Tuesday April 12 was another gorgeous day. Sunny and a high of 22C. This is our last full day in Paris, as we head back to Toronto Wednesday afternoon.
We started with a coffee at Strada Café on Rue Monge about a 20 minute walk from the apartment. We had a loyalty card from a few years ago with enough stamps to get a free coffee.
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| Late morning macchiatos |
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| Still enjoying the cherry blossoms |
We had a brisk walk to the Musée d'Orsay- about 50 minutes.
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Wonderful Jean Dubuffet piece Le Reseda in the courtyard of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations
next to the Musée d'Orsay |
Even though we had purchased tickets on-line, we still had to wait in line for about 20 minutes before entering the Museum. The Musée was originally a railway station inaugurated in 1900 for the World Fair. Over time, the station was abandoned. In 1977, the French government decided to transform the building into a museum. In 1986, Musée d'Orsay was inaugurated. It focuses on the evolution of the western world art from 1848 to 1914.
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| Waiting with us in the courtyard |
The main exhibit we wanted to see was Guadí that was just opening. We thought this would be a fitting last museum of the trip to visit as we started with Gaudí in Palma and Barcelona and would now end with a Gaudí exhibit in Paris.
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| Poster for the exhibit |
Antoni Gaudí was born on June 25, 1892 in Reus (province of Tarragona). He came to Barcelona at 17 to study at the Barcelona School of Architecture and spent most of his life in Barcelona. He died on June 10, 1926 after being run over by a tram.
The first room contained a number of his intricate furniture units.
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This reminds us of the design of the interior of Bar Raval in Toronto
(they took their inspiration from his work) |
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| Gaudí and Josep Maria Julol (1879-1949), from the vestibule of an apartment in the Casa Milà, 1906-1910 |
Gaudí had a number of studios in Barcelona, but eventually worked mostly at the studio at the Sagrada Família. There was a studio for casts and models in the crypt of the basilica.
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| From the crypt at la Sagrada Família, 1898-1900 |
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| Gaudí liked to use scale models- Moulage original pour une sculpture de femme, 1898-1900 |
There was a room with a number of his drawings from his student days.
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| Final-year project for a university lecture hall, transversal cross-section, October 22, 1877 |
In the space of less than 40 years, Barcelona experienced extraordinary urban and architectural expansion from the mid- 1850s. Numerous buildings were constructed on broad open avenues. The most famous of the new streets was the Passeig de Gràcia (where we walked every day in Barcelona). The bourgeois industrialists and aristocrats who were creating the new city came up against opposition from the less wealthy, anarchist or anti-clerical segments of the population. There was also La Renaixença, a political and cultural movement which favoured the renaissance of the Catalan language and traditions. Barcelona was the subject of bomb attacks and riots in the summer of 1909, which left Gaudí body shaken. He abandoned all commissions and devoted himself to the Sagrada Família project.
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| Ramon Casas (1866-1932), Corpus Christi Procession in front of the Santa Maria del Mar Church- the scene depicts the moment just before an Orsini bomb was thrown, causing numerous casualties. |
The annual Salon of the Société national des Beaux-Arts took place at the Grand-Palais in Paris in 1910. A whole room was devoted to Gaudí. The presentation consisted of a number of photographs, a few drawings, and scale models including the monumental model of the Sagrada Família. Art critics expressed widespread puzzlement mingled with occasional admiration. Large-format photographs were produced for the event, including views of Park Güell. Despite this, the exhibition was viewed as a failure by Gaudí, who came to the conclusion in the light of these criticisms that the French were"philistines".
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| Parc Güell 1902-08 |
The exhibit dealt with the collaboration between Gaudí and Eusebi Güell I Bacigalupi (1846-1918), a textile manufacturer and lover of literature and music. After seeing an ornamental display case designed by Gaudi at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1878, he met Gaudi and they remained firm friends. They shared two fundamental passions: Catalonia as a Mediterranean homeland and their religious faith. In 1881, Güell entrusted Gaudí with developing the area around the farm properties he had inherited in the vicinity of Barcelona. The
Finca Güell, with its dragon on the wrought iron entrance gate for visitors soon became famous.
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| The wrought iron dragon at the entrance |
Gaudí also worked with Güell on the Güell Palace built in the heart of the medieval quarter of Barcelona. It looked like an Italian renaissance building. Gaudí implemented what would become his hallmark: he divided up spaces with columns forming galleries in alignment to the windows. He also created decor and furniture in the burgeoning Arts and Crafts style.
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| Armchair in the central salon. Unique style referencing 18th century rococo conventions, 1886 |
Park Güell was a project by Güell who was a city councillor and then a member of Parliament. He was keen to create "collective" developments. He embarked on a project to transform an arid natural park on the outskirts of the city into a garden town. Only two of the 60 plots planned were bought. Despite its commercial failure, the park was still an ambitious project. The mountain symbolised Catalonia to Güell. The slanted pillars, parabolic arches and rough-hewn stone represent a synthesis of Gaudí's thinking. We visited Park Güell in 2015.
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| Elements from the park-- using trencadís, a traditional technique of using broken ceramic to create a wallcovering was reinterpreted by Gaudí. There is an incredible undulating bench in the park that is made up of colourful broken ceramics. |
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| Fernández de Villasante Julioi Moisés (1888-1968), Portrait d'Eusebi Güell, 1913 (in the background is the Doric colonnade at Park Güell) |
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| From the facade of the Casa Vicens, 1883-1888 |
There were a number of pieces of furniture from Casa Batlló. Joseph Batlló had approached Gaudí in 1904 to redeveloped an 1877 block on Passeig de Gràcia. Gaudí decided not to demolish the old building but to radically transform its aesthetic. The furniture echoes the curves of the building.
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| For the Casa Batlló ver 1904-1906 |
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| From Casa Milà- which we visited this year to see the Morandi exhibit |
In 1903, Gaudí arrived in Mallorca at the request of Bishop Campins to restore the choir and let light in. He worked on the project with two other architects until it was halted in 1914.
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| Photo from the Palma cathedral |
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| Drawing |
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| Project pour l'église de la Colonia Güell vers 1908-09- an unfinished masterpiece that heralds the forms of the Sagrada Família. |
The project for a church dedicated to the Holy Family was launched by the Association of Devotees of St. Joseph, under the aegis of Josep Maria Bacabella, a publisher and socially conscious Catholic. In 1881, he acquired a plot of land. In 1883, the chief architect role was entrusted to Gaudí. He would be able to fulfil his wish to crate a large religious structure. He devoted himself exclusively to this project from 1910 and lived onsite permanently from 1918. He was aware that the work would not be completed in his lifetime and therefore decided to construct an entire façade.
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| From a video in the exhibit |
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| Joaquim Mir (1873-1940), La Catedral dels pobres (The Cathedral of the Poor),vers 1898 |
We visited La Sagrada Família in 2015. It is still unfinished.
The next exhibit we went to visit was part of the Yves Saint Laurent Aux Musées series.
The first part contained a number of dresses designed by Yves Saint Laurent for a ball held on December 2, 1971 by Baron and Baroness Guy de Rothschild at the Château de Ferrières to celebrate the centenary of Marcel Proust's birth. Inspired by clothing worn during the Belle Époque era, and evocative of the atmosphere found in
Remembrance of Things Past, he designed several dresses including those for the Baroness. Nan Kempner wore a dress from YSL's Fall-Winter 1971 collection with a stand-up, ruffed collar, which is displayed with the tuxedo-inspired
smokings.
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| In front of the Musée d'orsay clock |
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| Alain |
There was also a room with drawings by YSL as well as photos of his many muses.
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| Paul Nadar, Portrait de Sarah Bernhardt, v. 1900 |
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| Liane de Pougy à la ville, 1904 |
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| Félix Nadar (1820-1910) Sarah Bernhardt, 1859 |
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| Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), Marisa Berenson, 1971- Beaton was commissioned to take photographs of the guests at the Proust Ball in the manner of Nadar. |
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| Sketches of evening gowns for the Bal Proust, 1971 |
There were also sketches for a ball hosted by Baron Alexis de Rédé at the hôtel Lambert on June 23, 1957. The Bal de Têtes (Ball of Heads) references a passage in the last book of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
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| Sketches of head-dresses and decors for the Masked Ball, 1957 |
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| More sketches 1957 |
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| View from the Musée |
The final small exhibit we saw was entitled: Les Années Heureuses, and featured a series of photographs taken by Émile Zola (1840-1902) of his daughter Denise.
Zola was introduced to photography in 1888, just as he fell in love with Jeanne Roberto, a linen maid working for his wife Alexandrine. He took pictures from 1894, when he had almost completed his major literary project, a cycle of novels. Zola took approximately 10,000 photographs depicting places where he lived including London where he spent a year in exile in 1898 when he was found guilty of defamation after his open letter J'accuse (defending Alfred Dreyfus).
The most extraordinary and moving photos were the portraits he took of his family. He led a double life between two households and two women. Jeanne had two children with him- Denise born in 1889 and Jacques born in 1891. In 1931, Denise published a biography entitled Émile Zola par sa fille.
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| Exhibit poster for "The Happy Years" |
Between his return to France in 1899 from his exile in London and his death in 1902, Zola took over 100 photos of Denise from age 9-13. There were also a few in the exhibit of his son Jacques.
We walked back to Palais Royal and sat for a while in front of the fountain with the little green men.
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| Alain sitting on the famous interlocking chairs in front of the green men |
After a rest, we started walking back to the Marais. We passed Rue Montorgueil, another market street where we had often gone to shop in 2011. Lots of new food stores, but many of the old favourites were still there. Lots of people out in the street.
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| Rue Montorgueil |
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| The famous Stohrer bakery founded in 1730 |
We had dinner reservations for 7:30 p.m. at Tavline, an Israeli restaurant in the Marais where we have eaten before.
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| Outside Tavline (photo taken on Sunday) |
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We shared a portion from four different appetizers (sweet potato, humous,
roasted cauliflower, and beet salad) |
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| Moi with appetizers |
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| Alain had a seabass special |
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| I had shakshuka |
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| Last dinner of the trip |
We headed back to the apartment to pack. We have a 2:15 p.m. flight to Toronto on Wednesday April 13.
We have had a wonderful trip. It turned out to be an architectural and food journey from Palma to Paris. I am finishing this post in the morning before we leave. Thanks to all who have joined out adventure. Stay tuned for many more.
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