Montmartre and Museums

---

One of my favourite districts in Paris is Montmartre. Primarily known for its artistic history, the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur on the summit, and as a nightclub district, including La Chat Noir and the Moulin Rouge. Near the end of the 19th century, many artists had studios or worked in or around Montmartre, including Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent Van Gogh.

Today it is still a bustling, thriving area filled with cafés, galleries, and artists roaming the squares either trying to sell their work or offering to draw your portrait. We started our day early, taking the Metro to near the bottom of Montmartre. You can either climb the MANY steps up towards the Basilica, or take the funicular, which is what we chose today.

We took our time, roaming through the narrow cobble-stoned streets soaking up the atmosphere, and watching our bags for pick-pockets, a hazard in any crowded tourist area in Paris. We made our way to the Musée de Montmartre at 12 rue Cortot. This is a large home and garden turned into a museum, and former home of a variety of artists including Suzanne Valadon and Augusta Renoir (one of my favourites).

It's an interesting museum, the studio space has been accurately recreated from old photos and notes, and has a VERY real feel of the original studio. Various paintings on exhibit have recognizable settings in the garden.

After the museum we wandered back out into Montmartre's main square which was now PACKED with tourists. We watched for people to leave a restaurant and luckily grabbed seats at a small table on the outside edge of a café, La Bohéme du Tertre. There were lots of empty tables inside but NOBODY wants to eat inside anywhere in Paris. We had a wonderfully efficient and friendly waitress named Jennifer and enjoyed the Plat du Jour, chicken and fish brochettes.

After lunch we wandered down the Montmartre hill, through the winding streets, past La Chat Noir and Moulin Rouge, and found our way to the Musée National Gustave Moreau. Gustave Moreau was a major figure in French Symbolist painting, mainly biblical and mythological figures. Every inch of his home and studio are filled with his work and even though he is not one of my favourites, his talent was impressive and the volume of work was incredible.

---