A day in Paris...
A wonderful, wonderful day in Paris. We (me, Tasia and rosiespark) went to the Musee D'Orsay. Regardless of the art inside that building, the building itself is worth going to France to see: a huge old railway station transformed into an art gallery, surmounted by the most resplendent clock ever seen.
Now, whenever people talk about the Musee d'Orsay, they talk about Impressionists. Confession: I'm not too fond of the Impressionists. I heard a lot in my youth about how they did magnificent things with light, and how they were a breath of fresh air after the boring and stodgy art of the 19th century, but you know what? I prefer the 'boring and stodgy' romanticism, neo-classicism, and pre-Raphaelistes that were being produced at that time.
So I wasn't there for the Impressionists. Nor for the Gaughin, which was (almost) the first thing we saw. I've always been skeptical about Gaughin - wanted to like his art, never really did. Looked at a whole bunch of it together here, thought, "Eyeu, I hate this!" and decided I was allergic to Gaughin.
Not Van Gogh, who was the good friend of the Doctor and Amy and thereore worthy of admiration and love. I particularly liked the Church at Auvers (with or without the alien monster in the window) and the sequence about the doctor's garden and his daughter. Okay, I still don't really get Van Gogh in terms of thinking he's the best artist ever - give me Moebius, give me Caravaggio, give me Burne-Jones and Fra Filippo Lippi - but he had spirit. I love the painting of the couple asleep on a haystack.
I desperately wanted Bill Nighy to be there in a bow tie telling me how wonderful Van Gogh is.
We wandered, and found some magnificent stuff that I may find time to talk about later, and then... we found two works by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. I hadn't done my homework; didn't know they were there. The first was La roue de la fortune, (The Wheel of Fortune), and the second was a magnificent tapestry made for a banker, done through the William Morris Co., Adoration of the Magi.
I was in art heaven.
We then meant to have lunch elsewhere, but we saw the splendour of the restaurant at the Musee Orsay and decided to have their plat du jour, mostly because it included a dessert of Ile flottant such as Captain Jack Aubrey once had. Must find recipe.
Then we walked to the Rodin Museum, and browsed, and wandered the lovely gardens.
Then I went and visited
baronjanus and
ceruleancat and had a wonderful time. We wandered around the Chateau de Vincennes, and they were as delightful as I always imagined they would be.
Photos of the day:
1. After having breakfast and saying good-bye to Jo, we crossed the bridge to visit rosiespark. On the bridge, a piano, alone in the dawn light.
2. The restaurant at the Musee d'Orsay, where we had lunch. It is not permitted to take photos in the Musee d'Orsay, but the restaurant is fair game. Not a humble or simple place. I'm not sure I've ever had lunch in such Baroque splendour - or whether I've ever had such delicious salmon.
3. Outside the Musee d'Orsay: Three Amazons and a Moose.
4. The Rodin Museum, seen from the Ugolino Pond.
5. A Rodin statue.
6. Rodin's roses, over by the Gates of Hell. This is October. October!
7. A Rodin head.
8. The Kiss. No wonder I love Rodin. He's so sensual.
9. The Patis Metro, line 1 to the Chateau de Vincennes.
10. The Chateau de Vincennes: A Wedding and the X-Men.
