Musee D'Orsay and More Wandering

Wednesday June 19 started warm and a bit muggy.  We bought some more fish for dinner on Rue Mouffetard and then headed out on a long walk to Musee D'Orsay.  We first passed this wonderful 1933 sculpture of Montaigne (1533-152) on Rue des Ecoles across the street from the entrance to the Sorbonne.  Students believe that touching his shoes will bring good luck, which explains why they are a lighter colour.

Michel de Montaigne (French renaissance writer)

We continued along Blvd. Saint Germain, passing the iconic cafes, Les Deux Magots and Cafe Flore, were we have had many aperos.

Les Deux Magots

                               Cafe Flore

After sharing a baguette with chicken, we reached the Musee d'Orsay, housed in a former railway station La Gare D'Orsay.

Commemorative plaque indicating that the railway station was a 

place for concentration camp victims to meet in 1945

One of the wonderful clocks at the former railway station 

One of the posters for L'Ange du Bizarre

Inside the Musee D'Orsay

There were two temporary exhibits we wanted to see.  The first was entitled The Angel of the Odd (L'Ange du Bizarre): Dark Romanticism from Goya to Max Ernst which is closing this coming weekend.  The exhibit took its title from one of Edgar Allen Poe's stories and it focused on the artistic trend that first emerged in the late 18th century.  The term "Dark Romanticism" was first used by Mario Praz, an Italian literary historian in 1930.   The exhibit presents works from three periods of Dark Romanticism: its emergence from 1770-1850; its revival at the end of the 19th century in Symbolist art, and its reappearance in Surrealist art (1920-1940).

The thesis of the show is that this dark art with its horrific scenes and abandonment of reason emerged following periods of upheaval (after the French Revolution, the Terror and Napoleon's wars; later, the war in 1870 and second industrial revolution; and finally, after WWI and the collapse of the old order).  Some of the following pictures, I managed to take, others are from the Internet.

Poster with picture by Carlos Schwabe: La Mort et le Fossoyeur (The Death of the Gravedigger) 1900

 Johann Heinrich Fussli  Le Cauchemar (The Nightmare) 1871

Medusa was a recurring theme.

Gustave Moreau- Victoire

It was a fascinating exhibit, with some outstanding works.  Clips of films such as Dracula and Rebecca (Hitchcock) were also shown.  The last pictures were from Max Ernst, obsessed with the theme of the forest.

The second exhibit we saw was entitled:  A Passion for France: The Marlene and Spencer Hays Collection- Bonnard, Vuillard, Redon, Modigliani, Matisse...   Spencer Hays, a wealthy American businessman (mens' suits, books, health insurance) and his wife of 57 years, first visited Paris in 1971 and have returned every year since.  They started collecting works of art in the early 1970s and in the early 1980s discovered the Nabis- a group of French painters from the late 1890s, among them Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard.

Seventy pieces from their collection are shown at the Musee.   Hays is the president of the American Friends of the Musee D'Orsay and it is hoped by many that some of these pictures might eventually return to the museum.  The Hays have built their own Hotel Particulier in Nashville, modelled on the Hotel de Noirmoutier on rue de Grenelle in Paris and furnished it with 18th century antiques as well as their paintings.  They also own an apartment in New York,which also house their paintings.  The paintings are all of a high quality and it was a rare opportunity to see some works never seen before.

Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) Fillettes se promenant vers 1891

Gustave Caillbotte (1848-94) Nature Morte au Homard 1885

Berthe Morissot (1841-1895) Tete d'Anglais 1884-5

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) Femme s'epongeant le dos 1895

 Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947): Vueillard vu de profil 1891

Edouard Vuillard (1868-1948) Pierre Bonnard 1891

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Edgar Degas (1834-1917) Le Petit Dejeuner Apres le Bain 1890-95

On the way out, we walked by the museum cafe which had been renovated with more modern lighting and design.

Museum Cafe

We crossed the Seine and headed over to the Palais Royal, one of our favourite spots in Paris.

The Seine-- it  was getting very cloudy

The Palais Royal Metro stop in Place Colette- designed by Jean-Michel Othoniel in 2000

Toby in courtyard behind Comedie Francaise building

We stopped at L'Epice, one of our favourite stores that surround the gardens of the Palais Royal.  The designers are Danish.  This is one of the few stores solely dedicated to their line of scarves and now cardigans.  We were immediately recognized by the knowledgeable staff.

Alain with his new scarf

Display of cardigan

Zora and Aiko (hope I got the spelling correct)  with Toby 

I purchased the same cardigan as Zora is wearing.  We were also invited to a special event next week with one of the designers.

A wonderful window at Acne at Palais Royal

A few minutes later, a flash thunderstorm started with incredible winds.  I took a few photos and then we took refuge inside a restaurant for about an hour, enjoying a glass of Sancerre (me) and coffee (Alain).

Palais Royal gardens

The storm in the Gardens- everyone took refuge in the covered walkways

When it stopped raining we continued our walk, stopping for a treat at La Bague de Kenza, a wonderful Algerian pastry shop.

La Bague de Kenza 

We visited a few of our old haunts in the Marais, including the apartment building we lived in for three months in 2011.  Crossing the Seine, we passed one of the bridges covered in locks.  These clearly have not been cut in a few years and there are 1000s attached to the railings.

Thousands of locks with initials on the bridge.  Notre Dame is in the background

We got back to the apartment at about 9:00 p.m.  Alain made a fish dinner, while I worked on the blog. It is now Thursday morning and I am finishing this post.  We awoke to another thunderstorm.  Alain had a run and got back just in time, as it started to rain again.  Gloomy weather is predicted for the next few days.  Ah well, Paris in the rain.  Looking forward to another day in this beautiful city.