The Birth of the Musée du Louvre

On May 26, 1791, a year and a half into the French Revolution the National Assembly of France declared a museum would be created “bringing together monuments of all science and arts”. For the next year, things would move slowly although art from the churches and emigrant families that left France were amassed. 

On August 9 the new government of Paris, the Paris Commune moved into the offices of the Hotel de Ville. During the night they met to come up with a plan to “save the state”. Meeting until 3 a.m. one side wanted to attack the king and the other fought against it. Louis XVI wasn’t playing along with the changes in the government and it was all about to end. 

At 8 am on August 10, 1792 thousands of men, women, and even children armed with weapons charged the Tuileries. Louis XVI had the 950 Swiss Guards moved inside the palace to guard the family and left 930 gendarmes and 2000 national guards outside to keep the angry mob at bay. One little issue, they had very little ammunition. The royal family was able to escape and ran through the garden to the Assembly for safety.

Louis XVI was treated to wine and food, while Marie was tossed in a locked room with her children. It was the end of the monarchy as the Legislative Academy ended all rights of the king. On the same day, they voted on the destruction of all items and properties tied to the monarchy. The next day on August 11 a commission was created to halt the process and to search and care for these items of the national heritage. 

It would go back and forth a few more times. On the 14th the cries for destruction outweighed all the others and then on the 22nd, it was declared again that the heritage must be saved. On October 1, 1792, a commission was made up of artists to create the layout of the National Museum that would be based on the collection of the king. 

The date was chosen. On August 10, 1793, to honor the first anniversary of the fall of the monarchy the new Musée Central des Arts de la Republique was to open. You may know it as the Musée du Louvre. The original museum was much smaller and different from the stunning temple of art seen today. The Grande Galerie held 537 paintings and 184 objects that were mostly from the former rulers of France that began with Francois I. 

Francois I was raised with an appreciation of art and culture by his mother Louis de Savoie who was obsessed with the Italian Renaissance. It was Francois who decided to remake the Monarchy and bring it out of Medieval times and began to collect paintings from the Italian masters and one of the masters himself. After meeting Leonardo da Vinci, he invited him to move to France where he would put him up in a chateau and take care of everything. Leonardo eventually gave in and made his way to France via a donkey and in tow were a few paintings. 

In the short period of time before his death, Leonardo sold or gave a few of his paintings to Francois I including the Mona Lisa. 

His son, Henri II came along and didn’t have the collecting bug like his father did but did appreciate what they did have. Eventually, Henri IV would add a sizeable amount, and then the Sun King, Louis XIV broke the bank by acquiring as much as he could. By the time Louis XVI was ousted and the decision was made to create a museum three-quarters of the over 720 pieces had been in the hands of the kings of France. The rest were confiscated from churches and the families that chose to flee France. 

The long dark Grande Galerie saw the paintings hung frame to frame and floor to ceiling. Although it was opened as a gift to the citizens of France they were only allowed to visit one to three days a week. These were the Revolutionary years and the ten-day calendar was in place. For 2 days it was closed for cleaning, depending on the year the public only had one to three days a week to visit and the remaining six of the ten days were reserved only for the artists and copies. 

When Louis XIV decided to flee to Versailles in 1678 he gave up the Palais du Louvre to the artists and academics. Many including Jaques Louis David moved their atelier and homes into the Louvre and the artists were allowed to remain until Napoleon kicked them out. Over time it was the artists that would shake up the 19th century that would visit the galleries and copying the masters. Manet, Fantin Latour, Monet, and Berthe Morisot were often found in the Italian section and you can still find artists to this day doing the same thing. 

The museum had to close on November 8, 1793, when the building was falling in disrepair. It was one thing to have a public palace turning into a shrine to art it was another to dip into the purse of the government to keep it going. Over the next five years, it would open and close many times until July 14, 1801, it was once again fully open for everyone to visit. 

The Palais du Louvre survived the anger of the Revolution and Terror unscathed. The supreme figure of the royal family of Paris was left without a mark because it was given back to the people of France in the middle of one of its darkest times. 

As time went on more and more art was added to the museum. The Chateau de Versailles held all of the art and paintings of the French school while the Louvre focused those first few years on the International school mostly made up of Italian and Northern Europe artists. 

In November 1800 the Musée des Antiques moved into the summer apartments of Anne of Austria below the Galerie d’Apollon and was inaugurated by Napoleon. He would of course rename it the Musée Napoleon during his rule and even bring the Mona Lisa to his bedroom in the Palais des Tuileries. 

Today when you visit the Louvre, the Grande Galerie is still filled with the paintings that were picked and adored by the kings of France. However, on this date, August 10, 1793, 229 years ago today the birth of my beloved Musée du Louvre came to be and she continues to evolve and grow.

Want to explore the Louvre with me and uncover all its history and art when you are in Paris next? Reach out and schedule a tour with me. I love to share my favorite place and all the stories it holds. 

The End of the Monarchy

In the summer of 1792, almost a year after Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI’s failed escape, things were about to get worse. Locked away in the Palais des Tuileries and watched more closely, Louis XVI was still the king of France. In April, war was declared against Austria and the king of Bohemia, and was not going well, Prussia united with Austria against France which wouldn’t help Marie Antoinette’s image either. It was a disaster and the king was blamed for the mismanagement.

On June 20, the one-year anniversary of the escape, armed citizens entered the Tuileries and the bedrooms of the royal family. The Swiss Guards were able to control them after a few hours and the incident would rally Parisians behind the king. However, many in the government were beginning to turn away from him.

On August 9 the new government of Paris, the Paris Commune moved into the offices of the Hotel de Ville. During the night they met to come up with a plan to “save the state”. Meeting until 3 o’clock in the morning, one side wanted to attack the kingit and the other fought against it. Louis XVI wasn’t playing along with the changes in the government and it was all about to end.

At 8am on August 10, 1792 thousands of men, women and even children armed with weapons charged the Tuileries. Louis XVI had the 950 Swiss Guards moved inside the palace to guard the family and left 930 gendarmes and 2000 national guards outside to keep the angry mob at bay. One little issue, they had very little ammunition. The royal family was able to escape and ran through the garden to the Assembly for safety.

Louis XVI was treated to wine and food, while Marie was tossed in a locked room with her children. It was essentially the end of the monarchy as they ran through the Jardin des Tuileries, on September 21 it would formally end and four months later he would be killed at the Place de la Revolution.

Most of the Swiss Guards were killed in the conflict and would later be buried at the Chapelle Expiatoire, where they would guard the bodies of the king and queen until 1815 when they were moved to the Basilique Saint-Denis.

The Loss of a Childhood Icon

It’s odd how affected you can be when someone you had never met passes away. Today it was announced that Olivia Newton-John died and as soon as I saw it I gasped and began to cry.

Sometimes there are people who touch our lives in a way that we may not even realize and when we lose them it strikes us deeply. Everyone and all the media outlets in the same sentence of the announcement of her passing also mention Grease. I will never forget the first time I saw Grease. The songs & Olivia and Travolta, what wasn’t to love? I remember getting the album and I playing it endlessly knowing every single song and singing them day and night.

For some reason, after I saw it I was so inspired by Sandy (Olivia) that I came home and tried to recreate her outfit. Now, let’s get something straight, it was bad Sandy, the Sandy at the end of the movie. She strutted out in her high heels, red lips, black leather, and blond curly hair. It was all about bad Sandy, not boring Sandy.

So I grabbed my mom’s very high wedges, pulled on a pair of black jeans, and here is where the real stylist move came. I took my black long sleeve shirt and pulled up the hem, tucking it into the collar making a defacto long sleeve bikini top. Come on girls, we have all done it.

Then to really round out the bad Sandy look, I took a white color crayon and tore off the paper, and walked around the house saying “Tell me about it stud”.

In 1980 Olivia hit the silver screen again, in what is one of the greatest movies of all time, Xanadu. Oh I know, you laugh but this will always be my favorite. Olivia is Kyra one of the daughters of Zeus who is the muse of dance, Terpsichore. This movie has it all. Roller skating, Gene Kelly, Olivia in amazing clothes, and all the amazing songs.

When I think back to being a kid, there were quite of few really bad moments due to my father but when I think of the happy moments, many include Olivia. While she may now be gone, she will live forever in her movies and songs that shaped a generation.

Today it feels like losing a friend. Thank you Olivia for always being there and continuing to inspire how I dress today.

French author Colette has been a household name in France for more than a hundred years. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette was born on January 28, 1873, in the Burgundy region to Captain Jules-Joseph Colette and Adele “Sido”. The famed author took her last breath on August 3, 1954. 

One day her father's old friend Henri Gauthier-Villars “Willy” would stop by for a visit and return many times to visit the young Colette. Fourteen years old, he would take her to visit Paris showing her the theater, parties, and the glitz and glamour of the city of lights. On May 15, 1893, they would marry and move to Paris. Colette was in a hurry to get away from her overbearing mother but things would not turn out how she hoped. 

After a visit in 1895 to her former school in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye Willy encouraged her to write down some of her stories from her school girl days. Willy was a music critic and writer, or he at least took credit for others writing as his own. Colette wrote the book and Willy tossed it into a drawer for four years. One day he found it and read it again but asked her to spice it up a bit. Colette did just that and in 1900 it would be published under Willy’s name only as Claudine at School. It was an immediate hit and Colette was forced to write another one. She didn’t like the writing process, so Wily would lock her in a room to write each day. In 1901 Claudine in Paris debuted.  

Willy was fast to capitalize on the success and had a stage adaptation created that premiered at the Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens with the young actress Polaire starring as Claudine with her short dark hair and white collard shirts, that are known as a Claudine collar, or Peter Pan for those on the other side of the pond. Colette cut her hair short too and Willy would parade around Paris, basking in his literary glory with his “twins” at his side. He would let people know that Colette partially inspired the books “he wrote”. 

Colette went on to write two more, Claudine Married in 1902 and Claudine and Annie in 1903. By 1906 they separated, without any rights to her semi-autobiographical series of books. 

After the separation, Colette trained to be a mime, and one night on stage she would kiss Missy de Morny a woman who she was involved with shocking all of Paris. Remarried again in 1912 to Henri de Jouvenal, editor of Le Matin, they would have a daughter who would be given her name but would spend very little time with little Colette. During her marriage to Jouvenal, she began an affair with his 16-year-old son Bertrand that lasted for five years.

All of her writing was woven with the themes and stories of her life and her book Cheri was no exception and is laced with the theme of her marriage to Henri and her affair with Bertrand. The older woman and the much younger man relationship would head straight to her pages. Fun fact, he later was involved with Martha Gelhorn, the 3rd wife of Ernest Hemingway. 

In 1925 at 52 years old Colette met Maurice Goudeket, 16 years her junior, and their first few meetings were sexually charged and the excentric Colette captured his attention. Goudeket was born on this date, August 3, 1889, and was a very successful businessman and journalist. Two years later he moved into Colette’s apartment at the Palais Royal overlooking the trees. Colette was perfectly fine living together but in 1935 when they planned a trip to New York they were forced to marry so they can share a cabin on the oceanliner and a hotel room in New York. The two married on the Normandie on April 3, 1935, for what would be the most stable relationship of her life.  

Colette had lived in many places in Paris but her favorite was her home in the Palais Royal. In an article she mentioned how much she missed her former home, a few days later the current owner contacted her and asked if she would like it back. In 1940 she and Goudeket moved back in, just in time for WWII. Being Jewish her husband and a rather public figure, Goudeket was constantly trying to outsmart the Gestapo. 

In the dark of night on December 12, 1941, they arrived at their Palais Royal door and arrested him, and took him to the camp at Compiegne. Colette did all she could to free her husband. Luckily she was friends with the French wife of the German ambassador and was able to beg for his release and quickly fled to the South of France. Back in Paris, Colette stayed inside her apartment desperately missing her husband who made his way back to Paris and hid in the attic of the Palais Royal.  

Colette would look out her window every day as she wrote into the garden of the Palais Royal, hearing the gardener’s rakes scraping up the leaves and the birds singing. She and Maurice would live out the rest of her life here, being treated to wonderful meals from Raymond Oliver chef and owner of Le Grand Véfour, and popping bottles of Pommery champagne.  

Julia Child and her husband Paul would dine here and "first laid eyes on the Grande Dame Colette" where she would be carried through the restaurant to her saved corner seat and "avoid our eyes but observe what was on every plate”.

On my first visit to Paris, a trip to this historic restaurant was at the top of my list. The day I walked in and was greeted by the famed chef Guy Martin and was taken through the restaurant I gasped as I took my seat and looked at the brass plaque, it had just one name, Colette. At a very early age, Colette helped me love my name which was and still is so different from anyone else.

Colette would die on August 3, 1954, in her beloved home in the Palais Royale. Denied a Catholic funeral due to her multiple divorces she would be the first female writer to be given a

state funeral. More than 10,000 people paid their respects and a funeral was held in the courtyard and garden of the Palais Royal. She is buried in Père-Lachaise today with her daughter. 

In 1966 her daughter requested the Minister of Culture that the place in front of the Palais Royal and Le Nemours be named for her mother, near the home she loved so dearly.

Listen to her whole story with many more twists and turns on the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway. 

Pierre Lescot, Renaissance Architect of the Louvre

During the somewhat peaceful years in France during the reign of Charles VII to Louis XII, the kings spent most of their time in the chateaux of the Loire Valley. That all changed with Francois I announced on March 15 1528 that he was returning to Paris and will reside in the Palais du Louvre.

The Louvre of the 16th century was a far cry from what we see today. Falling in a bit of disrepair and wanting a palace that would impress his rivals, Francois I asked one man to complete his vision.

On August 2, 1546, Francois I ordered French architect Pierre Lescot to create a new Louvre. Lescott had studied law at the University of Paris but it was his love of painting and architecture that drew him away. Francois, I died the next year just as the work was started, but his son Henri II would continue with his father’s plan. Lescot and sculptor Jean Goujon were the dynamic duos of the Renaissance and their masterwork completed one of the most beautiful rooms in the Louvre.

On the west side of the Sully wing, the two planned a grand hall for the lavish celebrations of the court. However, it wasn’t always going to be so large. The original plan had a staircase running through it, but Henri II altered his dad's plan a bit. Today that grand hall is the Salle des Caryatides, Goujon would add the Caryatides at the end holding up the musician's balcony that would lend their name to the room we know today. As for the staircase, it now runs just beyond the caryatides and is named after Henri II. Its ceiling is sculpted with hunting themes and the figure of Diana, the goddess of hunting but also the name of his mistress.

Today it is the oldest remaining part of the Louvre that is still left in its original glory.

Outside the facade is decorated with an oculus surrounded by the allegories of art and architecture, corinthian and composite columns, and windows that look out in the Cour Carrée.

Walking through the Cour Carrée almost every day I head to the right bank is one of my favorite things. I love to walk around and look up at all the bas reliefs left behind for us that tell the story of what is most important to the culture of France. Merci Lescot

Delacroix and the Revolution of 1830

Eugène Delacroix is one of my very favorite artists. The man that devoted his life and all his love to art, captured one of the most recognized images of France. 

His most recognized painting is La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, painted in 1830 for the Salon of 1831 and is now proudly on display in the Musée du Louvre. But let’s rewind quite a bit and see what this painting is all about. 

The timeline of France is marked by more than one Revolution. Most know of the big one that resulted in the beheading of Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI which began in 1789. Four decades later the people would rise up again against the brother of Louis XVI. Charles X had taken the throne after the death of his brother Louis XVIII on September 16, 1824. Things would get worse for Charles in 1830 when on March 18 he dissolved the Parliament and as the press spoke up against him he censored them on July 25. 

On Monday, July 26 more than 50 newspapers were forced to stop the presses. The next morning the owners gathered and vowed to fight back. As the police arrived at the offices of the newspapers to take their presses and newspapers they found the workers waiting and screaming. By the afternoon one by one the editors, owners, journalists, and printers began to march into the center of Paris. The Place Vendome, Place de la Bastille and the Place du Carrousel saw large crowds of outraged citizens whom the police were no match for. 

On July 28 in front of the Hotel de Ville, the Garde Royal were quickly outnumbered. The angry crowd gathered every cobblestone and projectile to build barricades and also tossed them at the police force. It was at this moment that a 32-year-old Eugene Delacroix was just down the way at his studio at 15 Quai Voltaire and was moved to capture this penultimate moment of the Trois Glorieuses Jours. 

Delacroix’s good friend Théodore Gericault just three years earlier painted the monument Raft of the Medusa. The current event painting won plenty of fans and skeptics. History paintings in the lexicon of art were deemed the pinnacle of all art styles but rarely were painted so close to the moment of the event. Delacroix said “if I can’t fight for my country, I will paint for it”, and he did just that. 

For three months he sketched and painted from September 20 to mid-December 1830. An astonishingly quick period to create such a large piece and brought the entire moment to life. Displayed in the Salon of 1831, under the title Scenes de Barricades, it was met with a wide mix of criticism. Many thought the allegorical woman was dirty, displaying her hairy armpit and filthy feet while the nude man and his visible pubic hair were right at eye level. 

The entire scene was one of the lower and upper classes as well as men of all ages united. This was exactly why the three-day Revolution is marked as such a defining moment in French history as told in art and also remembered by the July Column in the Place de la Bastille. It was the mix of all classes that stood up against the monarchy. While the first Revolution began with the poor vs the monarchy, the July Revolution saw all classes in arms together. 

Delacroix perfectly captures that in his grand tableau. To the left of the center, we see what appears to be a wealthy man in his top hat. Many incorrectly identify it as a self-portrait of the artist but it’s most likely Delacroix’s close friend Frederic Villot, artist and curator of the dept of paintings at the Musée du Louvre. Next to him is a gentleman holding up an Infantry saber in his white shirt and the apron of a printer with a gun tucked into his waist. Behind these two men is a group of angry men that have one goal in mind, to follow Liberty. You can spot one wearing a tricorn hat and beret, a little hint that it was all walks of life and allegiances that stepped up. 

In the center, it is impossible to not be drawn to the lovely allegory of Liberty which is also known now as the symbol of the Republic, Marianne. In her yellow tinted cream dress, she exposes her breast which symbolizes motherhood and the birth of the nation. Inspired by the Greek statuary and the goddess Victoire, the beautiful draping of her dress is reminiscent of my other favorite in the Louvre, the Winged Victory of Samothrace. However, Delacroix never would have seen this beauty. Discovered in 1863, the same year of Delacroix’s death, only her surviving torso was on display from 1865 to 1871. 

Delacroix was the master of colors and uses them perfectly in this painting but with very few hues. Bleu, Blanc et Rouge stands out in this painting, exactly as they should. Using color and light he directs your eye to what he wants you to see first. The French flag as we know it today was first unveiled in 1794 and was prominent during the Revolution. In 1814 it was changed to the solid white flag of the Bourbon dynasty which lasted until three days in July of 1830. 

The image today is the one that is used to symbolize France, but he was foreshadowing in this snapshot of the barricades that the Tricolor would return to France. The flag of Paris at the time was blue and red, add the white in the center of the Bourbons and voila, the Drapeau of France was born. 

Delacroix also uses it on the man below who is crawling up the barricade and looking up at Liberty. The print worker in his blue shirt with a bit of white peeking out and his red sash also evoke the flag and that of the people devoting themselves to liberty.  

When the painting was first exhibited her red Phrygian cap was a much brighter red and he was asked to mute the color to a deeper shade in 1855. The cap itself dates back to Roman times when it was placed on the freed slaves and thus an image of freedom. Love a girl that accessories in red! In her left hand, she holds a rifle that brings the classic Greek & Roman image to the contemporary moment. 

While Liberty holds up the French Tricolor, she turns her perfectly sculpted face of a Roman coin back to the crowd that has gathered to follow her. At her side is a young boy with two pistols in the air, and an ammo bag around his torso he took off a guard and was ready to take up the fight today and into the future. 

The classic pyramid structure, much like Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, is a mix of hope and despair. At the top of the pyramid, you have the flag and as your eye travels down at the base there is death. On the right are the Swiss guards outnumbered by the citizens and to the left, plucked out of Gericault’s masterpiece is the body of a man that was pulled from his home into the street by the police and killed as a message to others. Delacroix painted one blue sock onto the man as a nod to his friend who had a difficult time painting feet. 

In the top right, don’t miss the towers of Notre Dame de Paris. The symbol of France and the conservative monarchy was topped with a tiny French Tricolor you can see against the smoke as the rise of the French Republic was on its way. 

At the Salon of 1831, the painting was purchased by the State for 3000 francs but it was only briefly displayed in the Musée du Luxembourg. Adolphe Thiers was worried it would inspire another uprising and had it removed and returned to Delacroix in 1832. The painting hid away in the Val d’Oise with his aunt Felicité Riesener until 1848 when it returned to the Luxembourg but hidden away until the 1855 Universal Exhibition when he also had to darken her cap. Special permission had to be obtained for the exhibition and after the painting went back into storage. In 1863 when it was finally returned to the public it was too late for the master to see it hung, the father of the Romantic movement was gone. In 1874 it finally moved to the Salle Mollier of the Louvre where you can still see it today. 

One day another artist, Frederic Bartholdi visited the Louvre and saw our lovely Delacroix Liberty which inspired his design of his very own. Today Delacroix’s well-known painting has been copied onto clothes, reimagined in billboards, inspired other artists to adapt it as their own, projected onto the side of a plane and even my beloved Swatch watch. She is brought out every 14 juillet and any other moment of immense French pride and I always smile when I see her. 

Once a week on an early morning in the Louvre before the masses descend into the Denon wing to find Mona I find a few quiet moments to sit with her and worship the master of the Romantic period, and also my birthday buddy. 

Sand Dollars from Beyond

Today, I had to go and get my monthly blood draw which always fills me with anxiety. As soon as my number was called I saw my favorite phlebotomist and she instantly put me at ease. My veins are small and they like to roll so it normally takes a few lovely jabs to catch one and she always makes me feel so much better. “When do you move to France”, she asked and when I told her she also said she was moving to a different hospital. It felt like leaving a friend as I said goodbye and thanked her for always making me feel so much better while going through Leukemia.

As soon as my Lyft arrived, the driver asked how my day was and instantly I said: “well now that my blood letting is done, great”. The driver Brian asked why I needed to have blood drawn and when I explained it to him he was very kind and within a few miles, we began talking about losing important people in our lives and how we deal with grief and also packing up your life.

He had served in Iraq and both loss and packing have played a huge part in his life. We lose people that were everything to us and you can’t imagine a day without them, so then we surround ourselves with the physical things that remind us of them. Those things that “spark joy” actually spark sadness until you can get past the grief. Mourning my grandma and purging my life has been overwhelming and liberating. She isn’t in all those dishes and the many keepsakes she left for me, she is in my heart and with me every single step I take.

I had almost wished the drive was longer as it was one of the most enlightening and understanding conversations I have had in months. As I thanked him and got out of the car I looked down and in the pocket of the door and saw three whole sand dollars.

Growing up and spending weekends at the family beach house with my grandparents I would spend hours walking down the beach collecting shells. Many of them were sand dollars and as soon as I saw them I knew it was a little wink from my grandparents.

Life takes us down strange roads, but somehow we have moments that put us exactly we are supposed to be. I can’t wait for my next chapter and know my grandparents are with me at every moment.

Happy Birthday Hem

“There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it”

Ernest Hemingway would be 123 years old today. Born in Oak Park, Illinois to a physician father and musician mother. The second of four children the young Ernest would spend summers in Michigan camping, hunting, and fishing. His father taught him how to fire a rifle at the age of 2 1/2; the kickback tossed him to the ground but instilled the love of shooting at a very young age that would sadly follow to his death.

In 1918, he would take his first trip to Paris, passing through on his way to Italy as an ambulance driver during World War I. At 18, wounded by mortar fire and both his legs were struck with shrapnel that would land him in a Milan hospital. While laid up in the hospital he would fall in love with his nurse, Agnes von Kurowski. The two planned to marry, but Hem would come back to the US in 1919 and three months later she would send him a letter that she was going to marry someone else.

Some say that Ernest never got over this, and it would follow his future marriages. His first three marriages would end with him leaving his wife, perhaps before they could leave him. His relationship with his mother was rocky at best, he has written many times about his strong dislike for her and his father would kill himself in 1928.

All these events shape our lives and even those that are bigger than life. Hemingway is painted at times as an uncaring callous man that went through women and friends quickly. However, in his collection of writing are letters he wrote to friends and children that were going through a hard time. In those letters are a kind man that wanted nothing more than to brighten the spirits of a young lad going through a medical crisis.

We build up people to be larger than life and most of the time they can never live up to that and it becomes a burden and can end in the worst way possible.

One of my favorite things about the smaller rooms of museums is how the curators organize 

the collection. Some rooms are dedicated to a single artist but the really cool ones are a mix of artists and when you really look you can see how each painting speaks to each other. 

There is one specific room in the Musée d’Orsay that I love and it is because of the paintings in the room and how each one has its own amazing story but together they tell another story.  On the ground floor of the Orsay in salle 12, you can find one of my favorite portraits, Berthe Morisot au Bouquet de Violettes by Manet.  I have a lot of favorites and if you have done a tour with me I will mention it about 1000 times but if I had to pick my top five favorite paintings, this would be one of them. 

The painting came into the collection of Berthe Morisot in 1894 when she purchased it from Théodore Duret. Sadly, Morisot died the next year but it would remain in the family through her daughter Julie Manet and grandson Clement Rouart until it was purchased in 1998 through various foundations for the Musée d’Orsay. 

I love the story of their friendship and how they met as she was a copyist in the Louvre and as soon as they met he wanted to paint her. Manet loved her dark looks, although her eyes were very green and captured her for the first time in the painting just to the right. Le Balcon was painted in 1868 and Berthe is seen sitting holding a fan and looking off into the distance. 

The other figures standing on the balcony include Jean-Baptiste Antoine Guillemet who was also an artist and the lovely lady on the right is Fanny Claus who was a violinist and friend of Manet’s wife Suzanne which we will see next. In her arms, she cradles an umbrella, a little nod to her father’s business. Hiding in the shadows is Suzanne’s son Léon who may have been Edouard Manet’s son or maybe even his brother. 

The next wall is Manet's Madame Manet au Piano, which is his wife Suzanne Leenhoff who arrived into his family as a piano teacher for the young Manet. Next to her is La Lecture also by Manet which shows a lovely Suzanne in a billowy white dress, that also takes you back to Le Balcon and in the background is her son, Léon who is also in Le Balcon. To the right is Monet’s painting of his wife also on a couch. 

James Tissot’s Portrait of Mademoiselle L.L., another portrait of a very fashionable woman in her red jacket that pops from the wall. Painted in 1864, Tissot who was a master at portraits uses an unusual pose that harkens back to more of an academic painting of the past. I love how she is looking across the room directly at Berthe and Le Balcon. Back to the wall with Berthe which includes two Renoir, Madame Darras, and Jeune femme à la Violette Stand back and look at this wall and how they all are tied together, and then look at the entire room and see how one theme leads to the next. 

Check out the video I made sharing this room as well as Manet’s Olympia and then up to the Impressionist gallery. And if you are coming to Paris this fall, reach out for a tour, days are filling up fast. Check ClaudineHemingway.com

The Absinthe Drinkers of Degas

The top floor of the Musée d’Orsay is filled with the Impressionists that shook up the Paris art world. Manet, Monet, Morisot, and Renoir cover the walls along with the man who never wanted to be lumped into the movement. Degas did however join them in creating their exhibitions in 1874 after the Salon would not let them in.

From 1874-1886 the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers would display their work in the studio of Nadar on the Blvd des Capucines. Preferring to be called a Realist, Degas ridiculed the en Plein air practice that was taking over and the basis of Impressionism. He preferred to worship at the feet of Delacroix and Ingres and spend time at the Opera capturing the musicians and dancers.

While Orsay holds many of his horse racing and ballet paintings, it’s one of a slightly darker subject that is my favorite. However, once you know the story, it is not that sad at all. In 1875 Edgar Degas painted Dans un Café, later titled L’Absinthe. In the painting of two people sitting in a café, the woman looks depressed and defeated with a glass of absinthe in front of her.

The man smokes his pipe and appears to be watching something off the canvas. I once heard someone describe a young woman as a prostitute, fashionably dressed down to her feet sitting with her date and a vacant look on her face. The truth is that Degas couldn’t find any people that looked depressed enough for his painting so he asked two friends to pose for him in the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes. An actress that also posed for Manet, Ellen Andrée portrays the sad woman and painter Marcellon Desboutin as her companion. When the finished painting was shown in 1876, it was not received well.

One critic even said of the woman in the painting, “What a whore!” The painting was described by some as a cautionary tale of what will happen if you head down the road of the green fairy. The painting would end up in the collection of Isaac de Camondo until he donated it in 1911 to the Musée du Louvre where in 1986 would move to the Orsay. Happy 188th birthday, Monsieur Degas.

The Fortified City of Carcassonne

The Tour de France ended today in the walled city of Carcassonne that Eugene Viollet-le-Duc worked on while he restored Notre Dame de Paris. Dating back to the 3rd century and built by the Romans it had fallen into great disrepair and was going to be torn down. Mayor Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevielle was also an inspector of historical monuments and good friends with Prosper Mérimée, a fellow inspector, author, and historian. The two men worked together to

stop the state-sponsored destruction of Carcassonne and had the perfect man to help with the cause. Viollet-le-Duc was already working on restoring the Basilique Saint Nazaire within the city walls, restoring and updating the Romanesque church with some Gothic touches but keeping many of the 13th-century stained glass windows.

Since the 3rd century Carcassonne had gone from the hands of the Romans to the Visigoths, Charlemagne to Louis IX who would add a second rampart or wall for further protection. Later in calmer times more than a hundred homes were built between the walls that would later be demolished for restoration. Viollet-le Duc’s plans included finishing many of the 52 towers that had been left without roofs for centuries, reinforcing the almost two miles of ramparts and four gates. Keeping its medieval appearance and ancient defense platforms and shelters he stayed close to its initial intent. However, it wasn't without controversy when he decided to top the towers with conical-shaped roofs covered with slate and not terra-cotta. Stanch historians were upset with the choice, but Viollet had found slate in the excavation of the site and felt it was historical. He died in 1879 and his student Paul Boeswillwald took over. It took over 60 years to complete, long after his death.

In 1979 my grandparents took a very slow cruise down the Canal du Midi. On 2 October they stopped in Carcassonne and of course, took some photos. You can see the Viollet slate conical roofs next to terra-cotta roofs and something you will no longer see today, cars on the medieval streets. To think this beautiful place was going to be destroyed.

A Dark Chapter in French History

On July 16, 1942, one of the darkest moments of occupied Paris started early in the morning before anyone could open their eyes.

That morning at 4:00 am a mass roundup of Jewish families began, led by French soldiers under the order of German and Vichy officials. A few lucky families heard rumors in advance and were able to flee Paris but 13,152 family members weren’t so lucky. 44% of them were women and 31% were children that were taken to the Velodrome d’Hiver

The Velodrome d’Hiver was a sports arena built near the Eiffel Tower in 1900. In 1902, Henri Desgrange, editor of l’Auto and creator of the Tour de France took it over and turned it into a sporting arena. It held cycling races, roller skating, circuses and boxing matches that Hemingway would attend in the 1920’s. When the Germans arrived in Paris they demanded the keys to the building for what would become a very ugly page in the history of France.

The Germans painted the glass ceiling black, the windows were nailed shut and only five restrooms were in use. The conditions were horrible and frightening and little food was available. The next week they were shipped off to camps and certain death

Near the former location of the Velodrome is the Square de la Place des Martyrs Juif de Vélodrome d'Hiver. Renamed and dedicated by Mayor Jacques Chirac in remembrance to those lost to the hatred of WWII. Sculptor Walter Spitzer created the monument Memorial of the Victims of the Winter Velodrome. Spitzer was a Polish born artist who at 16 years old in 1943 was deported to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Poland then the Blechhammer, labor camp at Auschwitz.

After he was released during the death march he immigrated to France and enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Spitzer devoted his entire life to creating art dedicated to the remembrance of those lost in WWII at the hands of the Nazis.

On July 16, 1995 President Jacques Chirac at the yearly ceremony finally acknowledged the role France had in this horrible moment. In July 16.2017 President Macron took a harder stance saying “It was indeed France that organized this”.

Pieces of Voltaire

In the beginning of 1778, Voltaire would return to Paris after the death of Louis XV who had banned him from entering. The Enlightenment writer and philosopher was returning to see his play Irene on the stage.

The five-day travel from Geneva almost killed the 83 year and he thought he would die. However, in true dramatic fashion fit for the stage, he made a full recovery.

Cheating death only meant pushing it off for a few months and on May 30, 1778; he would take his final breath. Upon his death, he had been with his friend the Marquis de Villette in Paris. Villette took charge and had M. Mitouart execute his embalmment and asked him to remove his heart. A vocal critic of the church he was secretly buried in Champagne, without his heart and one other organ.

Villette wanted to return the heart of his friend to the Chateau-de-Forney, near Switzerland where he had spent the last 20 years of his life. His former home would be turned into a shrine to him and his heart placed in his bedroom.

Napoleon had other ideas in 1864 and ordered his heart returned to Paris and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France on Rue de Richelieu. He had it placed inside the original plaster statue made by Jean-Antoine Houdon and inscribed "Heart of Voltaire given by the heirs of the Marquis de Villette".

When M. Mitouart performed the embalming and removed his heart, he also thought he would keep a little something for himself. He decided to keep the brain of the philosopher. Keeping it with him until the end of his life when his children thought it was a little odd and would give it to the Comedie Française in exchange for tickets to the historic theater. His heart would be placed in the original marble statue by Houdon, the twin of where his heart lays. His body, what was left was moved and buried in the Pantheon on this day in 1791 in a place of prominence just as you enter the lower tomb among the other great men and women of French History.

Although a foot and a tooth disappeared along the way, pour Voltaire, is all over the place.

La Fête Nationale du 14 juillet and the Bastille

Today is the French national holiday known as La Fête Nationale du 14 Juillet. In America, most people know it as Bastille Day, the day that they stormed the bastille prison to release the prisoners and tear them apart. In July 1789, while tensions were high in Paris due to people being fed up with the crisis hitting their pocketbooks people began to revolt.

They would seek out guns and ammunition along with food and stockpile it. An angry group broke into Hôtel des Invalides to gather all the weapons and gunpowder held inside, but they were outsmarted when over 250 barrels of gunpowder were moved the day before the Bastille.

On the morning of July 14, a crowd of over a thousand men took to the Bastille. Demanding the release of the prisoners and gunpowder the crowd began to grow angrier as these demands were not met. Gunfire rang out and the fight began. Cutting the drawbridge, killing people beneath it when the Royal Army arrived.

Over 100 people would die and in the end, the Bastille was emptied of all seven prisoners. Yes, you read that correctly, seven prisoners.

It would take almost two years to dismantle the Bastille prison and the stones would be used around France including being carved into tiny replicas of the prison.

Today in Paris, if you keep your eyes open you can find a few of these stones. In 1791, stones would be used to build the Pont de la Concorde. One hundred years later in 1899 while Paris was taken over with the building of the new Metro the base of the Bastille would reappear and be unearthed. Just off the banks of the Seine at the Square Henri Galli, the tower base would be rebuilt among the foliage.

A short walk away, in the Place de la Bastille where the prison once stood is a column in the center, although it commemorates the revolution in 1830. However, look down as you cross the street, the outline of the original prison remains today (some parts have been paved over and brass markers have now been added). As you take the metro below your feet, look around, you may just spot a few more stones.

The Masterpiece of a Tragedy

Many know the large painting hanging in the Salle Mollien of the Louvre by Théodore Géricault but did you know it was based on a true story? Le Radeau de la Méduse (The Raft of the Medusa) was painted in 1818 when Géricault was just 27 years old. It depicts the story of the French ship Medusa, a 40-gun Pallas frigate that was used during the Napoleonic Wars in 1810. On June 17 1816, the Medusa left the port of Aix  alongside three other ships in the fleet; the Loire, Argus and Echo. 

The Medusa captain Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys decided to make up some time and passed the other ships. A novice captain Chaumereys hasn't been on a ship in over twenty years and was chosen by Louis XVIII for his dedication to the Bourbons. 

 On 2 July, 1816 the Medusa hit a sandbar on the West African coast at the Banc d’Arguin, 80 km off the Mauritania coast. Following three days of trying to free the Medusa from its captivity in the sand, it was decided that the crew would abandon the ship. Only six small boats were available and would hold only half of its crew and were reserved mostly for the elite and high-ranking officers.  A raft was quickly built to hold the heavy items on board. Guns,casks of wine and water and food, tied the raft to the boats but when it was difficult to navigate the captain decided to cut the raft loose.  When the raft was set free 147 people clung to the partially submerged makeshift plank. 

With only biscuits, two casks of water and six casks of wine (gotta love the French) and floating under the hot sun the worst was to happen. As their raft mates died, they were eaten by the others to survive or pushed into the sea. Thirteen days later on June 17 only fifteen members remained when they were spotted by the Argus. 

The following February, Chamereys had to face the court and was sentenced to three years in prison. The story captured all of France and when a story was published in November 1817, the young Théodore Géricault was drawn in. The story interviewed two of the servers Henri Savigny and Alexandre Corréard recalling their harrowing tales. Géricault was enthralled and reached out to meet with the two men. WIth their help he began to sketch and even make a scaled model of the raft and captured the moment that was just two hours before they were saved. They even serve as models for a few of the men in the final painting. So dedicated to getting every detail correct, Géricault spent time at the morgue and even brought body parts to his studio to study how the body decayed. 

Géricault’s early sketches of the painting, two of which are in the Louvre, show a few slight differences from the final version. The first sketch shows the position of the raft off from the one we know so well. If you look closely at each of the figures you can see how they changed and why I love to find earlier sketches of these monumental works. It’s like getting a glimpse into the artist's mind. 

The piece became so large that Géricault had to rent a studio to hold the canvas that was 16 x 23 feet and added to its mystique. A good friend, Eugene Delacroix, paid a visit to the atelier  and after he saw the piece he ran home through the streets amazed and inspired and if you look at Liberty Leading the People you see Géricault’s influence. 

The large painting perfectly captures the fear and urgency of the effort to survive. When you look at it, it can bring all sorts of emotions. At the lower left side the older man draped in a red cloth holds his dead son's body at the edge of the raft with a look of total despair. In the foreground, the men look to be barely holding onto life and the raft and ready to be swept to sea from the high waves about to break over them. Géricault added twenty figures, when in truth it was fifteen historically at the time. If you look at the man in the bottom right corner, the one with his face down is his dear friend Delacroix. 

In the center of the painting the men have discovered a boat and are pointing it out to the others. At the top of the pyramid the model, discovered a few years ago in the amazing Black Model exhibit at the Musée d'Orsay, is Joseph. Joseph was a stunning model from Santo Domingo that arrived in Paris in 1804. Géricault loved to paint him and used him for three figures and is also the hero of the painting. Raising the red scarf high above him he signals the ship that will eventually save them. 

On August 25, 1819 The Raft of the Medusa was presented at the salon under the name Scene of the Shipwreck. Winning the gold medal but left without a buyer, it was deemed a failure. The painting returned to his studio where it stayed until the next year when he was paid 20,000 francs to bring it to London in the Egyption hall of Piccadilly then it was onto Dublin in 1821. 

The Louvre on the behalf of the director general  Count Auguste de Forbin purchased the painting on November 12, 1824 for 6,000 and since then it has hung in the Louvre. In 1859 the Louvre ordered a copy that you can see today in Amiens at the Picardy Museum. The copy was created by Pierre Desire Guillemet and Etienne Antoine Ronjat.

During the evacuation of the Louvre on September 3, 1939, the large canvas traveled through Versailles on a truck used to move stage scenery. As it went through the town it hit a power line and knocked the power out of the golden town. The Raft was hidden away during the war in the Chateau de Chambord. Since its return in 1945  it has hung on the first floor of the Denon wing in the red room of the Salle Mollien just a few steps from the Mona Lisa. Look at all of the paintings in this room including Delacroix and the other Romantic artists and see the way they each speak to each other. 

Théodore Géricault wouldn’t live much longer after he painted his masterpiece. Dying at just 32 years old on January 26, 1824. You can visit his tomb at the Pere Lachaise and find a bronze bas relief of the Raft done by Antoine Étex, but notice that they covered the naked naughty parts of the gentleman falling into the water. 

The painting is also a good test in how you see the world. Which parts strike you the most? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you see the hope and elation at the top or is it the despair at the lower portion? Either way it is a masterpiece and I never get tired of sitting in front of it alone on an early morning before the room is filled with people. 

The Last Empress of France

The Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, was born in Spain and at a very early age she and her family had to flee to France when her father decided to support the Napoleonic Wars. Educated at the Convent du Sacre Coeur for a year she would eventually go to the Royal York Crescent in Bristol to learn English where fellow students called her the “carrot” due to her red hair.

At 23 her mother took her to a party at the Elysees Palace on April 12, 1849 where Louis-Napoleon would see her for the first time. For two years he chased after her and she constantly pushed him away until she finally gave in. On January 30, 1853 the two were married in Notre Dame, after Viollet le Duc had to redecorate the facade and inside in the middle of construction. On March 16, 1856 they had their one and only child, Napoleon Eugene Bonaparte. Filling her role and giving an heir to the throne, she swore off ever sleeping with her husband again, a horrible and disgusting act, she said.

Eugénie was obsessed with Josephine and Marie Antoinette and designed her homes in the decor of her idols. She was also a huge supporter of women's equality and artists. It was Eugéne that gave girls the ability to take the baccalaureate. After years of trying she successfully managed to award the Legion d’Honor to artist Rosa Bonheur. Napoleon wanted nothing to do with it and wouldn’t allow a ceremony so Eugéne took the medal to Rosa herself.

While Napoleon went to battle during the Franco Prussian war, Eugéne stayed in Paris and served as regent working with the government and generals. When her husband surrendered to the Prussians she was so mad she told him he should have killed himself then to dishonor France like he did.

Eventually she had to flee France for England and would outlive her husband by almost 50 years, dying at 94 years old on this day, July 11, 1920.

Listen to her entire story and episode filled with fascinating life with many twists and turns.

The end of Henri II

King Henri II may not have his statue on the Pont Neuf or even inside Place des Vosges but he did leave a large lasting imprint on one famous Paris monument, the Musée du Louvre.

Henri II was never to be king, his older brother Francis was going to take the throne from his father Francis I, but would die after playing tennis at the age of 18 in 1536. Henri who would be in line to rule France with his bride and his mistress by his side.

Henri II at the age of 14 married Florentine, Catherine de Medici in 1533, and an effort to align the two powers. It would only be a year later that Henri II would take up with his longtime mistress and great love Diane de Poitiers, he was 15, and she was 35.

He would have 10 children with Catherine, 3 of which would be King of France and 2 daughters that would be Queen on France and Spain.

His heart was always with Diane and there are reminders of it all over the Louvre still today. The ceiling of the escalier Henri II in the Sully wing was designed by Pierre Lescot and is decorated with the image of Diane the Huntress, a nod to his lover. The ceiling was created to imitate nature, complete with vines, animals, Diane and the crescent moon the symbol of Henri. The crescent moon is also the symbol of Diane the Huntress and Poitiers also took it as hers as well.

They can also be seen in the Salle Henri II in the Sully wing on the ceiling with painting of Les Oiseaux by Georges Braque. On the façade where you will find the letter H with entwined C’s or D’s inside is something researchers and historians can not agree on. Many think it was D’s for Diane and some C’s for Catherine. My money is on Diane.

He was pretty bold to remember her everywhere, so why not there. It was on this day in 1559 that Henri would die after a jousting accident while dressed in the colors of Diane. At the Hôtel des Tournells, where Place des Vosges is today, a splinter from his opponents lance landed in his eye and he would die of sepsis. His lover was sent away, and Catherine would rewrite their great love wherever she could.

The two lie together at Saint Denis, in not just one tomb, but two.

The Chateau de Vuillerens

The Tour de France today crossed over into Switzerland and I have waited for the moment for years. Looking at the route I noticed it came very close to the city of Vullierens and was giddy with excitement that I may get an aerial view of the Chateau de Vullierens. Sure the landscape of Europe is dotted with one amazing chateau after another but this one holds a very special place in my heart. 

Postcard my great aunt Bess sent to my great grandma Sarah when she visited for the wedding in 1934.

The Chateau de Vullierens dates back to 1706 when Gabriel-Henri de Mestral had the current structure built where the original chateau of 1308 once stood. Designed by a student of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, architect to Louis XIV. Parts of the medieval retaining wall still remain today. In 1712 Gabriel had three tours added and it became one of the most envied homes for miles. 

Covering close to 250 acres, it was in 1955 when it started to transform into one of the largest gardens in the area. I should back up and tell you why this chateau means so much to me.  On January 24, 1934 my great aunt Doreen Taylor Meyer married Dr Robert Bovet here at the chateau. Dr Bovet was the descendant of Gabriel-Henri de Mestral and the owner of Vullierens and was a well known doctor in South Africa and Switzerland. 

Living in the chateau, Doreen and Robert decided they wanted to create a garden and cultivate just one flower, the iris. Working at Clinique La Prairie  in Montreux everyday he and Gaby Martignier at the chateau created new species but never the elusive bright red iris that he really wanted to create.  Doreen traveled back to the US to gather more bulbs including bringing hundreds from just outside of Portland on a visit to my grandparents.  Today you can still see those same Iris that my cousin Daria also added to. 

In the 70’s & 80’s my grandparents went to visit and I would hear the stories from my grandma of the “family chateau”. No central heating but still with all the charm of an 18th century chateau. The property itself has many buildings and even a winery that produces Grand Cru wine. In 1998 the tenant famer’s barn seen in a photo my grandpa took in April 1972 has now turned into a wedding and event space. 

The facade and structure hasn’t been changed in almost 400 years. As for those three towers, one was removed in the early 1900’s when Bernard's grandmother wanted a better view of Mont Blanc. The garden is also dotted with contemporary sculptures and open to visitors from April to October, 

My cousin Robert now looks over the chateau and I can’t wait to go and visit next year and spend some time in a place my grandparents loved to visit and hear more about the history and explore the property, oh and the wine. 

1930’s

1977

Great uncle Doctor Bernard Bovet in French Elle magazine summer 1980

The Begining of the Legend He Would Create

In March 1918, Ernest Hemingway voluteered for the Red Cross in what would be the final months of World War I. Departing at the end of May for France he arrived and had a few nights in Paris before heading to Milan. It was the first time Hem would step foot into Europe, and as we know it wouldn’t be the last.

On June 10, he would be assigned to drive an ambulance but the future war correspondant wanted to be closer to the action. Asking to work the canteen closer to the front near the Piave River he would hatch a plan that could have ended his life. Feeling like he could better serve the men he asked for a bicycle, so he can take goods straight to them. They agreed and with his bag filled with cigarettes, chocolate and cigars he would ride straight into the trenches.

For the first 6 days it was fine, on the 7th day at midnight an Austrian mortar was fired into the trech. On July 8, 1918 Hemingway would be wounded by over 200 pieces of shrapnal into his lower legs. In front of him, Italian soldier Fedele Temperini of Montalcino, only 26 years old would die instantly and another next to Hem would be terribly wounded. With the shrapnal in his leg and covered with blood he picked up the soldier and ran 150 yards taking him to safety.

As soon as he arrived at the hospital they attempted to remove the shrapnal and later the worst in his knee and right foot were finally retrieved. Hemingway would carry the tiny pieces in a coin purse with him the rest of his life.

It was during his stay at the American Red Cross Hospital in Milan that he would meet and fall in love with nurse Agnes Von Kurowsky. A woman that would forver mark his life and how he viewed relationships.

Ernest was the first American soldier that would survive his injuries. The Italian’s later awarded him with the Silver Medal and the Croce al Merito di Guerra. It was only weeks before his 19th birthday, and would forever change him as a man.

From here on out he chased the action and the story, he left before his heart was broken again and became the larger than life figure in his own books.

The Dreamiest Ceiling in Paris

Marc Chagall is one of my favorite artists. I love his dreamy colorful paintings that can bring a smile to anyone's face. While his paintings are somewhat hard to find in the Paris museums, there is one place you can find one of his monumental pieces.

The Palais Garnier, one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris was inaugurated in 1875. In 1872 artist Jules Eugène Lenepveu painted the ceiling of the dome in the Salle de Spectacle. The Triumph of Beauty Charmed by Music, Among the Muses and the Hours of the Day & Night was on view over the spectators for almost 90 years. Created on copper plates and attached to a steel structure it would be damaged over time from the gas lighting used in the massive chandelier.

On February 20, 1960 at the gala for the President of Peru, Marc Chagall attended with friend and Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malroux. Chagall had designed the stage sets for Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Malroux loved it. While looking up at the ceiling he asked Chagall to design a new one for the opera house. For over a year at the age of 77 Chagall sketched out more than 50 designs using every medium he had. To take on the large format panels he used the Manufacture des Gobelins and his studio in the south of France.

His final design of 12 panels, like a large flower because “France is a rose” comprises scenes from 14 major composers. Mozart’s Magic Flute, Berlioz’s Romeo & Juliet, Bizet’s Carmen and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé are just a few.

It of course was met with many objections for its contemporary images against the classic Opera but like the Eiffel Tower and Pyramid people have grown to love it. As for the original one, it is still there. Chagall’s was installed seven inches below. You can see a small copy in the small museum in the Garnier, a striking difference to Chagall.

Inaugurated on September 20, 1964 the Chagall ceiling of the Palais Garnier and since then people have been able to see this beauty while attending a ballet or even on a visit. It’s a must see when in Paris. The great Marc Chagall was born on this day 135 years ago in 1887, Merci monsieur for leaving us such a dreamy world.