Friday in Paris was overcast and a bit cool and by all indications promised rain (it drizzled a bit briefly in fact). After spending the morning catching up on household chores Susan and I decided to go see “set our minds free” and actually go see our very first art exhibition since arriving in Paris. We decided to see the exhibit “Le Derniere Séance”, or “the last session,” a reference to Marilyn Monroe’s final photo session shortly before her death in 1962. (photo: Marilyn in the Metro.)
The exhibition is located at the Musee Maillol (Rue de Genelle in the 7th arrondissement) and was an easy Metro ride. We left the apartment and headed for the metro at Rue Censier. We took the no. 7 to Jussieu, changed to the no. 10 and changed again at Sevres-Babylone for the no. 12, and got off at Rue du Bac, just around the corner and a block up from rue de Grenelle and the museum.
The marketing campaign for this exhibition has been enormously widespread: provocative posters of a nude Marilyn holding two paper flowers over her breasts with a still-fresh gall bladder operation scar are plastered in many of the metro stations.
It being an early Friday afternoon we thought we might still beat the crowds and so we did. Indeed there was virtually no line when we arrived and a few minutes later we were inside. I checked my backpack and with our museum map in hand we found our way to the photos.
The “Marilyn” exhibition consists of some 59 images from the more than 2,000 Stern shot for Vogue over a couple of days, and most are of Marilyn in various stages of undress although one of the most poignant I thought was her seated and dressed in a large black ball gown and in profile. Very touching.
The website for the museum defines the exhibit as capturing her ‘fragility” and indeed it would seem so. Of course knowing that she would be dead soon afterwards adds to the aura of melancholy surround the photos themselves. A few images show her happy but in an almost dreamlike state. In a number of others she is drinking wine (it appears), a number of bottles are scattered around her and it is clear that in several of the photos she is quite drunk, which doesn’t bode well for her future either.
If you move through the exhibition in a counter-clockwise fashion (from right to left) you end up with a photo of Marilyn either asleep or passed out – pretty much the same thing I suppose. Is this a precursor of what will be “The big sleep” in just a matter of six weeks or showing someone who sorely needed the comfort and security of a good’ night’s rest to bounce back at the world?
You decide.
We strolled around the museum and amidst the Matisses and Picassos and Maillol’s work – his rather bulky nudes look best out of doors I think) we were most impressed by the soft and very pleasing work of Rene Rimbert, a relative unknown.
Musee Maillol (59-61 Rue de Grenelle, 75007, Paris, is named in honor of the sculptor Aristide Maillol, whose work is showcased most famously throughout the Tuileries Gardens. You can find out more online. The website is in French and English: http://www.museemaillol.com/index2.html)
After we left the museum we jumped back on the Metro and headed to W. H. Smith bookstore near the Place de la Concorde for some browsing; in particular we needed a good road atlas for our upcoming driving trips to Normandy and then to Germany.
From the bookstore we headed east toward the BHV department store for some household items (it’s always something) and as Susan was looking for a robe I got lost in the lingerie department.
Now normally I would have tried to find my way out as soon as possible. But being a “guy” Dave Barry-style, whose approach to buying underwear is find the goofiest pair of boxer shorts in the store, grab them off the rack and go find a cashier, and this being Paris, the home of Unnaturally Terrific Looking Women’s Underwear, of course I stood forzen in the aisle dumbstruck at the tens of thousands of bras and seemingly endless racks of other assorted "intimate" items not one of which was like the other. This is a phenomenon that warrants serious investigation. I suspect a PhD dissertation is already in progress somewhere as we speak.
And speaking of Normandy later that evening (Friday) after dinner we started watching Band of Brothers again to get us in the right frame of mind for our drive to the D-Day beaches next weekend. We first saw the series a year or so ago on DVD and it soon came back to us how powerful a story this is. It’s a wonderful addition to our tiny collection of video entertainment.
Wish you were here,
Steve
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