Letter from Paris 4 May

It was a lazy morning for the two of us — coffee and a light breakfast before heading out for the day. Our first objective was the Musée Marmottan Monet on the far western side of Paris in the 16th arr.

We had been to the Marmottan once before in 2016 to see their permanent Berthe Morisot collection and at that time they had a wonderful featured exhibition of the work of Marie Laurencin. 

Morisot collection on the 2nd floor

detail of Eugène Manet and his daughter Julie in the Garden, 1883

This time, the featured exhibition was the figure work of Jean-Baptiste Corot. We had seen quite a few examples of Corot’s works in museums in the US: Chicago the Clark, the Met in New York and the MFA in Boston to name just four. He was widely known in his own time as a premier landscape artist but this exhibition focused on his rarely seen portrait work. He never exhibited these pieces at the Salons in Paris and never sold them. They were, in a word, stunning.

The man had a genuine feel for the human condition.

The Blonde Gasconne Girl 1850

And of course the museum's Monet collection is nothing less than remarkable.

Promenade near Argenteuil, 1875

Leaving the museum we made our way back to the Metro stop La Muette and had lunch at the nearby Tabac a la Muette. After lunch we decided to walk to our next destination, it was such a gorgeous day. So, we strolled over to the Trocadero, saw the Eiffel Tower and from there took a bus to the Parc Monceau where we hung out finding space on one of the few open benches to sit and take in the sun.

We then took the Metro home where we relaxed for an hour or so before heading over to the Louvre. On friday the museum is open late and we wanted to take the opportunity to skip the crowds — so we thought. It was easy to get in and buying tickets (no preplanning) was a breeze. Still, there were several hundred thousand people usually standing near where we were at any given time.

We made our way to the Delacroix exhibition which was nothing short of mesmerizing. Seeing his major works in such large scale for the time was awesome indeed.

Liberty leading the people 1830

We quickly made our way to the 19th century French room to see the Raft of the Medusa (1818-19) by Thédore Géricault. Along the way we also took in numerous works by some of France’s greatest artists, although in my mind few equalled Géricault. There I’ve said it.

Naturally, before we left we had to surf over to the Italian painting room and see the Mona Lisa although I rather enjoyed watching the people watching the Mona Lisa.

After leaving the Louvre we took the no. 7 Metro to Poissoniére and back to "Madame Messieurs" on rue de Meubeuge for dinner: burgers using knife and fork only thank you. It was then back on the Metro and home.