Paris | Josette King

The Museum of Paris History— Musee Carnavalet

23 January 2022 | Europe, France, Places | 2 comments

The Musée Carnavalet has long been one of Paris’ overlooked treasures. Dedicated to recording the city’s history, it opened in 1880 in a grand Renaissance mansion (Hôtel Carnavalet) of the history-steeped Marais district.

Fragment of an early plaque commemorating the medieval defensive wall of Paris.

For over 150 years, as its collections illustrating the development of the city were continuously enriched, the museum expanded with the haphazard addition of exhibit spaces and finally the annexation of the adjoining Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau mansion in 1989. By the time it finally closed for long overdue renovations in 2016, its collections had grown so large that curators struggled to display it all in a coherent fashion. Its confusing layout gave this most Parisian of museums the nostalgic feel of a Cabinets of Curiosities of a bygone era.

An Elegant Metamorphosis

The visit begins with a collection of ancient shop signs.

The Musée Carnavalet – History of Paris reopened in May 2021 after a four-and-a-half-year, €56 million renovation. Major structural changes, some made imperative by modern accessibility requirements, created an easy-to-follow chronological itinerary. Beginning in the fully renovated vaulted basement with displays from the Mesolithic period (9600 to 6000 BCE) to the Middle Ages, visitors then pass through areas dedicated to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Revolution, and the 19th and 20th centuries, to end in today’s Paris.

The Bastille café sign (painted wood-1800)

In addition to adapting the building to current norms and redesigning the layout of the visit, the work has embellished the monument, highlighting its architecture and adding soaring stairways for a contemporary flair. To the right of the entrance, a light-filled gallery welcomes visitors with an eclectic collection of old shop signs, from the 17th to the early 20th centuries.

This head of Medusa decorated a door of the Hôtel de Ville.

Then the visit begins with two introductory rooms presenting the history of Paris, its symbols, key data on the history of the city, and the museum itself. They feature a number of scale models of the evolution of Paris and miscellaneous items ranging from a portrait of Madame de Sévigné, the famous aristocratic letter-writer who occupied the Palais Carnavalet in the 17th century to an early silver film photo of late 19th century rag-pickers and a massive oak door decorated with a head of a Medusa, saved from the destruction of the old Hôtel de Ville by fire in 1871 during the Commune.

A Walk Back in Time

A Neolithic oak wood canoe takes pride of place.

Now it’s down into the newly opened basement. Here Mesolithic stone tools attest to the presence of a hunter-gatherers encampment around 9000 to 5000 BCE. Exceptional Neolithic remains (6500 to 4500 BCE ) follow. Found during excavations carried out in the nearby Bercy district, which uncovered a village on the edge of an old channel of the Seine, they include an oak canoe and a yew wood bow as well as numerous tools, weapons and utensils of domestic life.

Carved stone block from late Roman times city ramparts.

From there we fast-forward to approximately 250 BCE, when a Celtic tribe known as the Parisii settled in what is now the Ile de la Cité. The burgeoning city that grew from this early settlement would, after its conquest by the Romans in 52 BCE become the Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia, an evolution widely documented by imposing carved stone blocks and many decorative elements coming from different public spaces. The domestic sphere is also well represented with a focus on tableware and everyday objects. Necropolises also contribute a remarkable insight into these times with jewels, weapons, and an exceptional set of surgical instruments dated from the 3rd century.

Into the Middle Ages

Stained glass works from medieval monasteries.

We now reach the medieval heart of Paris, where political and religious powers first came together: the Ile de la Cité. In the center of the room, a model of the island makes it possible to visualize the urban space and its density. A gargoyle from Notre-Dame cathedral dominates the room, and common objects from wooden crockery to leather shoes, all in a remarkable state of conservation, provide a striking testimony of the daily life of the period. Then we cross to the left bank of the Seine to discover the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and its royal necropolis, the Sorbonne (founded in 1257), and several prominent monasteries that attracted thousands of scholars and students, forming colleges that became the University of Paris.

Stele commemorating the death of Prince Louis of France, heir to the throne, in 1260.

Where were the dead buried in Paris during the Middle Ages? The question is answered with tombstones and steles from two major cemeteries: the Innocents, in the current district of Les Halles, which was used for nearly seven centuries, and the Jewish cemetery on the Left Bank, testimony of the large Jewish community established in Paris in the 12th and 13th centuries. And how were the living governed? Paris gradually becomes a municipality with powers distributed among many: the landlords, the king’s provost, the provost of bourgeois merchants, the aldermen… The section ends with King François I, who in 1533 orders the construction of a town hall, on its current location.

From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

Guest Salon of the Hôtel d’Uzes (1768).

Salon Demarteau (1765 to1770) by François Boucher.

The overall narrative of the 16th to 18th centuries exhibits highlights the evolution of the intellectual influence of Paris and the main actors of the Age of Enlightenment. But for Decorative Arts lovers, that is eclipsed by the magnificent “period rooms”, some 20 of them, salvaged from mansions and shops that no longer exist. These are stately interiors, fully reconstructed and decorated with their original furnishings, such as the office of the Hôtel Colbert de Villacerf, the Guests Salon of the Hôtel d’Uzès, designed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in a grand neoclassical style, the exquisite Demarteau lobby designed by Boucher and decorated with animals and flowers by Fragonard and Huet, and the ceilings at the Hôtel de la Rivière painted by Charles Le Brun. All lead to the breathtaking flight of stairs of the Hotel de Luynes, with its upper landing gallery murals by Paolo Antonio Brunetti. Here, in a majestic colonnaded decor, figures in various poses seem to watch visitors climbing up the stairs.

Beyond the Revolution

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789).

A painting of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, the era’s key civil rights document, marks the entrance the next gallery. We are reaching the 19th century, an especially tormented period of Paris history, when the storming of La Bastille on July 14, 1789, ushered in successive revolutions leading to imperial regimes, attempts at democracy and even the brief, ill-fated utopian socialist government of the Paris Commune, some 150 years ago. And I am reaching cultural overload.

The ballroom of the Hôtel de Wendel (1925).

This is clearly a two-visits museum. But for now, I hasten my pace, determined to give at least a passing glance to the 19th and 20th centuries. For my reward, I come across the exquisite de Wendel ballroom, commissioned in 1925 by the de Wendel couple for the ballroom of their Parisian mansion.This decorative composition representing the Queen of Sheba atop a white elephant, preparing to leave her kingdom to meet King Solomon, is the work of Catalan artist José Maria Sert, recognized as the greatest muralist his time.

Jewelry Fouquet (1901) by Art Nouveau icon Alfons Mucha.

The final highlight of my visit is the Bijouterie Fouquet, designed by Czech Art Nouveau icon Alfons Mucha for society jeweler Georges Fouquet, himself best known for his Art Nouveau creations. Mucha conceived every elements of the shop – both exterior and interior, including the furniture, light fittings and display cases, as a complete work of art, to provide a harmonious environment for Fouquet. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, he gave pride of place to two spectacular peacocks set against glowing designs in stained glass. In 1941 Fouquet donated all the pieces of Mucha’s revolutionary design to the Musée Carnavalet for safekeeping. In 1989 the museum completed the painstaking job of reconstructing the boutique, which remains one of the finest examples of Art Nouveau decorative design anywhere.

Good to Know

Getting there — The Musee Carnavalet, 16 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Paris 75004, France, is a five-minute walk from the Saint Paul metro station.
Visiting — The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. It is closed on Monday and public holidays. It is one of the 14 museums run by the City of Paris, and like all other city-run museums, entrance to the permanent collection is free of charge (Visitors are only charged for temporary exhibitions).
Health Guidelines — Due to health restrictions in order at the time of this writing advanced reservation through the museum official site for a specific day and time was necessary, as was presentation of a valid European Health Pass or the usual proof of negative RT-PCR or antigénic négatif test within the past 48 hours. Mask were mandatory throughout the museum.

A Few Souvenirs

Location, location, location!

Musée Carnavalet

Musee Carnavalet

The Sainte Chapelle — The Other Gothic Gem In The Heart of Paris.

23 July 2021 | Europe, France, Places | 3 comments

The Ile de la Cité, the largest of the two islands in the middle of the Seine River is where Paris began.

The Conciergerie — one of the oldest medieval remains of the Palais de la Cité — shields the Sainte Chapelle from the river.

In the early 6th century, Clovis, the first Merovingian king of what would eventually become France, established his residence on the 22-hectare (55-acre) island, on the site of a Gallo-Roman fortress that had once been the residence of the Roman governors. Throughout the medieval times, the place grew into the sprawling Palais de la Cité, which remained the seat of the Kings of France and their government until the 14th century. It is to this day the beating heart of Paris and the home of its two most remarkable Gothic treasures.

Notre Dame de Paris

On April 15th, 2019, a catastrophic fire claimed the entire roof of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame (Our Lady), the great Gothic cathedral built in the 12th and 13th centuries on the eastern tip of the island, was to become over time the most visited monument in the city — Until the fateful April 2019 evening when the world watched in horror as a catastrophic fire claimed its entire roof. Fire-fighters ultimately succeeded in saving the main bell towers and outer walls from collapse. Now, after two years of intense efforts to secure the building, the work of restoring the legendary jewel of Gothic architecture to its original grandeur has finally begun.

Under the shelter of scaffolds and opaque netting, the reconstruction of Notre Dame is underway.

On a recent visit to Paris, shortly after the city finally reopened to visitors after the long Covid-induced travel hiatus, I couldn’t resist dropping by the Ile de la Cité to check how The Lady was faring. There wasn’t much to see, with most of the structure now protected by a giant set of scaffolds neatly wrapped in opaque netting. On the street bordering the construction site, optimistic signs updated passersby on the progress of the work going on inside, and that it would be completed by 2024. What to do in the meantime, to assuage my yearning for the magic of morning sunshine filtering through the jewel-like wonder of medieval stained glass? Head for the Sainte Chapelle.

La Sainte Chapelle

The Sainte Chapelle is concealed within the courtyard of the Palais de la Cité.

Built in the mid-13th century in the courtyard of the royal Palais de la Cité, the Sainte-Chapelle is considered one of the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture. It was commissioned by King Louis IX (later known as Saint Louis) to house his collection of Passion relics, including the Christ’s Crown of Thorns, one of the most important relics in medieval Christendom. While the exterior shows many of the typical characteristics of the Rayonnant Gothic style — deep buttresses surmounted by pinnacles, crocketed gables and soaring windows, the exterior gives few hints of the sumptuous interior.

The Sainte Chapelle holds one of the most extensive 13th century stained-glass collection in the world.

The Sainte Chapelle holds one of the most extensive 13th century stained-glass collection in the world.Now the earliest surviving building of the palace, the Sainte Chapelle holds one of the most extensive 13thcentury stained-glass collection anywhere in the world. A total of 15 windows surround the chapel, each soaring to an improbable height of 15 meters (49 feet) the stained-glass panes depict over one thousand scenes from the Old and New Testaments, illustrating the history of the world until the arrival of the relics in Paris.

The Lower Chapel

The lower chapel was reserved for the courtiers, servants and soldiers of the palace.

The sanctuary actually consists of two chapels, with the lower one originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary and reserved for the courtiers, servants and soldiers of the palace. Here, under a low, vaulted ceiling supported by elegantly arched buttresses, the wide center aisle is flanked by two narrow side aisle. The columns are painted with alternating floral designs and the castle emblem of Castille – in honor of Blanche de Castille, King Louis IX’s mother. The original stained glass of this lower chapel was destroyed by a flood in 1690. The present glass depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary was designed during the extensive restoration of the chapel in the 19th century.

The Upper Chapel

Installed in the 15th century, the rose window represents the Book of Revelation.

Narrow stairways fitted within the towers of the lower level lead to the upper chapel, where the sacred relics were kept. It was reserved exclusively for the royal family and guests. The structure is simple; a rectangle 33 meters by 10.7 meters (110 by 36 feet) with an apse at the east end. The most dazzling features are the walls, which appear to be almost entirely made of stained glass — a total of 670 square meters (7,200 square feet) of it, excluding the rose window at the west end, which was installed in the 15th century. The ensemble is considered among one of the finest of its type in the world. The supporting stone surface is reduced to little more than a delicate framework for the thousands pieces of jewel-tone glass that fill the space with great splashes of color gradually changing in intensity with the external light.

High in the apse, the elegant baldaquin once held the reliquary.

There are two small arched alcoves set into the walls of the chapel, topped with richly decorated painting and sculpture of angels. These were the places where the King and Queen worshipped during religious services: the King on the north side, the Queen on the south. Today, all that remains of the sacred relics is the elegant baldaquin placed high in the apse, where a long silver and gilded copper reliquary was displayed. The church was secularized during the French Revolution (1789-1794) and the relics transferred to the treasury of the Notre Dame Cathedral (n.b. the treasury was salvaged from the recent fire and is currently on view at the Musée du Louvre).

Good to Know

Getting there — the Sainte Chapelle is located on the Ile de la Cité at 10 Boulevard du Palais, 75001, Paris. The closest metro station is Cité (ligne 4) is a mere 5 minute-walk away.
Visiting — The Sainte Chapelle is open daily from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm from May 19 to September 30, and 9:00 am to 5:00 pm for the remainder of the year. It is closed on January 1, May 1 and December 25. Due to the current Covid situation, visiting conditions may vary – check the official website to prepare your visit.

A Few Souvenirs

Location, location, location!

La Sainte Chapelle

Notre Dame de Paris

The Golden Age of English Painting — Musee du Luxembourg, Paris

4 January 2020 | Europe, France, Places, Uncategorized | 6 comments

Of the 20 million or so visitors who descend on Paris each year, relatively few make it to the Jardin du Luxembourg, the sumptuous 25 hectare (62 acre) flower-filled park in the heart of the Left Bank, bordered by Saint Germain des Prés and the Latin Quarter. And even fewer suspect that under the centuries-old trees at the northwestern edge of the park sits the oldest art museum in France.

The First Museum of Art

The Luxembourg Palace was built as the residence of Queen Marie de Medicis (1575-1642).

The current exhibit highlights the evolution of English portraiture in the latter part of 18th century.

Initially housed in the west wing of the Palais du Luxembourg (built in 1615 by Queen Marie de Medici, Louis XIII’s mother) the Musée du Luxembourg was the first French museum to open to the public in 1750, almost half a century before the Musée du Louvre. The works exhibited here, about one hundred Old Masters paintings from the royal collection would in time be transferred to form the nucleus of the Louvre.

The Luxembourg was then designated as a museum of contemporary arts, and in 1886 settled into its current building. Much of the works first shown here from 1818 to 1937 ultimately found their way to the Musée National d’Art Moderne and the Musée d’Orsay. Then, in recent decades the space has become one of Paris’ premier temporary exhibit galleries. Twice yearly, it features a thematic exhibition of major works on loans from French and foreign museums, showcasing the evolution of European art in its historical context .

The Golden Age of English Painting

Joshua Reynolds – Autoportrait (1775, oil on canvas).

Through a comprehensive series of masterpieces on loan from the Tate Britain museum, the current exhibit pays tribute to the Golden Age of English Painting, which flourished through the long reign of Charles III (from 1760 to 1820). This was a decisive period of societal transformation in Great Britain, which shaped its artistic and cultural life. While some artists could still rely on the few royal commissions, most were now able to cater not only to the elite aristocracy but also to an emerging consumer society of new players in commerce and industry. This demand set artists free to express themselves in a diversity of styles, as they adapted their production to this evolving market.

While still referring to the masters of the past and the great schools of painting that had made their mark throughout continental Europe, this new generation of painters, led by Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), fostered the emergence of a distinctive British identity.

A Reynolds – Gainsborough Face-off

Lady Bampfylde (1775. Joshua Reynolds, oil on canvas).

From the 1760s Reynolds and Gainsborough were acknowledged leaders in the field of portraiture. Both received royal commissions and were “painters to the king”. In 1768, both became founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts, with Reynolds becoming its first president. Critics of the time regularly set them in opposition, and they certainly played on this by producing works inviting comparison. Reynolds’ works became known for their flattering scholarly references, while Gainsborough breathed life into his elegant portraits. Both, however, shared the same inspiration from Anthony Van Dyck, the Flemish Baroque artist who had made his career at the British court in the 17th century.

All these formative points are brilliantly illustrated in the first part of the exhibition with an extensive face-off between the two masters.

From the Old to the New Generation

Mrs. Robert Trotter of Bush (1788-1789. George Romney, oil on canvas).

While Reynolds and Gainsborough redefined British art, they also opened the door to a new generation of talents. Their influence is illustrated in a selection of major portraits by their competitors/followers, such as John Hopper, William Beechey, Thomas Lawrence, Francis Cotes and George Romney.

Unlike most of the other great portraitists who wooed the royal family and attended the Royal Academy, Romney built his reputation on his independence. He soon became en vogue in London, especially among the thriving new clientele of entrepreneurs and merchants created by the booming economic and urban development of the time. Overall, the 1760s and 70s were creative years for all these painters, represented in this exhibition by portraits that also distinguish themselves by their varieties.

Family in a Landscape (1775. Francis Wheatley, oil on canvas).

This new, more individualist consumer society favored a degree of personalization that couldn’t be achieved in the formal portraiture tradition of previous centuries. The popularity of conversation pieces ensued, group portraits close to the genre painting, generally small, that had been until now the trademark of Flemish art (think Johannes Vermeer , Gerard ter Borch et al.). Here, the subjects were most often portrayed as a family staged in an informal fashion, an evolution of the portrait that reflected the increased importance given to private space and the comfort of domestic life.

A Newfound Appreciation of Nature

Inside the Stable (1791. George Morland, oil on canvas).

A pair of foxhounds (1791. George Stubbs, oil on canvas).

Landscape also played a central role in the emergence of the English school of painting. It enabled artists to express themselves more freely than in portraits, where the requirements of the patron were more restrictive. With the exception of great classical landscapes depicting abstract ideals and historic events, landscape painting had been relegated to the bottom of the academic hierarchy of genres. While there was already an established niche market for it, long dominated by Flemish artists, the emerging consumer society reinforced the demand for these smaller paintings representing with naturalism simple subject, designed primarily to please the eye.

The period coincided with the wars, first against revolutionary France and then Napoleon, which curtailed opportunities for travel on the continent. With access to the treasures of classical art now limited, a whole generation of painters began crisscrossing the British countryside in search of subjects. Scenes of rural life, inspired by the national landscape, took on an unprecedented importance and proved to be an opportunity to profoundly reconsider national identity.

The Rise of Watercolor Painting

Lake and mountains (1801. J.M.W. Turner, watercolor on paper).

Bridge near Rajmahal, India (1827. Thomas Daniell, oil on canvas).

At the time, watercolor was still being used in a traditional way, merely to bring color to drawings. The last part of the exhibition showcases the likes of Francis Towne, John Martin and J.M.W. Turner as they discovered new ways to use the medium as a wash. By giving the color a figurative power of its own, independently of lines, they introduced a new freedom of expression in their work. Watercolor thus played an important role in the growing popularity of landscape painting in England. Small in size, relatively inexpensive and easy to acquire, watercolors now catered to the flourishing bourgeois art market.

In parallel to this last section, a limited selection of late works documents the presence of Great Britain in India and the Caribbean, a reminder that the country’s artistic and cultural progress was essentially founded by the commercial exploitation on overseas territories.

Overall, this retrospective beautifully showcases the evolution of a vital period in English art. It can be seen until February 16, 2020.

The Thames near Walton Bridge (1805. J.W.M. Turner, oil on wood).

Good to Know

Visiting — The Musée du Luxembourg, 19 rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris, France, is open daily from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm with night opening until 10:00 pm on Monday. Contact: tel. +33 (0) 1 40 13 62 00.
Getting there —There is easy public transportation from anywhere in Paris to the museum: metro station Saint Sulpice (Line 4) or bus stop Luxembourg (lines 58, 84 and 89).
Future Expositions — Later in 2020, the museum is scheduled to stage two very different exhibitions: “Man Ray and Fashion,” from April 9th to July 26th, and “Influential Women Painters (1780-1830),” from September 30, 2020 to January 24, 2021.

A Few Souvenirs

Location, location, location!

Musée du Luxembourg

The rebirth of a Belle Epoque Fast Food Tradition – Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse

3 May 2019 | Europe, Food, France | 1 comment

In 19th century France, the industrial revolution was in full swing, drawing throngs of new mouths to feed to the cities. Lyon already had its Bouchons and Lille its Estaminets. Now, Paris was getting its Bouillons, working class eateries serving humble but hearty, and most importantly, cheap fare.

Fast Food In An Other Era

Tucked away in a courtyard of the Faubourg Montmartre, Bouillon Chartier has attracted diners since 1896.

The first Bouillon (broth, or stew in this context) appeared in 1855 in Les Halles, the bustling wholesale food market in the center of Paris, when an ingenious butcher, Pierre Louis Duval, devised a way to dispose of his least desirable cuts of meat. He started proposing a filling dish of meaty stew to the workers who labored through the night, unloading the wagons that delivered foodstuff from the far reaches of the country. The concept caught on and began expanding to full-menu poor man’s brasseries with multiple locations across the city. By 1900, there were over two hundred Bouillons throughout Paris. They had become the fast food chains of the Belle Epoque.

The Bouillon Bandwagon

Overhead luggage racks are a reminder of the dining room’s original function as a train station.

In 1896, the brothers Camille and Edouard Chartier got on the bandwagon, opening their Bouillon Chartier in a former train station concourse of the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre on the northern side of Paris. The long Art Nouveau dining hall with its high metal columns holding the opaque glass ceiling, wall-size mirrors set in the swirling woodwork and extensive menu of affordable dishes, quickly became a popular local hang out.

The Montparnasse venue retains its Art Nouveau facade.

Boosted by the success of this first venture, the brothers opened a second venue on the Left Bank’s Boulevard Montparnasse in 1903. Here they pulled all the stops, fully embracing the Art Nouveau craze unleashed by the Paris World Fairs of 1878, 1889 and 1900. They commissioned Parisian ceramist, stained glass designer and decorator Louis Trézel to create a trendy environment for their crowd-pleasing menu.

Alas, as fast as the Bouillons had prospered in the optimistic decades of the Belle Epoque, they faded in the aftermath of the First War War. By the 1930’s they had all but disappeared from the Paris dining scene.

The Unsinkable Bouillon Chartier

Escargots remain a popular item on the Chartier menu.

One notable survivor is the original Chartier. Having managed to endure through both World Wars, its popularity has kept on growing ever since, although with a different clientele. These days, it’s tourists from all over the world who flock to the faded Art Nouveau dining room of the Faubourg Montmartre to experience such retro-French dishes as poireaux (leek) vinaigrette, escargots, andouillette grillée (chitterling sausage), or for the less adventurous, confit de canard (duck confit) and blanquette de veau (veal stew) at prices of a bygone era.

The Montparnasse location still boasts its delicately painted glass ceiling,

Then this past January, the denizens of the Left Bank were pleased to see that almost a century after its demise, the Bouillion Chartier Montparnasse had been resurrected. Sold in 1924, the restaurant had gone through a couple of different identities since then. However, it had managed to maintain its stunning original décor: delicately painted glass ceiling, mirrors set into the elegant curves of the woodwork and dainty garlands of morning glories climbing up the ceramic- tiled walls. The décor alone would warrant a visit.

Retro Food is New Again

Salade frisée aux lardon.

Confit de canard et pommes grenailles

But the menu is just as authentic as the venue. With a friend who lives nearby, I popped in for mid-afternoon late lunch/early dinner on my most recent stop in Paris. We deliberately timed our visit to avoid the long line that reliably forms in front of the place at conventional meal times (sorry, no reservations. But with seating for almost 200, the line does move fast).

A cheerful young waiter wrapped in the traditional white apron writes down our order in a corner of the paper tablecloth. I start with frisée aux lardons, a salad of crisp curly endive topped with lots of sautéed bacon cubes and croutons (€4 – that’s $4.5 at current exchange rate). My friend chooses the block de foie gras, three generous slices of the famed duck liver paté served with toast points (€7.5 = $8.80). Main course is confit de canard with roasted grenaille potatoes for her (€10.60 = $12) and pied de porc grillé (grilled pig’s trotter) with french fries for me (€10.50 = $11.75) – no apology for my seriously retro choice. My grandfather loved it and I acquired the taste at an early age. Dessert is crème au caramel for her (that’s crème brulée in the U.S. €3.00 = $3.40). The caramelized top is crusted just right. As for my baba au rhum (€4.60 = $5.00), another one of my nostalgic guilty pleasures, the sweet light brioche is sufficiently soaked in rum syrup that it might require proof of age in a U.S. restaurant. A winner in my book.

The Net of It

Baba au rhum

Don’t go to Chartier expecting a haute cuisine extravaganza. But if you yearn for, or are curious about the comfort food once concocted by thrifty French grandmothers at a price that will not ravage your travel budget, this is definitely the place. Add two espressos and a half-liter carafe of Merlot, and our dinner for two in a priceless Belle Epoque setting barely topped fifty-five dollars U.S., including tip, which is by law included in the tab in France. The service was prompt and good humored on the day of our visit, and a quick glance around the room showed the clientele to be evenly distributed between locals and tourists. For Parisians, retro-food is trendy again, and the newly open Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse is once again one of the neighborhood go-to places – and now mine whenever I happen to be in town.

Good to Know

Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse, 59 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75006 Paris is open daily from 11:30 am to midnight. Contact: Tel. +33 (0) 1 45 49 19 00. No reservations.
Both Bouillon Chartier locations are listed historical monuments.

Location, location, location!

Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse

Musée d’Orsay, Paris – Picasso Bleu et Rose

5 December 2018 | Europe, France, Places | 4 comments

One of the perks of a stopover in Paris in autumn is discovering the temporary exhibits that are popping up in museums throughout the city. Predictably, each year one will transcend all others and become the landmark artistic event of the season. For me, this year the honor goes to the Musée d’Orsay for its exciting “Picasso. Blue and Pink.”

From Pablo Ruiz to Picasso

It’s easy to overlook, but before he got around to inventing Cubism (with his friend Georges Braque) Picasso was already Picasso. Barely 19 when he arrived in Paris in October 1900, after being selected to represent his country in the Spanish painting section of the Universal Exhibition, young Pablo Ruiz already had all the makings of a prodigy ready to immerse himself into the vibrant local art scene.

Self-portrait “Yo, Picasso”, 1901, Pablo Picasso (Private collection).

A great admirer of Van Gogh, he immediately embraced his style of painting in broad strokes of pure colors with a self-portrait in the traditional three-quarter pause facing the viewer. With his knotted cravat and unruly hair, he styled himself as a modern romantic figure fashionable at the time. And with great self-assurance, he signed the work “Yo Picasso” (I, Picasso – 1901).

This marked the start of a six-year period of intense creative activity punctuated by travels between Spain and Paris. A time that would later become known as the master’s Blue and Pink Periods. Now the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée National Picasso-Paris, in their first ever large-scale collaboration, are presenting an exceptional event dedicated to this vital early period of his career. The chronological presentation of a vast number of paintings and drawings allows the viewer to better reconsider the work of this towering 20th century artist within the context of his 19th century roots.

Between Spain and Paris

“Woman in Blue,” Pablo Picasso ,1901 (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid).

The eye-opening experience of the 1900 Paris art scene is not young Picasso’s sole source of inspiration. His early works also speak volume of his attachment to both the 17th century Spanish Golden Age and the Catalan Modernism that flourishes in Barcelona at the time. In February 1900, he holds his first exhibition, filling a famous bohemian cabaret (Els Quatre Gats) with hundreds of stunning drawings, a number of which are included in this exhibition. Then, in Madrid for a few months in the winter of 1901, he creates a striking reference to Velasquez with his Woman in Blue.

Back in Paris in the spring of 1901 with a few pastels and paintings produced in Barcelona and Madrid, he catches the eye of Ambrose Vollard, a renowned gallery owner of the Parisian avant-garde, who proposes to organize an exhibit of Picasso’s work in the early summer. A few months of frenzied activity ensue, during which he focuses on subjects typical of Paris life by day and night. He embraces and reinterprets the works of the great of modern artists, especially Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas, to create most of the 64 paintings displayed in the three-week exhibition. The event is a critical success.

Into the Blues

“Mother and Child by the Sea,” Pablo Picasso, 1902 (POLA Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan).

This success, followed in short order by the suicide of his close friend Carles Casagemas, draws the young painter into a period of sorrowful introspection. His palette becomes dominated by blues, and his subjects an expression of his melancholy. In addition to a cycle of paintings directly associated with the death of his friend, he produces a group of poignant works revolving around the figure of Harlequin and the pathos of the world of saltimbanques (circus performers).

By the end of 1901, he visits the Saint Lazare women’s prison in Paris. Here the inmates are mainly prostitutes, some of whom are incarcerated with their young children. These visits inspire a series of painting on the theme of motherhood, and of solemn female figures as the embodiment of loneliness and misfortune. His tragic depictions are reminiscent of the Renaissance paintings of El Greco.

La Vie en Rose

“Acrobat’s Family with a Baboon,” Pablo Picasso, 1905 ) Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Goteburg, Sweden).

By the end of 1904, Picasso is living in an artists’ colony in Montmartre where he befriends poets Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire, and becomes romantically involved with his model, Madeleine. The color range of his palette broadens, making a subtle transition to the Rose Period. In addition of a number of portraits inspired by Madeleine, he focuses with renewed interest on the Saltimbanques theme. Here he follows two main threads: the family and fatherhood of Harlequin, and the circus performers that combine the commedia dell’arte character with the lithe figures of acrobats and jesters.

The Saltimbanques cycle spans the period from late 1904 to the end of 1905. In early 1906, a retrospective of the works of early 19th century Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres inspires Picasso’s “Boy Leading a Horse,” and begins the transition of the Pink Period toward ochre. The trend becomes more pronounced during Picasso’s stay in Gòsol, a remote village high in the spectacular Catalan Pyrénées, through the summer of 1906.

“Two Nude Women,” Pablo Picasso, 1906 (Museun of Modern Arts, New York).

When he returns to Paris in September, his attention is evolving toward a new expressive language: composing images by interlacing basic shapes, and a palette restricted to shades of ochre. The work gradually become more geometric, foretelling the ascent of Cubism.

This comprehensive chronicle of Picasso’s early creative development includes key works from the world’s outstanding museums and private collections to bring together some of the finest and most emotionally compelling examples of modern painting I have ever come across. It is unlikely that such a selection, on view at the Musée d’Orsay until January 6, 2019, will be seen again in a single place in the foreseeable future. But if you miss it here, do not despair. It will then travel to Basel, Switzerland, where it will be on display at the Beyeler Foundation from February 3 to May 26, 2019.

Good to Know

Visiting – The Musée d’Orsay, 1 rue de la Légion d’Honneur, 75007 Paris, France, is open Tuesday through Sundays from 9.30 am to 6:00 pm with night openings until 9:45 pm on Thursday. It is closed on Monday, May 1 and December 25. Contact: tel. +33 (0) 1 40 49 48 14.
Getting there – There is easy public transportation from anywhere in Paris to the museum: métro station Solférino (Line 12) or bus stops a few steps away (Lines 24, 63, 68, 69, 73, 83, 84, 94).
Admission – Picasso, Bleu et Rose is included in the general admission ticket. However, due to the success of this exhibition, the lines can be even longer than usual for this wildly popular museum. To cut down on the waiting time, tickets may be purchased in advance through the museum’s on-line ticket office.