Today I had a slow start–my legs were protesting all the miles I put on them yesterday. But, by noon, I was at the Picasso Museum, right up the street. (Did I mention that the student price cuts off at 25 years old? Timing!) I saw the sign, but had to double-check with the ticket taker: “pas de photo?” Correct: no photos in the museum. You will have to go to their webiste if you want to see more–or just come to Paris.
The museum was wonderful. You could see into Picasso’s process much more than you normally would be able to. There were sculpture studies that ended up as paintings; drawings that ended up as sculptures; cardboard abstract sculptures that ended up as still lifes (nature mort in French). There were series of paintings or drawings trying out different light/dark moods, different angles. Picasso used ink, crayon, charcoal, linoleum printing, paper collage and some other media I have forgotten in addition to paint. He threw pots and added color with slip. Overwhelmingly impressive.
There was also a video room, and the part I saw had all kinds of views of Picasso’s studio, ending with him (not a young man at this point) in a pair of shorts, bare-chested, up and down some rickety ladders, just tossing up a dove with a branch in its mouth, a human figure and a devil. The canvas is, oh, 8 or 10 feet high and runs across the whole room. He looks as natural as writing his name up there.
From there, I headed to Boulevard Richard Lenoir for the outdoor Arts and Crafts show. This I found out about by accident when I headed up an unintended street upon leaving Bastille metro station. (It’s all part of the adventure, yes.) The level of art work and craft work was excellent, but nothing grabbed me hard enough to put me off my Starving Student budget. I couldn’t photograph the art show either–if I was an artist, I would not want my works for sale to be photographed without permisson. But these art show participants didn’t make any complaint:
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- Pigeons deux
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- Pigeons trois
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- Pigeons quatre
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- Pigeons
Ok, I still don’t know how to do this. I put all the pictures in at once, not just the pigeons that go here. I will stop for now and continue after a good night’s sleep.
