Malcolm & Eileen Paris, Ireland

This week we visited a few more of the smaller museums that are still on our list. We feel like each of these is a great discovery! Plus, a few more jazz shows (of course), a modern dance performance, a cathedral visit, and the Paris Opera. And food...did I mention the food here is pretty good?

From the workshop of Alberto Giacometti

First, the Institut Giacometti, in the workshop of sculptor Alberto Giacometti. He was part of the surrealism and cubism art movements, and while his work is not "pretty," it is certainly interesting and engaging. This is a very small museum - the smallest we've visited so far (we still have to go to the one-room Chopin museum here on Ile Saint-Louis, which I think will grab that distinction). We actually went through it in about a half hour or so - that's actually part of its appeal.

Then came the Musée Bourdelle, featuring another sculptor, Antoine Bourdelle. And, coincidentally, it is also temporarily exhibiting the work of Philippe Cognée, whose contemporary art we discovered at the Musée de L'Orangerie last week.

Bourdelle was active in the late 19th century, and created an incredible array of statuary, some of which can be described as monumental, while others are smaller scale. Many of his pieces at the museum, which I visited during rather stormy weather, are in two gardens and one outdoor promenade. The combination of few visitors, the dark skies, overgrown vegetation, and the constant rain created a wonderful atmosphere in which to enjoy his work.

St. Bernard, Philippe Cognée

The Cognée works there are wonderfully modern, consisting mostly of paintings (plus a few sculptures). He uses beeswax-based pigments, then covers the piece with plastic and uses an iron to spread the colors. Often his work consists of painting over photos of existing artwork or things that he's photographed himself. The result is truly fascinating and unique.

Supermarché, Philippe Cognée

Clearing,Thomas Demand

The Musée Jeu de Paume, located in the Jardin Tuileries opposite L'Orangerie, focuses on contemporary photography and video art forms. It's difficult to describe the main exhibition...artist Thomas Demand re-creates various cultural, natural, or social settings - from the backyard of the Boston Marathon bombers, to the Fukushima nuclear plant control room, to a forest clearing (for which he created 270,000 fake leaves), or an underground grotto (using 36 tons of cardboard), to the room where the Florida recount of the 2000 election took place (note the 'blank' nature of the items in the image). All are made at full scale, then photographed. The commentary with each is political and activist. Very odd stuff, but truly engaging.

Poll, Thomas Demand

The CentQuatre-Paris is a multipurpose art space and venue which hosts and showcases artist residencies and artistic productions. We went there for a modern dance performance, which featured dancers from the Lyon Opera Ballet. Unusual, very creative, remarkable physical prowess and artistry by the dancers, and engaging contemporary choreography. They asked that no video be taken, so here is a short YouTube clip of one of the pieces performed that night (choreographed by William Forsythe; performed in this video by a different dance company).

We took a train to the city of Chartres, about an hour away, to see it's magnificent Notre-Dame de Chartes Cathedral, a gothic wonder. It's full of bright, beautiful stained glass and marvelous sculptures (some dating back to the 16th century), with an exterior that just left us in absolute awe. And as if that wasn't enough, nearby is the Centre International du Vitrail de Chartres - a stained glass museum and workshop. There, they had not only some excellent examples of ancient stained glass (that we could examine from just inches away), but also contemporary modern stained glass by artist Kim En Joong. Remarkable! I'll let a few pictures speak for themselves...

Our terrific waiter at Aux Enfant Gâtés

After a fine lunch at Aux Enfant Gâtés (which imho should be on its way to a Michelin star) - and then a short nap - we went with Eileen's brother Patrick and his wife Nan to a performance of La Bohème at the Paris Opera (at Bastille Opera House).

In this version, instead of taking place in the early 1800s with four poor, struggling bohemians in Paris, this rather surreal version takes place in the future on a space ship and on another planet. Really! Eileen and I are not big opera fans, nor do we know much about La Boheme, but we loved this and we're told by others who know that this 'final frontier' staging worked and was more or less faithful to the original. Wonderful venue with excellent acoustics, great symphony and music, and the singing...the lead tenor and soprano were just incredible, hitting those crescendos that give you shivers. The English (and French) supertitles were helpful! Yeah, we may be budding opera fans now.

Here's a picture I snuck during the show; and here's a link to a YouTube teaser video from the first time this version was produced, in 2017, to give you a closer look of this production.

And finally, a return trip to the Musee des Arts et Metiers, to finish up what we missed the first time we went there. A few highlights: