paintings - Frenchless in France

Art

I’m not a huge fan of modern art but I try to have an open mind when I see it and found, at an exhibition at the Maillol Museum here in Paris, that I liked and appreciated a lot of it.

The exhibition there was about what they call Naive art, that done by mostly untrained artists who loved to paint and were full of enthusiasm in doing it. They were mocked in exhibitions but were slowly accepted. Rousseau, discovered by Picasso, is probably the most well known with his jungle scenes even though he never actually saw a jungle.

A mix of artists painted Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. Sort of stiff but I liked them.

This was of Palais Royal in the early 1900’s which I loved seeing. Not a whole lot has changed.

There is a permanent collection at the museum done by Maillol including these sculptures all grouped together. I have seen the one in front in bronze at the Luxembourg Gardens.

Maurice’s grandson was with us, mostly Maurice, at our beach place. His parents were going to Toulouse so we took said grandson to join them there. Neither one of us had ever been there. Toulouse was really lovely full of gorgeous architecture and, even though it was really hot, interesting to walk aound. Many of the buildings are made of brick and Toulouse is called the Pink City because of that.

We stumbled across what is called the Capitole, the town hall of Toulouse. This is the oldest remaining part.

There was this fabulous staircase inside, free to enter with art by local artists on the walls.

A painting with Toulouse in the background.

A lovely painiting between two open doors.

Another one with people walking aling the Garone River in Toulouse. The artist was from Toulouse and was influenced by Monet.

By the way, the famous French artist, Toulouse Lautrec, was the son of the Count of Toulouse, thus the name. His parents were first cousins which probably led to his deformities. He died at the age of 36 from a combination of alcoholism and syphillis contacted from one of the prostitutes that he painted so often.

Verona

We made a a quick trip to nearby Verona by train in an hour and spent the night. I had no expectations when I went and ended up being totally charmed. It’s a lovely city full of interesting architecture, a lot of it Roman. It had once been under the rule of Venice and that influence is also here. It was once called the city of painting and many buildings do have remnants left of painted scenes on the sides. I would call it the city of balconies myself as they were everywhere. I do wonder is Shakespeare traveled here and got his idea.

The Roman Coliseum is right there in the middle of the Old City.

We went inside and climbed to the top. They still put on plays and events here, just no one killing wild animals.

Once a gateway into the city. It’s great that they left it here. Many of the streets were pedestrian only.

A Renaissance stairway. There was also a statue of Dante who was forced to leave Florence due to Catholic church disagreement with his writing but they took him in in Verona.

There were some wonderful churches in Verona full of painted walls and ceilings. This is a tomb of a wealthy person from Verona.

Another gorgeous church.

Worth Another Visit

I met a friend at Gare de Lyon and since we were there we decided to have tea at the gorgeous Train Bleu.

As you can see, they were set up for lunch.

There are paintings high above of locations which trains from Gare de Lyon go. This one was Cassis. I wouldn’t mind being on a train headed there. It really is beautiful.

Our tea. We had the chai tea and it came with milk in it.

A side room for dining.

These were for sale there. Maybe I need some opera glasses trimmed in rhinestones.

Rodin

The Rodin Museum is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the death of the famous artist, Rodin. The museum is in what was once his home and studio and it is lovely. Because of the celebration, the museum entrance was free and there were even fireworks. We got there at 5:30 in the evening as the lights were turned on and there was a very romantic feeling seeing the lighting outside. Inside they had live music.

The front of the museum with Rodin’s signature lit up.

A painting of Rodin in his later years. He wasn’t a popular artist when he began as his art was too real, not very Greek as was popular in those days. He was very influenced by Michaelangelo after a trip to Italy and I think you can see it. He never actually did the actual sculptures that you see. He did the art in clay and then it was sculptured by experts working with him. He also did a lot of bronze works.

The statue of Rodin seen outside in the garden called, The Thinker, probably his most well known work.

The Kiss is very well known too. This was inside.

Some of his paintings looking very Impressionistic to me.

A pretty chandelier through a window from outside.

Even prettier from a distance.

At the back of the garden was this sign where they had the fireworks. We should have stayed to watch but went for drinks instead.

Venice Beach

Venice Beach isn’t too far from Santa Monica so I walked there. Venice Beach is a very popular tourist destination and this was a Saturday afternoon so it was packed. It’s a very intersting place to say the least with lots of weird people, a huge variety of art and people to tell you your future. You can get marjuana there too if you want. I ran out of energy before I could do much exploring but I did get some photos.

There’s a huge beach and many palm trees.

Lots of art on sides of buldings.

This one is famous and seen in lots of movies.

The creator of Venice Beach loved Venice and made these canals to resemble the real thing. I’ve seen these in lots of movies and tv shows as well.