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Les Arts Décoratifs
The group of French national museums dedicated to décor, furniture, textiles and fashion
MAD: the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
https://madparis.fr/en/museums/musee-des-arts-decoratifs/
https://francetravelplanner.com/go/paris/museums/camondo.html
Musée Nissim de Camondo
des expositions 2019
Louvre
Leonardo da Vinci
Pompideou
Bacon
Grand Palias
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
El Greco
Fondation Louis Vuitton
Charlotte Perriand
D’Orsay
Degas at the Opera
Yan Pei-Ming
Petit Palias
Vincenzo Gemito
Yan Pei-Ming / Courbet
Luca Giordano
l’Orangerie
Les Tuileries
Les Tuileries: The Phantom Palace of Paris
https://www.thedailybeast.com/les-tuileries-the-phantom-palace-of-paris?source=twitter&via=desktop
Part of visiting a historic venue is what-was-there, but is there-no-longer
Did you know:
The newly invented guillotine was set up in the Place du Carrousel between the Tuileries and the Louvre (before it was moved to what’s now Place de la Concorde
Tuileries Palace
da Vinci Commemoration
Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of Leonardo’s Death
Musée du Louvre: Leonardo da Vinci Retrospektive
October 24, 2019 – until February 24, 2020
As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death
(Leonardo da Vinci)
1519 – 2019 : Commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci
ILAB (The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers)
We were reluctant to participate in Le Louvre’s special exhibition. It seemed like the major works are always on display in the museum. Often visitors walk-by them, indistinguishable from all the other masterpieces. And this has all the elements of a major crowd-scene, complicated by trends of overtourism.
But then we learned of supplementary pieces on loan from Italy
The Vitruvian Man
And then we took a look at buying tickets
On the first day, the website was frozen
A few days later we could see blocks of tickets already unavailable, months in advance.
We could almost see time-slots closing real time.
So we bought tickets
And if we didn’t have a history of reselling tickets, it seems like a good opportunity to purchase some extra tickets for resale (but we know better and are unfamiliar about French ticket scalping statutes)
In retrospect, we were surprisingly unimpressed by the exposition (which is clearly more of an indictment on us)
It was lots of stuff that was unimpressive
Our favorite was The Last Supper, which was only a reproduction
The original has not fared well, painted on an unsuitable wall and subject to environmental factors
Is is said that “In 1499, Louis XII contemplated removing the painting from the wall and taking it to France” (wikipedia)
Can you imagine the improved state of this painting if it spent 500 years in the Lourve instead?
Bastille
Place de la Bastille
Former site of the Bastille Prison, the ancient fortress formerly known as Bastille Sainte Antoine
The square straddles 3 arrondissements of Paris, namely the 4th, 11th and 12th
Monument:
July Column (Colonne de Juillet) commemorates the events of the July Revolution (1830)
Topped by the Spirit of Freedom (“The Angel of Bastille”)
The modern Opéra Bastille (part of President François Mitterrand’s Grands Travaux) is situated on the former site of the Gare de la Bastille (Train Station) the last terminus in Paris operated entirely by steam locomotives
Also near the Bastille Subway Station and part of Canal Saint Martin
Book: Murder in the Bastille (Cara Block)
Pigalle
Area around Place Pigalle on border of 9th and 14th Arrondisement
South of Place Pigalle
‘SoPi’ (for South Pigalle)
Named after the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714–1785)
Mecurty and Voltaire (Pigalle Louvre)
Book: Murder in Pigalle (Cara Black)
Chinatown (Paris)
Quartier Chinois (Chinese Districts)
Investigating the Cara Black’s book Murder at the Lanterne Rouge (Red Lantern), we searched for the setting in neighborhood or arrondisement
According to a Cara Black interview:
the story takes place in the northern edge of the Marais, in the smallest and oldest of the four Chinatowns in Paris
Come on, Jacques–It’s Chinatown: David Corbett Interviews Cara Black
What are the Four “Chinatowns” in Paris?
Exerpts from a Tripadvisor Thread:
Marais
-the Beaubourg area near the Georges-Pompidou Art Museum
-in the 3rd but it is much smaller and there is less to see.
-this tiny street called rue au Maire
13th Arrondisement Quartier Asiatique
The main Parisian Chinatown is in the 13th arrondissement
-the 13th district, near ivry sur seine
-along Avenue de Choisy at its intersection with Rue de Tolbiac, just a block to the east of the Tolbiac Metro station
-The best known is in the 13th
Belleville
The first Parisian Chinatown is located in the 20th arrondissement
-the area around Belleville and Couronnes metro stations (Line 2, borders of 11th, 19th & 20th arrondissements) – especially on a Sunday
Hidden Paris (Jack’s Inimitable Travel Guide)
Belleville (Paris)
Between 19th and 20th Arrondisements
(also including portions of 10th and 11th)
Films shot in Belleville (Wikipedia)
Monsieur Ibrahim (Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran), 2003,
directed by François Dupeyron
The Bourne Identity, 2002, ‘Hotel de la Paix’ scene, directed by Doug Liman
Madame Rosa (La Vie Devant Soi), 1975, directed by Moshé Mizrahi
The Red Balloon (Le Ballon Rouge), 1956, directed by Albert Lamorisse
Rue des Cascades (a.k.a Un Gosse de la Butte), 1964, directed by Maurice Delbez
Nadja à Paris (Nadja in Paris), 1964, directed by Eric Rohmer
Golden Helmet (Casque d’or), 1951, directed by Jacques Becker
Polisse, 2011, directed by Maïwenn
The Triplets of Belleville is an 2003 animated French Comedy Film which contended for an Academy Award for best animated feature (Belleville is said to be an amalgam of New York, Montreal and Quebec)
Book: Murder in Belleville (Cara Black)
Places (Squares) de Paris
Places in Paris are seldom square
They are usually a circular confluence of streets (rues)
Often centered (and defined) by a monument
Place de Clichy
Junction of 8th, 9th, 17th, and 18th Arrondisements
Monument: Moncey, prominent soldier in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars
(one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 33)
Book: Murder in Clichy (Cara Black)
Paris for the Holidays 