Parc Floral, 2023

Somewhat drier and warmer weather was forecast for VE Day--still a big national holiday--so we took the Metro out to the Bois de Vincennes to see its Parc Floral. The Bois de Vincennes is among Paris' largest parks, almost a thousand hectares (about 2500 acres), complete with a chateau, royal chapel, donjon, exposition venues, and the Parc Floral, which is itself a multi-function sort of a place, with woodlands, floral displays, sculpture, lakes and ponds, trails, art gallery, cafes and restos, mini-golf, tropical plant houses, an impressive bonsai house, and more. We were there for the flowers mostly. Previous visits to the Bois de Vincennes include https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/vincennes-le-chateau.html, https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/saint-chapelle-de-vincennes.html, https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/parc-floral-de-paris.html, and https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2019/06/vincennes-parc-floral-and-more.html. 

The mini-golf venue: Paris-themed, of course; practical tip: for 
some reason, the ice cream here is significantly cheaper than at
the cafes

Part of the iris garden...as many labels as flowers...

A few of the things we liked at the art gallery

Not many flowers were out until we got to the rhodos and azaleas
and the bulbs and other early bloomers

Same scrawny peacock as in 2019

Apparently mooning the audience is part of the ritual

Most of the rhodos were at their peak

Big-leafed Gunnera, native of Brazil, from the Jurassic

Nice primroses

Of course there's a Guignol theater, going full-force,
and you could hear the kids' screams and laughter from
some distance

Love the rhodos...like a trip to Kent or Sussex...

Until you hear a French-type personne pronounce "rhododendron"

Some sort of Asian gathering down by one of the ponds

One of the ponds

And now we are in the very impressive bonsai house

Love this one...a forest on just a mound on the platter

Mountain scene; Vicki's favorite

Entrance to one of the trails...so French

After our successful day's outing, we took the metro back to

Montparnasse to begin sampling the umpteen creperies on the

Rue de Montparnasse; at Creperie Bretonne, best ever, so far;

note the chouchen, a Breton mead I am sampling...outstanding

The Rest Of The Orsay, 2023

After Manet and Degas, we spent the rest of our time at the Orsay mostly doing favorites, the Belle Epoch stuff on the 2nd floor, a snack, and then the entire 5th floor. Since I've posted most all of this stuff previously, maybe even recently, I won't do much more here.

Although just a train station, the Orsay was a Belle Epoque train station, 
the Gare d'Orsay, and, accordingly some of it rooms and halls were
pretty opulent

This beautiful hall is currently the kiddie art room, where the young
ones can copy copies of the masterpieces in fine surroundings...France!

Moving right along, this is a non-religious triptych featuring music
and musical instruments

And now we are re-indulging ourselves in some some of the Hector
Guimard and friends that we love

Guimard smoking bench from a billiards parlor (as I recall); always
knocks me out

Obligatory long view from the 2nd floor

We had our afternoon snack at the 5th floor cafe

My "exclusive" chocolatey clock thing; definitely
a once-in-a-lifetime experience

Much of the Impressionist collection was moved around
(it seemed to us) to accommodate new acquisitions (gifts in
lieu of taxes) from among the works of Impressionist
Gustave Caillebotte, of whom we'd never heard; above,
his Sunflowers, described below

Thus; click to enlarge; Caillebotte was a wealthy
person who painted and engaged in a variety of other
pursuits; he is chiefly known for his crucial financial and
other early support of the Impressionists; when he died,
he left 68 Impressionist paintings to the state, which later
became the heart of the Orsay; his own work, known 
for its unusual perspectives, croppings, and such, began
to be appreciated only in the mid-20th century...

Renoir's Hommage a Rubens, 1878

Cezanne'a Comparing Apples and Oranges, 1881

The crowd that thinks this is the Starry Night

It's the Starry Night on the Rhone

First Sunday At The Orsay With Manet And Degas

We were five hours at the Orsay, first visiting the Manet/Degas exhibition, then, after a snack, doing favorite parts of the museum. The Manet/Degas pairing was a deep dive into the earlier works of both, friendly rivals, an odd couple really, Manet never joining the Impressionist group--though his brother married Berthe Morisot--and Degas one of its leading figures. Most of the paintings were from the Orsay's massive holdings, many we'd never seen before, but American museums were well represented as well. It was a large exhibition, many rooms. I'll just post pix of a few of the most famous items and a few notables too. 

FWIW, as we went through the exhibition, I took pix mostly of the things that I found impressive or interesting, thinking I'd tally the score later. As you'll see, there's no need to tally...it's mostly Manet. Sorry, Degas fans.

In a queue to get into the Manet/Degas exhibition, we had ample
opportunity to study Courbet's monumental Artist's Studio, perhaps
the apex of Realism, placed there no doubt by the museum staff to
emphasize what Manet and Degas were following...

Great interpretive signage throughout; I won't 
attempt to summarize the many insights and lessons

Manet was painted by numerous contemporaries, but did only 
one self-portrait; above is an 1868 portrait by Degas of Manet and
his wife; Manet was so unhappy with Degas' portrait of Mme. Manet
that he tore this strip out of the painting; Degas was deeply hurt; but
recovered

A likeness of Filippino Lippi by Manet during
Italian travels and study, 1850s; both Manet and
Degas were from well-to-do upper middle families

Manet, La Peche, 1862; the couple in the foreground are Manet 
and his soon-to-be bride

Degas, Souvenir de Velazquez, 1858; during his
travel and study

Manet, Olympia, 1865; a shocker; but what shocked people then
was her expression and the many trappings and symbols of a
prostitute; audiences were already accustomed to being shocked
by Manet, however: Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe, perhaps Manet's most
famous painting, had already appeared in the Salon des Refuses in
1863; both paintings featured the same nude model; Le Dejeuner
sur l'herbe was not part of this exhibition; it remained upstairs,
on the 5th floor, part of a large collection the donor of which had
stipulated never to be moved or separated

Manet's 1868 portrait of a very young Emile Zola;
Zola had defended Manet's works in the press 

Manet, Jeanne Duval, 1862; said to be Baudelaire's mistress

Degas, Young Woman with Ibis,1861, MMA, from
Degas' Italian travel and study

Manet, Berthe Morisot au bouquet de violettes;
Manet was well regarded in the Morisot salon and
did more than one portrait of Berthe; Manet's brother
married Berthe, whose stock as a painter and 
Impressionist was much on the rise; the color black
was forbidden in the Impressionist code; here Manet
uses it and the violets to identify a stylish Parisian
woman, no longer in mourning for the Franco-Prussian
war and the Paris Commune; we were at the opening
of the Orsay's Morisot exhibition in 2019

Manet, The Dead Toreador, 1860s; alternatively titled: Bulls, 1;
Toreadors, 0

Manet, Le Repos, 1871; Berthe Morisot again,
this time in a pose that some praised for "its
intense modernity"

Manet, Berthe Morisot a l'eventail, 1872

Manet, The Evasion of Rochefort, 1881; Rochefort's
escape from the penal colony in New Caledonia; he
had been a critic of Napoleon III; Manet, unlike the
Impressionists, was not "above" political comment

Degas, A Cotton Office in New Orleans, 1873; LSS: before he
was an Impressionist, Degas visited the family cotton trade
offices in New Orleans, producing this painting; the family
were slave-owners, supported the CSA, and continued the
suppression of former slaves in Reconstruction...

Manet, The Combat of the Kearsage and the Alabama
off the Coast of Cherbourg, 1864; Manet was anti-
slavery, supported the Union, and celebrated its
victory; that's the Alabama burning and sinking

Manet, The Monet Family in the Garden, 1874; about as Impressionistic
as Manet gets

Degas, Boats at Sea,1868

Manet, Marcellin Desboutin et Ludovic Lepic, 1876;
Ludovic was a famous engraver, here at work, Lepic
a noble; Desboutin appears in several of Manet's works 

To wit, this, one of Manet's best known, In the Cafe,
or L'Absinthe, 1876; the woman imbibing the green
goddess is another of Manet's friends, Ellen Andree,
an actress

Manet, The Music Lesson,1868; the couple are Zacharie Astruc
and Mme. Astruc, friends of the painter; I contend that the teacher
is on the right...

Upstairs, 5th floor, Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe, 1863