Au revoir, Paris!

Friday was our last day in Paris, for now. Musée Marmottan Monet is hosting the world's largest collection of Monet paintings (130 pieces) as well as other impressionists and earlier golden age artists. No photos, though, – and the camera ban was strictly enforced.
The rain poured down all morning and all afternoon so it was a wet, wet Paris. We decided to end the museum week at the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle because it was easily accessible and dry. The interior and the exhibits were much more classical than we expected.

Took the Metro and the airport train up north to Charles de Gaulle (Didn't stop at the Stade-de-France station), and ...

... after a couple of hours in the not-so-busy airport, we kissed Paris au revoir !

Orangerie and MOMA-Paris

This grey day began for us in the Musée de l'Orangerie with Claude Monet's water lilies en masse and a lot of other great paintings.

Claude Monet, 1916-1919: Water lilies.

Claude Monet, 1916-1919: Water lilies.

Claude Monet, 1916-1919: Water lilies.

Chaïm Soutine, 1924: Houses.

Marie Laurencin, 1924: Women with dog.

Pierre-August Renoir, 1870-75: Landscape in snow.

After lunch we travelled to Iéna along the Seine and paid a visit to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), a potpourri of various contemporary and recent art.

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Raoul Dufy

Robert Delauney

Again, we enjoyed a slow walk home along la rive droite to take in the very Parisian evening.

Pont d'Alexandre III.

Picasso, Rodin and rememberance

A very long day out and around in Paris.
First stop was Sacré-Coeur Basilica to enjoy the view over the city on this sunny day. Meanwhile, the St. Denis police raid was going on not too far away from Mont-Martre.

Then the Metro to the Musée de Picasso à Paris where we got Pablo Picasso in all versions and varieties.

 

Lunch in a nearby park and then we walked to Place de la Republique in the 10th arrondissement to pay homage to the victims of Friday's attacks. Overwhelming and moving to see all the quiet people assembled and the mountain of flowers, notes, candles etc. A few policemen in the perimeter.

Place de la Republique memorial location.

Paris does not succumb to the fear !

Then off to the newly opened Musée Auguste Rodin for France's world famous sculpturer.

The gate of Hell

The Thinker

Rodin Museum, Les Invalides church and Eiffel Tower.

After that I walked briskly to Basilica of the Invalides and the Eiffel Tower to enjoy both structures illuminated.

Les Invalides

The Latin text reads: Tossed but not sinking.

At the end we walked slowly back home along the Seine. A 12-hour day but a beautiful and full one.

France's National Assembly in Bleu, Blanc, Rouge.

Musée d'Orsay

In the beautiful building of the former railway station, Gare d'Orsay, a very well stocked art museum is now one of the best places to view impressionistic painting as well as a lot of other art.
We spent six very intensive hours inside and exhausted both our legs and heads. We really enjoyed to encounter so many great paintings and sculptures by so many masters, – and almost all were French.

Claude Monet, 1893: The cathedral in Rouen.

Claude Monet, 1878: Chrysanthems.

Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1871: English pear tree.

Claude Monet, 1880: Ice on the Seine.

Claude Monet, 1877: The Saint-Lazare railway station.

Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1876: Party at the Galette mill.

Edgar Degas, 1874: Ballet rehearsal.

Camille Pissarro, 1903: The Seine and the Louvre.

Berthe Morisot, 1874: Hunting butterflies.

View towards Montmartre through the giant clock at the gable.

Gare / Musée d'Orsay interior.

Nouveau-art details in a cabinet.

Franz von Stuck, 1902: Ludwig van Beethoven.

Detail from a nouveau-art chair.

Contemporary originals.

Maurice de Vlaminck, 1905: Restaurant de la Machine, Bougival.

Vincent van Gogh, 1889: The artist's room in Arles.

Vincent van Gogh, 1889-90: The siesta.

Jacques-Émile Blanche, 1892: Marcel Proust.

The view from Musée d'Orsay: Montmartre and the Sacré Coeur basilica.