Advertisement
Published: November 6th 2009
Edit Blog Post
When I worked at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, I had a lovely daily commute.
I walked across the street to the boulangerie on Boulevard de Port Royal, swallowed some sort of sinfully calorific pastry, and ducked into the metro. After sticking my ticket in the turnstile while attempting not to touch anything with my bare hands, I would elbow my way past the other commuters to the edge of the platform. Once the train arrived, it was always like a game of musical chairs - without the music, and without the good-natured laughter when you lose and instead some greasy-haired 19-year-old kid gallantly takes the last remaining seat.
So I would stand somewhere near the door, or clutching the disease-and-other-bodily-fluid-coated handrail, and attempt to read a book, as the sour-looking Parisian workers shoved their way in and out of the car at different stops.* At last I would emerge, to the splendid sight of Place de la Concorde, with its majestic-looking buildings and Egyptian obelisk, and a skyline that included the golden dome of les Invalides and the Eiffel Tower.
On the eastern side of Place de la Concorde are the Tuilderies gardens. They're really not much
these days, other than a rather pleasant connecting walk between the Champs-Elysees and the Louvre. Tucked away in the southwestern corner, however, is a little gem of a museum called the Musee de l'Orangerie. When I lived here from 2002-2005, it was closed for renovation. so my visit on Wednesday was a first for me.
The great attraction at the Orangerie is a series of two rooms called the Nympheas. They are long ovals, whose walls were decorated with massive scenes of the water lily gardens, done by none other than Monet.
I arrived just as the museum opened, and had them all to myself. Having visited Monet's gardens at Giverny, and some of his other paintings at the Musee d'Orsay across the river, I was familiar with the scenes, if not quite on such a large scale. I won't wax too poetic here, because you either love impressionism - which would make my descriptions pale and hackneyed - or else you loathe it and don't want to hear any more fuss about it. I will just say that they are surprisingly simple, the colors are unique, and it is interesting to contemplate the love affair between this
artist and his water plants. Who else could dedicate so many square feet and so many hours of labor to something as simple as a pond?
What I enjoyed most of all, however, was the small select collection of other impressionist works in the "basement" of the museum. It's intimate enough that you don't feel rushed or overwhelmed (as you do at the Louvre or Orsay museums), and there is time to appreciate the different styles espoused by painters like Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, and Gaugin.
It's also a good opportunity to explore painters you might not have heard of (unless you're an art student, which I most assuredly am not). Andre Derain had a lovely soft nude that looked soulfully out of her frame; Soutine painted otherworldly villages and faces that blur and contort as though he used some sort of digital age photo-editing software; and Utrillo dedicated his canvas to scenes of daily life.
But hands down my favorites were those of Matisse, whose use of color is absolutely brilliant, and his backgrounds are every bit as beautiful as the subjects of his paintings (see photo - this one will be gracing my living room soon,
since I bought a print).
I wandered back out into the street after an hour or so, and wondered what these painters would have made of the traffic jam in Place de la Concorde, and the scaffolding that enfolds the Obelisk. I'm sure they could have made that beautiful, too.
*If you're wondering why Parisians always seem to be in a bad mood, think about this: the average cost and size of an apartment in Paris is equivalent to the rat-ridden shoeboxes of Manhatten. Salaries are low, since they are legally not supposed to work more than about 35 hours a week, and they are constantly surrounded by happy tourists who are enjoying their dream vacation. That would be enough for me.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.271s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 46; dbt: 0.1609s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
leokasari12
Mike Compton
Hello Rebbeca, Lovely pictures you have posted. The Orangerie was a delight that I was almost disappointed in. After paying the 12 euro entry fee and gazing on the water lillies for about 15 minutes I thought well that was nice but really a rip off for a one trick pony. As I was heading toward the exit I saw the small sign that lead to the basement and seeking a restroom went down stairs. A lucky event spured by a full bladder. The collection was throughly enjoyable and I almost missed it.