French Art & History Lessons

The past couple of days have been filled with some great French art and history for us. We feel so enriched!

On Wednesday, we went to the Orangerie Museum, which has a collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings of painters who lives in Paris during the early twentieth century. The most famous collection that this museum has are Claude Monet's Water Lilies.

Monet's eight Water Lilies took up two rooms of the museum, with each painting no smaller than 6 feet. So, you could imagine that these paintings were impressively huge! A couple more interesting things we learned about these paintings is that Monet painted these when he was essentially blind, and over a 12 year period. Additionally, all of the paintings display different parts of the pond at his home in Giverny from different angles at different times of the day. 

Morning

Green Reflections

Clouds

Sunset

Willows on a Clear Morning

The Two Willows (pt. 1)

The Two Willows (pt. 2)

Reflections of Trees

The rest of the Orangerie holds a collection of paintings from artists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marie Laurencin, Amedeo Modigliani, André Derain, Maurice Utrillo, and Chaim Soutine. Before visiting the museum, I never knew who Laurencin, Modigliani, Derain, Utrillo, and Soutine were, so it was really cool to learn about who they were (mostly crazy drunks) and the kind of art styles they possessed. Of these artists, I really enjoyed Laurencin's work, while Adam seemed to really enjoy Soutine's world.

Flowers in a Vase by Renoir

Le Chemin de Montbuisson à Louveciennes by Sisley

Grande Nature Morte by Picasso

Odalisque à la Culotte Rouge by Matisse

Portrait de Mademoiselle Coco by Laurencin

House Bernot by Utrillo

Landscape with Character by Soutine

Yesterday, we did a self-guided walk of the Marais neighborhood, which proved to be a very beautiful part of Paris! We started off at Place de la Bastille, which is where the heart of the French Revolution took place. Ever since the revolution, the Bastille has always been a symbol for "freedom" in France. Today, a monument stands at the center of the Bastille, which commemorates the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. 

Nowadays, the Bastille and its symbolism is remembered every July 14th, which is known as Bastille Day (France's "Independence" day).

Monument and the Bastille Opera House in the background

From here, we walked down Rue St. Antoine, which used to be one of Paris' grandest boulevards that connected the city from east to west. Today, it holds handfuls of shops and cafes. And just off this street is the apartment where Jim Morrison died. And of course, we had to take a little detour to see it!

#17 on Rue Beautreillis, where Jim Morrison died

After the mini-detour, we continued our walk to the Hôtel de Sully. Back around the 1500s/1600s, the French aristocracy built private mansions (aka hôtels) within the city. The hôtels that survived the Revolution are now museums, libraries, and other national institutions, so being able to walk though one was really cool. Not only that, but it doesn't even feel like you're in Paris any more, where the hustle and bustle of the city fades away as you pass through the courtyard.

After walking through Hôtel de Sully, we were taken to Place des Vosges, which is one of Paris' more popular squares. After visiting this part of the city, I can see why it's so popular! The park is absolutely beautiful, and it feels so tranquil. It's also surrounded by dozens of art galleries and a few cafes. I really enjoyed this part of our walk, and I hope we'll be able to go back to the park to just hang out and enjoy the time.

Within Place des Vosges is Victor Hugo's apartment, where he lived from 1832 to 1848. The museum was free, so why not?! We decided to check out where this famous writer used to live. And after visiting, I now want to re-watch Les Miserables.

Our walk then continued down Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, which is chock-full of beautiful boutiques and comfy cafes. We kept walking until we got to the Jewish Quarter (mostly on Rue des Rosiers), where we stopped for a tasty (and extremely filling) Jewish lunch at Chez Marianne. 

After lunch, we continued our walk, learning more about "Gay Paree", the Pompidou Center, and ending our tour with a little read on Hôtel de Ville, which is Paris' city hall. 

Homage to Stravinsky fountains near Pompidou Center

Walking through the Marais neighborhood was a lot of fun, and I'm glad we saw what this area was all about. We're even going back today to visit the Carnavalet Museum! I'm really excited to visit this museum, especially because I know we'll be able to explore this area some more.