Another great way to help pass the time is to curl up on the couch with a café or glass of wine and jump into one of the many great coffee table books about Paris and the artists that were shaped by its historic cobblestones. Here are just a few of my favorites.
1For the art lover who misses walking through the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, there are many fantastic books you need and can even help you plan a visit to one of these fantastic museums.
Painting Musée d’Orsay, released in honor of their 25th Anniversary in 2011. Filled with over 300 pages of paintings from 1840-1910 many of which moved over from the Musée du Louvre and the Musée du Luxembourg when the Orsay opened in 1986. A few of the most famous pieces also have some more detailed information that will send you straight into the painting. Beautifully laid out you can transport yourself to the 5th floor of the Orsay and straight into an intimate conversation with the Impressionists.
For the end all be all books on the art of the Musée du Louvre, look no further than The Louvre All the Paintings by Erich Lessing and Vincent Pomarède published by the Louvre in 2011. The 750-page book of 3,022 paintings is broken out by the different schools and is easy to navigate if you are looking for something specific. The Italian, Northern, French, and Spanish Schools fill the pages. It is close to impossible to see all of the Louvre in a short period of time, so this is the perfect book for the art lover. If you are planning on going to Paris and love art but are overwhelmed by the Louvre, pick up this book and note which paintings you are dying to see in Paris. Many of the locations are noted on each painting but these things change, especially in the past ten years. If you get this book and are dying to see something specific, let me know and I can help you find it. The book also comes with a CD-ROM with many of the paintings and info.
For more of the French school from the Medieval era all the way to contemporary art, Charles F. Stuckey’s French Painting is a wonderful book that pulls many of the museums of Paris into one. Each chapter is complete with a description of the period and the paintings on the following pages. A great book for anyone looking for a broader description of French paintings.
There are many artist-specific books and Daniel Wildenstein’s Monet or The Triumph of Impressionism is beautifully put together. A larger and heavy book, it is also filled with the life of Monet told chronologically and filled with photos and his paintings. It’s an incredible reference book for anything you would ever want to know about the great French painter.
Le Grand Véfour is one of the oldest restaurants in Paris and nestled into the Palais Royal. Chef Guy Martin put together a gorgeous cookbook that is also filled with the history of the restaurant and photos of the historic interior where Napoleon proposed to Josephine and Colette was carried in on a chair.
If photographs are more your thing, Paris, Portrait of a City by Jean Vlaude Gautrand covers Paris from 1830 to 2011. Photos of famous photographers like Willy Ronis and Robert Doisneau are mixed with candid photos of the people who have called Paris home for almost two hundred years. The cover has changed in the new version, but it is still the same fascinating book.
If you want to get even deeper into the architecture of Paris, One Thousand Buildings of Paris by Kathy Borrus and photos by Jorg Brockmann and James Driscoll. With photos of 1000 buildings and a short description and history of each, it's a true gem for the architectural fan.
Check out all of these books and more in my boutique at ClaudineHemingway.com