Great Art

The notes I've scribbled to myself over the past few weeks for later addition to my blog are a reminder of how crazy the final frenzied times in Paris were: "Lady Gaga entourage" "blueberry apple champagne" "hammam" "taxidermied antelopes" "beekeepers"... it goes on and on. It's been too long to do the chronological thing, so this will all be a little disjointed.

(I wrote much of this section a few weeks ago)

First, art. "Expos" are a serious deal here. As in, I'm a little ashamed I missed Cranach at the Luxembourg. But I did see Rembrandt's Jesus at the Louvre (this was really great... it showed the archetypal Jesus face as painted or engraved by Rembrandt's predecessors and then the man's own variations, which were largely based on studies he did of the Jews of Amsterdam from life). And then one day before class, not tooo long ago, I picked up the big Manet show called "Manet: l'inventeur du moderne" at the Musee d'Orsay. Everyone was talking about this retrospective, and we all had high hopes. But besides the fact that ninja moves were required to outflank the crowds, there was really no coherent case made for why he was the 'inventor of modernity' and each roomed seemed to be marching to its own beat. Nevertheless, I got to see a whole lot of amazing Manet paintings beyond Lunch on the Grass, all in one place. Another museum I had been excited about all semester and finally saw was the Musee Marmottan. One morning not too long ago Nathaniel and I headed out to the 16th (definitely in the running for prettiest place to live in Paris). Everything in Paris is very leafy right now, a different phase from when everything was blossoming, but this verdant thing gets me every time nevertheless. Marmottan is a beautiful old mansion that houses most notably, a big collection of Berthe Morisot and a ton of important Monets. First and foremost: Impression soleil levant, which started it all for the Impressionists. Morisot is cool because she was a really good painter even though the fact that she was a woman and succeeded by painting traditionally feminine subjects means she was minimized. I also love the Caillebotte painting 'Paris : temps de pluie,' with the 'modern' motif of the umbrella and the blurred out faces. I had seen a show of Caillebotte and his brother (Caillebotte, duh) the photographer at the Musee Jacquemart-Andre when my parents were here, but it had largely been works that are in private collections and thus less famous. Anyway, Marmottan is pretty fabulous. The last big venue I hadn't yet seen I hit today, this time with host mom : the Grand Palais. I went to see the show of Odilon Redon, a Symbolist painter and printmaker who lived from 1840 to 1916 but whom I didn't know much about before. His paintings and prints are dreamscapes, often composed of smiling spiders, spheres, and mysterious eyeballs. I especially liked his color-rich pastels, a medium which lends itself really well to the mystical quality of his work. When I left, I strolled out onto the Champs-Elysees, past Concorde, and home. The home that would be mine for only 3 more days.