Final day in Paris

Wednesday October 23 was a mix of sun and cloud with about 10 minutes of rain.  It was a bit warmer with a high of 16C.

Blogger with morning coffee prepared by Alain with the Nanopresso-- great crema

We are staying at 12 Rue des Tournelles and the Synagogue des Tournelles is located at 21bis Rue des Tournelles about 1/2 block north on the other side of the street.

Walking by the first few days of our visit, we hadn't really noticed that it was a synagogue as at street level, there are no signs and it is a very narrow street.  However, one evening we noticed two heavily armed guards on our side of the street and people coming out of the building celebrating Sukkot.

We learned from Google that the Synagogue (opened in 1876) was constructed in a Roman-Byzantine style by Marcellin Varcollier, a student of Balatard (the architect of the Pavillions des Halles).  It has two Torah scrolls on the top of the building over a beautiful rose window.   We learned that inside there is a wonderful metallic framework created by Gustave Eiffel!  We read that tours might be available, but the day we stopped by the doors were locked.  It is the second largest synagogue in Paris.

Outside of Synagogue 

Street view with Torah scrolls at top of building

We walked to the Bastille Metro.  We had noticed that there were new kiosks around Paris.  Very nice, well lit, functional structures.

Le kiosque de Paris-- new look around Paris

Music in the Metro

We got out at Concorde and stopped at Ladurée where Alain got his favourite treat- pain au chocolat pistache.

Alain with his treat

Pain au chocolat pistache on the left

View of Concorde and Eiffel Tower

We walked over to the Musée de l'Orangerie, passing an interesting sculpture on the way.  It turns out there were still a number of sculptures in the Tuileries Gardens as part of the FIAC (Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain) (International Contemporary Art Fair).

Moataz Nasr, Sun Boat 2018

We went to the Musée de l'Orangerie to see the exhibit: Félix Fénéon, Modern Times from Seurat to Matisse.  Fénéon (1861-1944) was an anarchist, art critic, editor-in-chief, journalist, publisher, gallery director and collector.  He was a major player in the arts world in the late 19th and early 20th century.  He was also known as a dandy with a sharp and acerbic wit.  Fénéon cultivated close friendships with painters and writers who shared his libertarian convictions and his belief that a new era was dawning.

He was a great champion of Georges Seurat, Neo- Impressionism, Mallarmé's poetry and Joyce's prose.  He was Director of the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery from 1906-24, promoting artists such as Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani.  He also was one of the leading collectors of art from Africa and Oceania in the 1920s and 1930s.

Fénéon was born in Turin, Italy in 1861.  After studying at the École Normale de Cluny (Burgundy), he passed the test to become a chief clerk in the French Ministry of War and settled in Paris.  He founded La Revue Indépendante, a Symbolist magazine in 1884.  He discovered Seurat that year.  In 1886, he published articles on the Impressionists.  Fénéon coined the term "Neo-Impressionism."

In 1892, following an upsurge of anarchist attacks in Paris, he was placed under police surveillance.  In 1893 he abandoned his career as an art critic.  In 1894, Fénéon was suspected of being involved in organising the bomb attack at the Foyot restaurant opposite the Senate in Paris.  He was arrested on April 29 and detained in prison. He was dismissed from his position at the Ministry of War in May, 1894.

During the "Trial of the Thirty" from August 6-12, 1894, Fénéon attracted attention with his "subtle and pointed" answers (Georges Clemenceau).  He was acquitted on August 12.  In 1896, he becomes Editor-in Chief of La Revue blanche.  In March-April 1990, Fénéon organised the first Seurat retrospective.  After La Revue blanche folded in 1903 he worked for Le Figaro (1903-06) and then Le Matin (1906).  In 1908, he became Artistic Director of the Bernheim-Jeune gallery.  In 1912, he organised the first exhibition of the Italian Futurists in France.  Fénéon retired in 1924 and died on February 29, 1944.  In 1947, his collection of paintings, drawings and engravings was broken up and sold off at three auctions.  The French State bought a number of paintings from his collection.

The exhibition presented a striking portrait of this larger-than-life figure, drawing on many archives- including those relating to the famous Trial of the Thirty; his writing; and included African artefacts and major works by artists such as Seurat, Bonnard, Valloton and Matisse.  The works that had been part of his collection were specifically identified as such.

Maximilien Luce (1858-1941) Portrait de Félix Fénéon 1903

Georges Seurat (1859-1891) Poseuse de dos 1887

Unknown artist, Masque bought by Fénéon in 1947

Eugène Pirou (1841-1909) Félix Fénéon avec un huit-reflets, 1886

Paul Signac (1863-1935) Opus 217.  Sur l'émail d'un fond rythmique de mesures et d'angles, de tons et de teintes, portrait de M. Félix Fénéon en 1890, 1891.

There was a section about the explosion at the Foyot restaurant, Fénéon's arrest, detention and acquittal.

Photo of the explosion at the Foyot restaurant 

 The middle photo is Fénéon.  Luce Maximilien is on the right.  Photos of Anarchists.

Newspaper talking about the arrest of Fénéon, an employee of the Ministry of War

Maximilien Luce, Félix Fénéon in prison, 1894.

Paul Signac, Au temps d'harmonie: l'âge d'or n'est pas dans le passé, il est dans l'avenir (réplique), 1896

Félix Vallotton (1865-1925) L'Anarchiste, 1893

Seurat, Le Bec du Hoc, Gandcamp, 1885

Seurat, Le Chenal de Gravelines, soir, Marine avec des ancres, 1890

Seurat, Étude pour "Un dimanche à la Grande Jatte" 1884

The Seurats in the exhibit were remarkable.  Fénéon met Seurat in May 1886 at the eighth and final exhibit of Impressionist artists where he was showing A Sunday afternoon on La Grande-Jatte.  Before he met the artist, Fénéon familiarised himself with the scientific principles underpinning his painting.  He wrote articles about Seurat and set himself the goal of championing the artist until he achieved official recognition for his art.  After Seurat's premature death in 1891, Fénéon, Signac and Luce compiled an inventory of his studio and began cataloguing his works.

Fénéon was also a champion of Neo-Impressionism.

Signac, Un dimanche, 1888-90

Signac, Concareau. Pêche à la sardine. Opus 221 (Adagio)

Wilhelm Benque (1843-1903) Félix Fénéon 

Fénéon had a passion for literature and began writing as a columnist while working at the Ministry of War.  From 1883-96, he was an art critic.   He had a varied literary career including times as a publisher, journalist and at Le Matin in 1906, he wore Novels in Three Lines, which offered a new twist of the genre of sensational news items in the press.

Théo van Ryseelberghe (1862-1926) Le Lecture par Emile Verhaeren 1903

Felix Vallotton (1865-1925) Félix Fénéon à La Revue blanche, vers 1896

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) France-Champagne 1891

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Moulin rouge. Bal tous les soirs. La Goulue, 1891.

There were a number of Walker Evans (1903-1975) photographs from a Portfolio of African Negro Art, 1936, that were taken of works owned by Fénéon.

Photos

Original works from Gabon (on the left) and the Congo owned by Fénéon

Modigliani, Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne, 1918

Unknown artist, Masque, Côte d'Ivoire 1920 (?)

Henri Matisse L'Agérienne, 1909

There was a section devoted to the works of Italian Futurists.  In 1912, Fénéon organised the first exhibition of their work in Paris at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery.  The futurists had caused outrage in Italy.  Fénéon invited them to exhibit at the inauguration of the Paris gallery's new premises.  The exhibit caused a scandal and a fight broke out at the gallery during the inaugural lecture.

Giacomo Balla (1871-1958) Lampe à arc, 1954

Louis-Alfred Natanson (1873-1932), Félix Fénéon, 1891

It was a very interesting exhibit that provided insight into an important figure in the art world during the end of the 19th century and early 20th century.  The paintings from Fénéon's collection and well as the others exhibited were excellent.

We visited Claude Monet's Water Lilies (1920-26) in the beautiful oval rooms built in the 1920s in l'Orangerie.  Monet (1840-1926) painted approximately 250 oil paintings of water lilies, which depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and which were the focus of his artistic production during the last 30 years of his life.  There are eight large water lily murals at L'Orangerie.

A Panorama of one of the oval rooms

After the exhibit, we walked through the Tuileries.  It had started to rain.

There were umbrellas in the pond

Red and white umbrellas

More art 

With Jean-Marie Appriou, Grotto, 2018

Alain aussi

Tomi Ungerer, Army of Shovels, 2018

We got out of the brief rain shower and stopped for a coffee at the new Café Kitsuné which had just opened in September on Rue Rivoli.  We had a very nice coffee and then checked out the store at the back of the coffee shop.

Alain getting the coffees

Kitsuné (we learned the name means "fox" in Japanese and the fox is the brand's logo on many of its clothes).

We passed a building where Leon Tolstoy lived in 1837.

We walked to the Palais Royal, one of our favourite spots in Paris

Selfie 

Posing

There was a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Ministry of Culture.  In 1959, André Malraux's launch of a fully fledged ministry dedicated to culture was a watershed moment.  

Lovely picture of Colette and Cocteau in the Palais Royal garden

We stopped at our favourite scarf store- l' Épice, where Alain bought a gorgeous scarf.  Zora, the salesperson whom we first met in 2011, greeted us warmly.

Alain in his new scarf, tied expertly by Zora

Box with different coloured versions of the scarf that Alain bought.  The pattern reflects the Sámi people from Norway.

Beautiful display of a cardigan and a scarf

We wandered into a small boutique, where Alain got a tote bag with a cat on it.  The designer, Gabrielle Geppert, happened to be there and told us that the cat's name was Romeo.

Picture with Gabrielle Geppert

Leaves almost gone at Palais Royal

We wandered back to the Marais for a wonderful dinner at Tavline, where we have eaten before.  It opened in 2017 and has wonderful Israeli cousine.

Tavline- means spice in Hebrew

With our sea bass and pureed carrots- wonderful flavour

We started with a large appetizer (4 different dishes) - roasted cauliflower, sweet potato, hummus, and beets

We walked back to the apartment.

Mona Lisas

We stopped at a store we hadn't seen before, called Sumsum, to buy some Halva for dessert and the trip home.

Pistachio

Sumsum-- lots of different halva flavours

We finished our packing.  On Thursday October 24, we left the apartment at around 7:30 a.m. to catch the Metro and RER to Charles de Gaulle airport.

View of the Bastille Thursday a.m.

We had a 10:45 a.m. flight.  We arrived in Toronto on time at 12:50 p.m.

We have had a wonderful holiday- visiting new places (Ireland) and learning about Irish history; then visiting the more familiar cities of London and Paris.  Highlights include the four plays we saw in Dublin and London; the Irish countryside and being blown away by the food scene in Galway.  Wonderful exhibits and new museums.  One of my favourite exhibits was the Charlotte Perriand show-- so inspiring!  We are missing the Haussmann buildings, and the French bakery and café scene already.

Thank you all for joining us on our adventure.