Street Art

There is street art all over Paris. Fascinating, mesmerizing, and perhaps controversial, but in many cases it adds additional charm to the city. 

I thought this was cute.

Cool way to decorate an electrical/utilities box.

This was taken in Chinatown near Choisy. The colors are beautiful. Impressive work.

Space Invader!

The scale of this is just amazing.

I think this is Space Invader, but I thought he was neat.

I love how the staircases are in sinc with the buildings actual floors.

Vader Vs Yoda. I'd put my money on Yoda.

Disneyland Paris

There are a lot of similarities between Disneyland Paris and Disney World in Orlando. The set up of the Magic Kingdom Park and layout was very similar to Disney World. The Hollywood Studios park was very different. I loved that the parks weren't as crowded and were more laid back overall.

This was out in front of the Magic Kingdom park in Paris, although it was similar there were some differences. The main one being the lack of signage. There is a sign that says Disneyland Paris but the sign out in front of the Orlando park also says Let the magic begin. There seemed to be less propoganda along those lines in the Paris parks.

Main Street was smaller, but looked almost the same as the Orlando park. I saw Donald Duck here and there was a band playing. All these things are very similar to the Orlando park.

The Haunted Manor was pretty similar as a ride to the Haunted Mansion. The main differences were in decor. There was a fountain that didn't work and a few knocked over birdbaths. There is not a gazebo in Disney Worlds version but there are more interactive things to do in line.

The castle is pretty similar to Cinderellas castle only this one is smaller. The stained glass interior depicting the story of Beauty and Beast was a beautiful sight to see. 

The Tower of Terror was awesome! Pretty similar except in that there was no indication that the elevator was about to drop. Overall though it was more mild than the one in FL in that it didn't seem to drop from as high a height or quite as many times.

Before leaving for Paris I watched Ratatouille and in the World of Disney store I saw a lot of merchandise for this movie. I'm not sure if the French culture is embracing this or if Disney is pushing this.

Musée d'Orsay

     I went on a fieldtrip with my class to the Musée d'Orsay. There were so many amazing work of art to see that it would have been impossible to take time to see everything. These are a few of my favorite highlights from the trip.

    
     The museum itself was something to see. The art in this museum is housed in what used to be an old train station. Here are a few pictures of the inside.

 

 


         Musee D'Orsee Café




...and now on to the art...

"Plage a' Heist" by Georges Lemmon 1891

 

This was a painting by Georges Lemmon B. 1865 D.1916. This painting was completed in 1891 is my favorite impressionist work. According to Waterhousedodd.com Georges Lemmon (A Belgian neo-impressionist painter) presented at the Salon de Independents between 1889 and 1893. I was drawn to this painting by the bright colors and the way the light appears to highlight the sand and sea. The bright colors, and also that the image isn't a spectacular almost otherworldly scene, but rather a scene that depicts the beauty in everyday surroundings which is indicative of the post impressionistic movement. The light effects in this image are coming from the sun, a natural lighting source created at a specific time of day.

 

"Gabrielle a' la rose" Pierre Auguste Renoir 1911

 

     Gabrielle Renard was the cousin of Renoir's wife and nanny to his children. She was very important to the family and stayed with them, even moving with them and helping Renoir to paint when he became nearly crippled with arthritis. She posed for him for many paintings and even put the paintbrush in his hand when he couldn't pick it up himself.(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123817616, and Wikipedia). This painting looks almost like a photograph. This painting seems to me to be an example of how Impressionism was influenced by photography. This is another painting of an everyday scene. Nothing spectacular is going on, Gabrielle is just putting a flower in her hair.

"Les Cypres a' Cagnes" Henri-Edmond Cross 1908

 

     Henri Edmond Cross was a French pointillist painter B.1856 D. 1910 (henriedmondcross.org). He was influenced heavily by Claude Monet. I was drawn to the colors in this painting. He uses darker pigments and lighter ones to create a sense of depth within the painting. This is another image where the artist is capturing and detailing the way natural light highlights a landscape. The colors in this work are more vivid than in other impressionistic works such as the image of Gabrielle in the previously mentioned Renoir painting indicating that this is a post impressionistic piece.

 Me with Art                                                                       "Eugene Boch" Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

     This is a famous painting of Eugene Boch by Van Gogh who was born in 1853 died in 1890. This painting was completed in 1888. Eugene Boch was an impressionist painter and friend of Van Gogh (EugeneBoch.com). According to a letter written to his brother by Van Gogh, the painter chose the dark blue of the background to represent infinity. He was painting Eugene Boch as a "star in the depths of an infinite azure sky." He thought very highly of his friend. Again the use of bright colors are indicative of the post impressionistic movement. 

"La Chambre de Van Gogh a' Arles" Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

 

     This is my favorite Van Gogh painting. According to a letter the painter wrote to his brother (mussey-orsay.fr) this image was painted to express the tranquility of his surroundings. Vincent thought the room was sparse and tranquil. I feel much the same way about my dorm room here in France. Sparce and tranquil. I love it's simplicity. If only the bathroom were a little larger. Inu case however I feel as though my space is more a necessity of travel. Van Gogh was very influenced by the Japanese and loved what he perceived as their simplicity of space. Japanese homes were often more open and less cluttered which to Van Gogh was an attractive feature. Japanese culture affected and influenced a good bit of the art and culture of this time since Japan reopened it's boarders for trade after having been shut off from the world for more than a hundred years.

Transportation in Paris

Paris has diverse transportation methods. Here are a few I found interesting in the area.

I have no idea what this is, maybe a bread truck?

I've seen several of these at various tourist areas. Train concept, the main car pulls cars full of passengers behind it.

Scooters and motorcycles are very common in Paris, but this one is a tad unusual.

A covered scooter. I haven't seen very many of these.

This isn't the best picture, but that's a neat lookin car right there at the light.

I couldn't conclude transportation in Paris without at least one picture of the metro. I spend a lot of time on the metro. 

Boroque Masterpieces

     The Baroque period began in 17th Century and was in it's prime from 1650-1750. In the American colonies the seeds of revolution were being sowed. The Navigation Act meant to stop trade between the American colonies and the rest of Europe including France and the Netherlands but excluding and favoring England, was passed in 1651, as well as the other acts which followed in 1660, 1663, 1673, 1696, and 1733 would lead to great civil unrest and eventually all out war with England.  (https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-expansion-and-crises-of-the-colonies-1650-1750-4/english-administration-of-the-colonies-46/enforcing-the-navigation-acts-292-9429/) In other parts of the world monarchies ruled supreme. In France Louis the XIV was King, in England William the III.

George de la Tour "The Fortune Teller"





     I love this painting as an example of French Baroque. I love the colors but I also enjoy the subject matter. As you can see the young man in this picture is being distracted by having his fortune told as his pocket is being picked and his purse strings are being cut from behind. There are a lot of pick pockets in France and the art of any good pick pocket is to distract their mark so they don't know a robbery is taking place.

Caravaggio "Conversion of Saul"



    
     I chose this painting because I was drawn to Caravaggio's use of light and dark (tenebrism). Saul is highlighted. Even if he didn't appear to be nearly stepped on by a horse it's obvious that something is happening to Saul since the rest of the painting is fairly dark and shadowed. Biblical themes are common in the art of this time. This is a lovely Italian baroque painting.

Artemisia Gentileschi "Judith Decapitating Holofernes"

 



     Many baroque paintings are very dark in color and nature seemingly especially Italian baroque. I do like this painting. The scene is grim, it's raw. Women are not usually portrayed in this light. They are usually depicted as nurturing. Not in this painting. He sort of had it coming though.

Peter Paul Rubens "Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles"

 



     A fascinating painting by French baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. There are many things going on in this painting. Poseidon and his daughters are included at the  bottom, and if it had not been explained to me I really would have thought that was an angel flying above Marie's head.

Peter Paul Rubens "The Consequences of War"



    
     Another great painting by Peter Paul Rubens. This is my favorite painting by Rubens. I love the symbology in this picture. The symbolic goddess of love trying to stop the determined god of war who is stepping on the book, and arts are getting crushed underneath. It is true that was is a destroyer of knowledge. Thinking back to the destruction of the library at Alexandria.  No one really wins a war, someone merely looses less.

Parisian Fashion

Parisians wear some interesting clothing, from window displays to fashion shows here are just a few images I have captured.

These individuals were out in front of a castle we visited in th Loire Valley region of France. I've also seen people in Paris walking around in costume.

This was on a poster near the cafeteria in cite Universitaire. Looks like an interesting fashion show. To me it looks almost like it could be from the orient.

This I included because Paresian women wear scarfs a lot. The prints on the material are beautiful.

Hats are also popular in Paris. However, I see more for sale than people actually wearing them, although many people do wear hats.

Yes this is me. I went shopping while visiting the Loire Valley. The shirt I'm wearing is one of three that I purchased. This isn't a color I would normally wear, I also prefer my shirts to be a longer length. All in all though I think France looks good on me

St. Denis Cathedral

For our second field trip we visited the basilica of St. Denis and the Sacred Heart basilica. Both were incredibly beautiful. I'm only including pictures from St. Denis in this post.

The western rose window at St. Denis. This incredibly beautiful shimmering work of art is easily the most stunning piece of stained glass art I have ever seen. The light filtering through the stained glass in this cathedral casts beautiful colored spots of light all over the inside of the church.

Just one example of how the colored light decorates the inside of the church.

In this image I was trying to emphasize how small I felt by looking up. The pillars running from the floor to the ceiling are compound piers with responds, and join the groin vault bays at the top of the ceiling. This is also a good contrast between the restoration area and original sections of the church.

This image accentuates some of the external features of the gothic archetecture of this cathedral. The flying buttresses are connecting to the main structure, the pinnacles up at the very top are ornately carved and of course a few Gargoyles can be seen in this image as well.

I really do love stained glass. In this image you can really see from the inside the different indoor archetectural layers of this gothic structure. Up at the top is the clerestory, triforium, and the top of the pointed arch is also visible in this picture.

In this picture it was trying to get a good view of one of the many gargoyles that are a part of this building. Most people (including myself) are under the impression that they are purely decorative however they are used to channel water away from the building. So they are a functional decoration.