killed in 1944 in the holocaust.

The main rooms were very opulent, pictures were not permitted; but they were permitted in the downstairs. Above is the Chef's office 

Stove and oven

And some of the pots and pans.

The mansion backs onto Parc Monceau.  Paul wanted to see these homes on the Parc Monceau, built in the late 1800's - early 1900's by very wealthy Jews, and referenced in a book we loved, The Hare With The Amber Eyes.

Near Parc Monceau we also visited the Musee Jacquermart Andre for a Perugin show with a few Raphael's and a Botticelli thrown in, most that we couldn't photograph.

Beautiful dual staircase and frescoe

Staircase from bottom

We had saved our favorite museum in the world, the Musee D'Orsay

 for Thursday night when they are open late and we hoped to avoid the busloads of school kids and tourists.  It seemed to work.  The renovated Impressionist galleries on the 5th floor with new deep mauve, blue and green walls were even more beautiful. Many of our favorites by Monet, Renoir, Pissaro, Sisley and others were there in all their breathtaking glory, but we were sad to miss a few long time favorites, such as the men scraping the wooden floor by Caillebotte. We returned to the D'Orsay two more times to see the post-impressionists and pointalists down on the 2nd floor and to revisit that amazing 5th floor filled with Impressionists. Some visitors boldly took photos, but we honored the signs.

The first Sunday each month is a free museum day, so we headed back to revisit Musee D'Orsay, but the lines were much longer than our patience, so we headed for the much beloved Musee Rodin.  No line at all when we arrived about 1:30, but quite a long one when we left. Much of it is outdoors, thus regrettable is the absence of blue skies.  

Backside of the Rodin (pun intended)

The pieces are pretty well known (you got your Thinker, your Burghers of Calais, the Kiss,  the Gates of Hell, etc., etc.)  so Paul got it in his head to take pictures of the hands. He really liked them, but you know how he is.

The Pompidou Center was open til 9PM on free Sunday, so from Musee Rodin we headed across the river to renew our acquaintance with their permanent collection.

Danice with the first thing one sees: a wall of neon signs saying "open" in many languages

The 5th and 4th floors are so large and filled with so much art that Danice associates visits there with serious back aches, so we tackled only the top floor, planning to return another day to pay our fair entrance fee and see the 4th floor.  We were knocked out by this Matisse in the first viewing gallery on the 5th floor (the photo doesn't capture the vibrancy of the actual painting.)

There were many rooms not filled with rows of painting, but instead composed as art works containing art works.  These two rooms convey that feeling.

Danice moved along faster than Paul until a suitable seat was found where she awaited Paul's arrival, then we could point out a piece to discuss together before moving on. That worked fairly well to conserve Danice's dreaded standing still time (when her back suffers intensely) and we left just before 9:00PM.  The places we passed around the Pompidou and Les Halles that were open Sunday night looked a bit touristy, so we headed home for a simple pasta and salad dinner.  (The lettuce here is beautiful, the pasta and sauce were from Italy.  We go out for the good French cooking, but that's another blog.)

On a cloudy day we had lunch at Bouquinista (we hope to cover the restaurants in our 3rd post from Paris) and then walked off our fullness by heading for L'Orangerie in Tuilerie Gardens.

After the stroll over the river and through the Tuilerie, Danice took a seat on the back side before entering.

L' Orangerie has an oval room with long walls covered by huge Monet water lillies.  We've pondered those many times before, but our favorite rooms are downstairs, a collection by Paul Guillaume and his wife Dominica.   She might have killed Paul and did marry an architect, whose name is also on the collection. Charges against her were dropped when she promised France the entire collection upon her death.  

Paul Guillame was an art dealer/collector in Paris who generated an interest in African Art and also befriended and collected the works of Monet, Picasso, Modigliani and Brancusi.  After his death his wife sold some of the more "extreme" art and bought more Impressionist art.  Some of the Matisse and beautiful Picasso nudes are just breath taking to us.  Sorry Paul didn't break the rules to photograph any of them.  

Paul also enjoyed a special show of the work of Emile Bernard. Danice was getting tired and just didn't get into it.  He was around with the impressionists and was heavily involved with the symbolists. Through his life he worked in a number of different styles as his philosophy of painting evolved. Paul found many of the pictures to be really good and very much enjoyed the exhibition.  This link has many images of his work:

http://tinyurl.com/qgds7hf. 

One of the most exciting shows we saw was at the Musee du Luxembourg on the north side of the gardens of the same name.  It was devoted to Paul Durand-Ruel, the largest retailer of art of the nineteenth century. He supported several of the Impressionists and made their art known to the public. There were several Renoir and Monet paintings we had never seen before. Renoir did beautiful paintings of all 5 of Durand-Ruel's children while staying in Durand-Ruel's summer home (couldn't take pictures of these). Many beautiful Monet and Cezanne paintings revealed the early years of these artists. And there were wonderful landscapes by Pissaro, Sisley. and Monet.

Pissaro

Monet

It seems whether or not photos could be taken was dictated by the lender of the paintings for the exhibition. 

Just have to add these fabulous Renoirs

And then there was this Monet, which we speculated had influenced Wayne Thiebaud's cake pictures

This inspired Danice to promise to make Paul more of his favorite dessert (pear or apple galette), if he will arrange the fruit as artfully.

We walked through the exhibition three times ooh-ing and ahh-ing and then bought a matted set of three Renoir dancing couples (the above two included) - they are so lovely.

The big disappointment was the Picasso Museum still not being open. It was closed for renovation when we were here four years ago. The renovation completion has been delayed a number of time. To add a bit of insult to our injury it will finally be opening ten days after we leave.

                                                   Danice railing at the Picasso gate

On our final day in Paris, the cloudy skies had once again become clear and blue.  We decided the cold with which Danice had been coming down was under control, so we headed for the Petit Palais.  The bright light of the day shows Paris at it's best and Paul took a bunch of pictures en route.

But first here we are in our elevator, just big enough for the two of us. The only way to get this picture was to shoot our reflection in the elevator's mirror.

We took the Metro to the Alma-Marceau stop and walked via rue Jean Goujon. It is a very elegant street.

It even had a little church.

To us one of the chief aspects of the Petit Palais is the building itself.

There are some very nice pieces in the collection which is composed of paintings, glass, ceramics and sculpture.

A very nice Sisley

This art nouveau stature was lit up by the afternoon light, and the portrait in the background is very nice.

And these two fetching beauties are so... 

The one below is actually Sarah Bernhardt. Paul can see what all the fuss was all about.

And this detail of Diana and some other mythological figure. We really need to get into Greek mythology.

And this beautiful Amari. 

This is the end of the Paris Museums for us for a few years - Sigh!

We walked home along the river, made a salad of leftovers in the fridge, did final packing, put the house back the way we had found it, and tried to get to sleep early to arise at 5:30 for the trip to Istanbul.