Paris - Artistic Impressions at Musee d'Orsay

Sculptures displayed at Musee d'Orsay

The Louvre is an intimidating place to visit as it's so large and filled with masterpieces that it's an overwhelming experience.

A more approachable art museum that focuses more on the Impressionists is Musee d'Orsay, in a former train station still retains its original ceiling mouldings, but also a contemporary look.

Monet's Poppies or The Promenade

We got timed tickets the night before and thankfully we did because the next morning when we arrived at 9.30am when it opened, there was a massive queue for those who didn't have tickets or timed tickets.

When I showed them our tickets, we were ushered into another entrance where we went through security and then were in.

The museum has expanded its gallery space to the fifth floor, the top floor where its Impressionist collection is. There's also a balcony area where we could go outside and across the Seine see the Louvre and the giant balloon (minus the fiery cauldron) parked in the Tuileries Gardens.

It's interesting to see the museum's collection of Impressionist works arranged by collectors who bequeathed their paintings to the French state.

The Starry Night by Van Gogh

There is a short introduction of the collector, how they got to know the artists and following their deaths, how their collections were donated to either the state or Musees Nationaux.

It's not often that we know about the collectors, and how they supported artists financially, and these short biographies give visitors a chance to get to know them, and appreciate the role they had in artists' careers.

We saw numerous works by Claude Monet, like Poppies, also known as The Promenade, with a woman and child walking through a field of red poppies, or Vincent Van Gogh's Portrait of the Artist, the Dutchman painting himself in a light blue suit with a wavy background, and his Bedroom in Arles.

But there were other paintings that caught my eye, like Van Gogh's The Starry Night -- not the one in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, but the precursor to it that he painted in 1888. A few months later, he was committed to a psychiatric hospital, and that's where he painted the work we all know.

Caillebotte's The Floor Scrapers

There's also an artist by the name of Gustave Caillebotte, who had a knack for painting scenes of blue-collar workers, like The Floor Scrapers in 1875.

Three bare-chested men are on their knees on the floor of a Paris apartment where the are stripping away the wood on the floor. Some critics at the time felt the work was vulgar and how it focused on the working class.

However, that's what makes the painting so interesting for us today, seeing the work they did was back-breaking and very physical, working hard for the benefit of the rich.

Caillebotte has another interesting perspective of being in a rowboat sitting in front of a man in a top hat who has the oars. The angle is one we'd probably take today with our phone cameras, but at the time was considered "audacious immersive framing" according to the caption.

Polar Bear by Pompon

The ground floor of Musee d'Orsay is well known for its display of sculptures, and there was one of a polar bear by Francois Pompon from 1923 to 1933. Pompon worked with Rodin, but focused more on animals. His Polar Bear is so contemporary looking, it's surprising that it was made a century ago.

A pair of sculptures caught our eye -- Chinese Man and Chinese Woman by Charles Cordier in 1853, the busts of two real people, Chung Atai and his second wife, Yung Achoi. Perhaps the spelling should be Ah-tai and Ah-choi?

In any event, according to the caption, the couple were originally from Canton (now Guangzhou) and traveled to London for the 1851 Universal Exhibition before touring Europe.

The Chinese Man, Chung Atai

The busts are made of bronze and have a lot of detail, like Atai's long braid, the embroidery on his chest, and he holds an opium pipe, whereas Achoi has butterfly and floral hairpins in her hair, the intricate designs on her silk robes, and her long fingernails.

Paris - Montmartre's Colourful Past

Sacre Coeur is the famous landmark in Montmartre

From a tourist point of view Montmartre is a neighbourhood known for Sacre Coeur, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on top of the hill. Visitors congregate on the white front steps to take in the panoramic view of the city.

But historically Montmartre has much more significance, as it became the place where artists thrived and for locals, where protest, rebellion and anarchy is respected.

Le Moulin de la Galette where Renoir painted

We did a walking tour of Montmartre and our guide was very informative. We started across the street from Moulin Rouge, famous for dancers who did the can-can, lifting up their skirts to give men some titillating entertainment.

In 1831 the population of Paris was 759,000 and by 1846 grew to more than 1 million, and it was overcrowded, dirty and lots of disease spreading. Emperor Napoleon III was disgusted by what he saw and called for the city to be revamped, with gardens, tree-lined avenues and a modern sewage system.

That's when Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann, an ambitious civil servant, took on the task and revamped most of Paris with his Haussmann limestone apartment buildings that ubiquitous in the city.

Van Gogh lived on the left, top floor

By gentrifying Paris, those who could not afford it had to move to Montmartre, just outside the city limits, and this was where many artists like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Vincent Van Gogh lived for a time. It also became one of the seedier areas, hence the Moulin Rouge, where Toulouse-Lautrec sketched and painted the famous dancer Louise Weber, known as La Goulue.

Originally Montmartre was where vineyards, and orchards growing peaches and cherries were. Later 13 windmills were built here to grind wheat, barley and rye; only two windmills survive today. One is at Le Moulin de la Galette, where Renoir painted Dance at the Moulin de la Galette.

Gypsum was mined here, and the windmills were also used to grind it up into powder to make plaster. 

We also saw the apartment building where Vincent Van Gogh lived for two years with his brother Theo; this was before Van Gogh found city life too much for him and retreated to Arles in the south of France in a mental hospital.

Michel and the anarchy symbol

Our guide took us to see a bust of a beautiful woman called Dalida, who was an Egyptian singer famous in the 1950s and 60s. People touch the statue's breasts in the hopes of good luck in romance, which is ironic, considering one of her lovers committed suicide in 1967 and two decades later she did too.

She was also known as French president Francois Mitterrand's mistress, and it was he who had architect I.M. Pei design the pyramid structure at the Louvre -- some say as a nod to Dalida's Egyptian roots. 

On walls in Montmartre you will see the letter "A" with a heart. It is the symbol of anarchy, relating back to Louise Michel, who was a teacher, a poet, writer, philosopher, feminist and anarchist.

In 1871 she actively participated in the Paris Commune, where a revolutionary government seized power in Paris and controlled parts of the city for two and a half months. The Commune promoted policies that were progressive and anti-religious, including the separation of church and state, self-policing, abolishing child labour and the rights of employees to take over the business if the owner deserted it.

A mini vineyard in Montmartre

Michel was punished for her role, deported to New Caledonia, and later returned to mainland France in 1880, where she continued to promote anarchist thought. She also promoted the concept of animal welfare and denounced animal cruelty.

Montmartre is literally translated as "martyr's hill." It refers to Denis, Bishop of Paris who was executed by the Romans in the 3rd century. He and two others were decapitated, and the legend goes that soon afterwards, Denis picked up his head, went to wash it, and then walked several miles while preaching about repentance.

There are statues of him holding his decapitated head. 

Towards the end of our tour, our guide showed us a tiny plot of land that is being used to grow grapes. Apparently that area was supposed to be redeveloped into a tall building, but the people in the neighbourhood protested and won; they decided to grow grapes and make wine with it. The wine produced is apparently the most expensive plonk because it is sold at auction every year, but it's not the taste, but the tradition of standing up for themselves. 

Approaching the basilica from behind

That made me think how Montmartre resonated with Hongkongers, defending their neighbourhoods, protesting against oppression, and Michel leading the way.

We finally made it to the top of the hill to see the Sacre Coeur from the back. The guide told us the back of the basilica was very quiet, and we concurred, seeing locals lazing on the grass, reading or having a rest. It was a big contrast to the front, where all the tourists were.

Building van Gogh Brick by Brick

Van Gogh's The Starry Night in Lego form by Truman Cheng

One of the latest products to come from Lego is a reproduction of Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night -- in the colourful bricks.

The swirl of the clouds in blues, grey and yellow is cleverly recreated using straight, thin bricks, but perhaps what's so fascinating about it is that the piece is its three-dimensional look.

Even better? It was designed by a Hongkonger.

Cheng likes van Gogh's paintings

Twenty-six-year-old Truman Cheng is a PhD student studying medical robotics and magnetic controlled surgical endoscopes.

During his free time however, he loves playing with Lego, something he's done since he was a child.

"To me, Lego is more than 'toys', it's something similar to painting," he said in an interview with Lego. "I can express myself, create characters and sculptures from my imagination. It's a very relaxing experience where I can forget about the petty troubles in daily lives, and get lost in my own imagination."

He later explained that he's always loved van Gogh's work and that The Starry Night is such a well known piece. 

"I had wanted to make a Lego creation based on the artwork for a long time but never thought of a good execution-style for it.

"One day I was just playing with Lego parts, and I realised stacking Lego plates together in random intervals look a lot like van Gogh's iconic brush strokes!

A figurine of the artist himself

"I couldn't help but wonder what the full painting would look like with this build style. I kept building and modifying, and eventually created the model you see in the project."

There are over 1,500 pieces for this particular Lego set and the company teamed up with the Museum of Modern Art -- which houses the original art work -- to produce the set, which retails for US$159.99.

One wonders what royalties Cheng will get!

But in the meantime it just shows how playing can get those creative juices going!

A Visit to Getty Center

The Getty Center has a maze garden down below

This morning we visited the Getty Center, which houses a large collection of art, from the Middle Ages to the Impressionists and contemporary photography that are constantly rotated on show.

It's free admission as long as you register online, and if you are vaccinated then you don't need to wear masks in the museum, but a must on the tram that takes visitors on a short ride up to the museum made up of a few buildings.

The museum celebrates its 25th anniversary

Each has different themed works, from paintings and sculptures, to photography and furniture. While the exterior of the buildings is very contemporary, inside the rooms match the different themes and all are furnished with beautiful wood floors. 

Early on I stepped too close to a painting and a security guard came over to quietly whisper in my ear to stand a bit further away next time. The staff also seem to be quite knowledgeable of the collections too, not just on directions to get from one place to another.

Some of the highlights we saw:

We were lucky to catch a small show on the Impressionists, and there were famous paintings by Claude Monet, including The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light. In the description, the cathedral was less important as a religious symbol than as a richly textured surface on which light could play with colourful variation. 

Another was Wheatstacks, Snow Effect, Morning, where he painted wheatstacks near his garden at Giverny during different times of day and seasons in the year. He captured light on the wheatstacks using different colours.

Thrilled to be able to see this painting in person

One painting I hadn't seen before was Paul Cezanne's Young Italian Woman at the Table. A young peasant woman in plain clothes looks reflective as she rests her elbow and arm on a richly colourful and textured piece of fabric. It's an interesting contrast between her and the fabric.

The absolute highlight is Vincent Van Gogh's Irises. A few years ago I traveled to Saint-Remy, where we saw the sanitarium where he stayed for several months. I also saw the stunning film Loving Vincent, which is completely animated in the style of his paintings. It was gobsmacking amazing to watch and the storyline interesting too.

Then last year my good friend treated me to tickets to a one-man play called Vincent, based on the letters between the artist and his brother Theo, that reveal some interesting personal information about Van Gogh that I didn't know before. He had studied to become a priest and at one point was in love with his cousin but her family did not approve.

Cunningham famous for calla lilies

The Irises painting is colourful and textured; the leaves are undulating, while there are various shades of blue and purple contrasting with green, yellow and orange.

In another building we saw a retrospective on photographer Imogen Cunningham, quite the trailblazer from 1913 till her death in 1976. She photographed almost all her images in black and white, focusing on contrast and composition. 

She is best known for her calla lily pictures, as well as magnolias, focusing on the flowers in her garden in the mid to late 1920s. Cunningham also extended to shapes of the naked body, as well as portraits of people for her commercial work. 

One picture is of her father at the age of 90 posing with his cane next to a pile of wood he had just chopped. He had a large mane of silver white hair neatly combed and he seems bemused that his daughter would want to take a picture of him.

J Paul Getty collected a lot of French Roccoco furniture, and one of the first items he bought was the portrait of King Louis XIV. Some of the furniture included a very elaborate looking desk and writing stand.

Innovative uses of Chinese bowls!

Another called Lidded Bowl, where two Chinese bowls from Kangxi's reign are placed with one inverted over the other to form a lid. Then the two bowls are decorated with gilt bronze mounts to create a very expensive potpourri vessel, where flower petals and spices were placed in there to create a pleasing scene in the room as people during the 18th century didn't bathe much...

The Getty Center is also a nice place to just sit around outside and have coffee, lunch or snacks. We had a substantial lunch of sandwiches, a large garden salad filled with greens, fennel, tomatoes, pistachios, and farrow. 

The museum even offers umbrellas for people to use to shade themselves from the direct sun when moving from one building to the other and leave the umbrella outside before going into the next building.

We didn't make it down to the maze garden with the hot temperatures near 30 degrees, but it's a wonderful place to wander around, see some fantastic works of art and enjoy the scenery at the same time.

Getty Center

1200 Getty Center Drive

Los Angeles, CA 90049