Visited on May 8, 2018, at approximately 2:00 p.m.
The last volume of the museum tour.
These days, Paris is all about visiting special exhibitions.
Touring beautiful villages, when you travel so much in France, you naturally have more chances to visit Paris. I can’t even remember how many times I’ve been. I stop by almost every time I visit France.
Of course, I still visit the major tourist attractions, such as the Champs-Elysées, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, etc., but recently I have been enjoying visiting the special exhibitions (in French, Exposition) held in the relatively small museums scattered around Paris, such as the Jacquemart-André Museum and the Marmottan Museum. I’m looking forward to visiting special exhibitions (Exposition in French) held in relatively small museums in Paris, such as the Jacquemart-André Museum and the Marmottan Museum.
The information about what special exhibitions are being held is mainly obtained from the website “Official Guide of the Paris Tourist Board”.
URL: パリ市観光局公式ガイド
I also often look for them directly on each museum’s website or by looking at tourism-related tweets.
Special exhibition of Leonard Fujita at the Maillol Museum
The first exhibition I visited this time was this special exhibition of Leonard Fujita at the Musée Maillot.
この美術館に訪れるのははじめてでした。区画的にはオルセー美術館の南側といったところでしょうか。サンジェルマンデプレの西側にあたるエリアですね。路地裏に良さげなレストランやカフェがありながらも主要な観光名所があるわけではないので比較的人は少なく落ち着いているところがよいです。ちなみにお気に入りのショコラティエ「Jacques Genin」はこの美術館の近く。
There was Japanese in the booklet. I thought I wanted to study in the local language, but it was given to me half-heartedly, so I thought it was OK.
I thought there were more people than I expected. According to my friend who lives in Paris and is connected to the museum through SNS, the first day of the exhibition was empty. Personally, I felt that special exhibitions like this are always popular among local people. I visited the special exhibition at Marmottan Museum last autumn, and it was indeed a very popular exhibition related to Impressionism, but it was very crowded, so I had this impression.
However, the Fujita’s special exhibition was not as crowded as it was then.
I am repeatedly impressed by his paintings, which express a unique atmosphere by firmly following Western techniques while creating a Japanese painting-style atmosphere with a fine line touch.
By the way, this piece.
確か昨年冬に開催されていた千葉にあるDIC川村記念美術館での特別展でも展示されていました。常設の作品もあったはずです。また箱根のポーラ美術館にもよいコレクションがあったと記憶しています。ここでもかつてフジタの特別展を見たことがあった気がします。思った以上にレオナール・フジタの作品に触れていたことをあらためて確認しました。
Lunch time in the vicinity
After viewing the Leonard Fujita exhibition, it was time for lunch. As usual, I searched for a good place to eat nearby on TripAdvisor.
As you would expect from such a large section, many good restaurants were found. Among them, there were two restaurants that seemed to have a good reputation, one of which had been awarded a Michelin star. However, both of them were closed for lunch that day. Too bad.
I chose this restaurant because it is located in an inconspicuous alleyway with a good TripAdvisor rating, and because it was still early in the day, there were no customers in the restaurant, just me. I had plenty of time until the evening, so I had a light glass of wine and ordered the lunch menu.
Even for lunch, the price was quite reasonable for Paris and the taste was not bad. I think it was much better than the usual restaurants in popular neighborhoods.
Petit Palais, a special exhibition of Dutch painters at the Musée de la Ville de Paris
The next stop was the Musée de la Ville de Paris in the Petit Palais.
Here, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Den Haag Museum, and here the Musée de la Ville de Paris were co-organizing a special exhibition of Dutch painters who worked in Paris from 1789 to 1914. The artists included were as follows.
- Gérard van Spaendonck (1746 – 1822)
- Ary Scheffer (1795 – 1858)
- Johan Barthold Jongkind (1819 – 1891)
- Jacob Maris (1837 – 1899)
- Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer (1839 – 1902)
- George Hendrik Breitner (1857 – 1923)
- Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890)
- Kees van Dongen (1877 – 1968)
- Piet Mondrian (1872 – 1944)
My general impression is that it covered the history from the eve of Impressionism to modern abstract painting, and that it was most interesting to feel that these painters who lived in each era, while being influenced by their time, created a unique atmosphere. Personally, I became particularly fond of the works of Maris and Breitner.
By the way, at the Musee de la Ville de Paris, there were quite a few Courbet’s works among the paintings displayed in the free space after the special exhibition. It’s quite substantial and many of them are high quality and powerful paintings!
As for Courbet, I visited his birthplace Ornans two years ago last year.
オルナン訪問時の自分の日記：2016年7月 フランス「印象派とグルメの旅」 3-5章：オルナンとクールベ美術館、印象派展
We went to the Jura after seeing the Normandy Impressionist Festival in the first half of the tour, and learned that his style of painting led to the birth of Impressionism.
Parade on the anniversary of the end of the war
By the way, I really wanted to go to the Musee de la Ville de Paris first thing in the morning, but it was the anniversary of the end of the war (the day Germany surrendered in World War II) and France was closed for a national holiday. In the morning, there were traffic restrictions around the Champs-Élysées because of the presidential parade on the Champs-Élysées. Because of this, the Petit Palais on the Champs-Élysées was also closed in the morning, and we could not enter the museum.
Extra: Parking in Paris, now easily searchable with the Google Maps app!
This day we went from Compiègne to Paris. We were parked in Paris all day. It is difficult to decide where to park, but the recent Google Map application can also search for parking in the vicinity. Just type Parking in the search box around your destination and it will search for parking in the area.
Moreover, as I mentioned above, this day was the anniversary of the end of the war, and there was a memorial ceremony in Paris, so traffic was restricted in some parts of the city. However, Google Map reflects the information including the traffic regulation and the construction section in almost real time.
Probably the frequency of updates is not high unless you are in a city like Paris, but it is very helpful because it seems to take into account this traffic regulation to some extent, although it did not seem to be complete even in the route search.
This is the end of the museum tour part of this trip. The May 2018 France excursions will continue for a little while longer.
