Paris...an Artistic Cornucopia

One of the great things about living in Paris is that there's a never-ending stream of great art galleries, ateliers and exhibitions to visit....it's really an artistic cornucopia for an art enthusiast.

For example, if modern art takes your fancy...head to the Pompidou Centre.  The Louvre is a veritable cornucopia of all the greats...yes, little Mona is there as well as Rembrandt, Ingres, Vemeer, Delacroix etc etc.   There's also the Grand Palais, home to the trés grand Monumenta exhibition....and the Petit Palais....Paris' fine arts musée. You can also see superb exhibitions hosted in many of the smaller musées of Paris like the Canaletto-Guardi exhibition currently showing in the beautiful 19th Parisian mansion, Musée Jacquemarte-André.  There's world-class photography at the Jeau de Paume and Maison Européenne de la Photographie..... it just goes on and on and what I've mentioned above is just the tip of the ice-berg really....here's a sample...hope you like it.

1.  Pompidou Centre...saw the fabulous Gerard Richter's work here.  I'd never seen his paintings in Australia....in fact, I'd never heard of this artist before coming to Paris.   He's obviously an extraordinary talent...I loved his large squeegeed and splattered abstracts and his 'blurred' and out of focus paintings.

2.  Le Louvre....glorious both inside and out....Pierre and I enjoy visiting the Louvre on a Wednesday evening....it's open until 9pm and the crowds are a little less on Wednesday evenings....I just steer clear of Mona with her magnetic attraction.  There are lots of other lovelies there!

3.  Grand Palais....Daniel Burren created an incredible 'reflective' forest of blue, yellow, orange and green disks supported by white and black columns for this year's Monumenta Exhibition.The installation was beautiful....with sunlight and clouds (visible from the main dome overhead) creating reflections and shadows on the floor below.  Parfait for this grand and impressive space.

4.  Musée Jacquemartre-André....the fantastic Canaletto...the master of Venetian canals and reflections.  Once you'vre seen his extraordinary paintings do you really need to go to Venice?Unfortunately, the musée didn't allow me to take photographs inside...but here's some snaps of the outside....it's an exquisite 19th century Parisan mansion filled with incredibly beautiful loot...and there's a lovely tea-room too.

5.  Maison Européenne de la Photographie....did you know that Charlotte Rampling is also an accomplished photographer as well as fine actress.  I loved this exhibition which gave a glimspe into her life and family....her photographs were tender and loving...very special.

6.  Street Art.....there's a lot of this in Paris....and yes there's the good, the bad and the ugly.  But this is good I think...have a look.

Ssshhhhh-don't tell anyone...but the guys are hard at it below.

We're in Brussels at the moment....the art here isn't bad either.....but more on that when I return to Paris.  Must dash...off to Bruges this arvo!!

A bientot.

You may also like my post on:
http://parisallons-y.blogspot.be/2012/01/paris-on-grand-scale.html