Musée Delacroix

The Musée Delacroix offers a surprisingly intimate and scholarly perspective on 18th century Romanticist painter Eugène Delacroix, the artistic master behind the famous painting Liberty Leading the People (1830, on display in the Louvre). The museum is situated in the refurbished three-room apartment and atelier where Delacroix lived and worked from 1857 until his death in 1863. He moved here to be closer to Saint-Sulpice church, where he was commissioned to complete a series of frescoes. Sketches, watercolors, engravings, and letters to Théophile Gautier and George Sand are part of the permanent holdings, while occasional temporary exhibits showcase significant achievements in Delacroix scholarship.

There is a lovely enclosed garden (shown above) between the atelier – equipped with Delacroix’s original palettes and studies – and the artist’s private apartment. (6 rue de Furstemberg, 6ème., St-Germain-des-Prés. Behind the Église St-Germain, off rue de l’Abbaye. At the courtyard, follow the sign to the central atelier Delacroix).

www.musee-delacroix.fr

Open 9:30am-5pm; last entry 4:30pm. Closed Tuesdays.
Admission €5. Access is just off to the right of the trees shown in the foreground in picturesque Place Furstenberg (shown below).

Note that one of the four paulownia empress trees is much larger than the others; the three smaller ones are replacements. If you come to this spot in springtime, you will treated to a magnificent display of lavender blossoms and gigantic new leaves. This is an ideal Parisian square, sunny in winter and shady in summer. If you are here for the first time, yet have a strong sense of déjà vu, it could be explained by your having seen Martin Scorsese's movie, The Age of Innocence, whose final scene was filmed here.
It is unfortunate that the benches that were located here had to be removed when this square became a hangout for an undesirable element; I remember when those benches on Place Furstenberg afforded an ideal spot for consuming a store-bought lunch. While I'm grousing, several times when I've visited this place recently, there have been hideous modern sculpture exhibits placed around the central lamppost, completely destroying the rather romantic atmosphere. But wait! I have another complaint: most of the bookstores and publishing houses that once populated this neighborhood have given over to shops and showrooms catering to the interior design trade; anyone who remembers Librairie Le Divan (since relocated) will know what I'm talking about. But I digress.

Paris - It's for the Dogs

Parisians have a love affair with dogs. In fact, the love of "man's best friend" is carried to the extreme. Dogs are accepted everywhere. You may be taken aback when you see dogs entering restaurants and stores, but that’s the Parisian custom, and everyone is accepting of it. Pooch even has his own seat at a restaurant table; no one thinks it's out of the ordinary. But it is far more common to see the owner’s dog on the floor at his feet, waiting patiently for a table scrap. Many waiters even bring a bowl of water for the canine pet of their regular customers.
The special thing that I notice is that the dogs in Paris are exceptionally well-behaved. They don’t snarl, whine or jump, and they greet other dogs with a casual disinterest; and they seldom stray more than a few inches from the feet of their owners, even when off leash. Amazing, but true.

Les Colonnes Morris

The ubiquitous Morris Columns are circular cast iron advertising posts that date back to the middle of the 19th century. They take their name from a Parisian printer, Gabriel Morris, who developed this advertising media and introduced them to the sidewalks of Paris, beginning in 1868. The advertising agency bore his name, so they were called Colonnes Morris. They are typically topped by a squat onion dome and a tiny spire.
As of 2006 there were 790 Morris columns in Paris, of which 18 contained telephone booths (most of these on the Champs-Élysées) and six contained Sanisette toilets! Many Morris columns rotate slowly, and the more modern ones are back-lit.
These days Morris columns are built and maintained by the JC Decaux company, which purchased Morris in 1986.
Paris does not allow billboards, so most major movie releases are advertised on a Colonne Morris, as pictured above (Thank You for Smoking, released in 2005). They also display theater, nightclub and concert announcements.

Place Dauphine

17-century pavilions stand guard over the narrow entrance to Place Dauphine.

Place Dauphine was laid out in 1609 as part of a city planning project by King Henri IV that included the adjacent Pont Neuf, the oldest surviving bridge in Paris today. The original design was a triangle of three rows of residences, which conformed to the tapering shape of the western extremity of the Île de la Cité.

Two centuries earlier several small islands adjacent to the Île de la Cité had been joined together and filled in, allowing an expansion of the island west of the Conciergerie and Royal Palace. One of these islands, the Île de Juifs, had been where Philippe IV ordered and watched Jacques de Molay burn at the stake in 1314, thus ending the illustrious history of the Knights Templar. This new tract of land became the Jardin du Roi (Garden of the King), later converted to the first botanical garden by Marie de Médicis, the second wife of Henri IV. Their son, the Dauphin (who became Louis XIII), was thus honored when they named this new square after him.


Place Dauphine is shaped like a funnel, and entry is gained through a narrow opening between two striking pavilions built of brick with limestone quoins, which face the bridge and an equestrian statue of Henri IV, the centerpiece of the Place du Pont-Neuf. Once entry is gained, Place Dauphine opens up in a triangular shape, where two angled sides flank a small grassless park. Locals often play petanque, a form of lawn bowling, under the canopy of trees.


The eastern edge of Place Dauphine was later demolished to open the square to the façade of the Palais de Justice, ruining the original intimate design. This mistake was later diminished by the planting of a double row of trees along the footprint of the line of razed buildings, thereby screening off the somewhat pompous Palais de Justice.

Few tourists penetrate Place Dauphine, which provides an oasis of calm from traffic noise and city activity, even though a small hotel and several restaurants line the perimeter. Yves Montand and Simone Signoret made Place Dauphine their lifelong home.

On the other side of the Pont Neuf sits an equestrian statue of Henri IV, who appears ready to trot into Place Dauphine. Next to the statue are steps that descend down to the needle shaped Square du Vert Galant, a grassy expanse lined with willow trees that divides the two spans of the Pont Neuf. It's often described as a pointed "tongue" that sticks out into the Seine. From this choice spot tourists can view the river from the original level of the Île de la Cité, which has risen more than 2o feet over the centuries, as new buildings and streets were built atop foundations of older ones.

This little square also pays homage to Henri IV, a notorious philanderer. Its name, Square du Vert Galant, means "randy youth." It is said that Henri fathered 70 children before an assassin stabbed him while his carriage was stuck in traffic. Henri was a wildly popular ruler, and his equestrian statue was put up just four years after his death, a remarkable tribute.

Two views of the prow-shaped Square du Vert Galant

Atelier Brancusi

A museum for the works of Brancusi, one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, provides a moment of contemplative peace in one of the busiest public squares in Paris, facing the Centre-Pompidou.
The Romanian sculptor, Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), arrived in Paris in 1904, and from 1916 until his death worked in a modest wooden shed in an alley in the Montparnasse quarter.


Brancusi in his beloved "shed"

Modest though it was, the studio space, lit by north light, acquired singular importance for Brancusi. He came to see his works and the spaces around them as a single harmonious entity. Brancusi arranged his sculptures so that their relationship one to another and to the room itself was balanced. In the end, it became difficult for him to envisage the sculptures outside his studio, and by 1950 Brancusi refused to exhibit his works elsewhere. The year before his death, he left the studio and its contents, including his tools, to the State of France, with the request that it be left undisturbed. Accordingly, Brancusi was made a naturalized citizen of France.


















The Kiss - 1916

Soon after Brancusi’s death, however, the studio was demolished, along with many other structures, in order to make room for the development of the controversial Tour Montparnasse; in order to carry out the wishes of Brancusi, a replica of his atelier was built opposite the north-west corner of the Centre Pompidou. Faithful to the picturesque scruffiness of the original, it was a quietly poignant place, the more so for being next to the frenetic glamor of the Centre Pompidou’s piazza. The little building was difficult to make secure, however, and was hardly advertised, open only two afternoons a week.
Architect Renzo Piano’s scheme for renovating the Centre Pompidou included building a new Atelier Brancusi on its former site. Now completed, the "new" atelier (1997) is an evocation of Brancusi’s spirit rather than an exact replica; importantly, the replacement building conforms to standards required by modern curators and security.
Observed from the huge piazza in front of the Centre Pompidou, one scarcely notices this simple stone pavilion, which spans a change in level sloping up to Rue Rambuteau. There is just a plain wall of stone blocks with a metallic shed roof. From the steps to the right side, visitors ascend toward the street, then descend another flight of stairs to the left. There is an attractive courtyard with trees to the left of the main entrance (there is no admission fee). Because the building is set below street level, it feels separate from it, and the descent forms a gradual transition from noisy street life to the quiet, contemplative areas found inside.

Photo by M. Denancé

Brancusi’s studio now consists of a wood-framed structure divided into four interconnecting spaces with plain white walls lit by north-facing skylights. The studio itself is isolated from human traffic by glass walls, which visitors circumnavigate around the perimeter. The sculptures and various objects like Brancusi’s time-worn tools are arranged as he would have wished. There is also a small gallery for Brancusi’s photographs.
Open 2-6 pm daily, except Tuesday; free admission!
Place Georges Pompidou (rue Saint-Martin)
Métro: Rambuteau (walk south on Rue Beaubourg, then right on Rue Rambuteau; museum is on the left just before the corner of Rue Saint-Martin.