Walk among glittering crystals in Paris Parc de Bagatelle

Bagatelle is a beautiful ancient romantic garden, created in queen Marie-Antoinette’s time, and located in Bois de Boulogne. It is famous for its gorgeous roses, but this fall, all great French historical crystal trademarks have joined their talents to change Bagatelle into crystal gardens

On a beautiful day, it’s a lovely destination, but forget it if it’s grey.

Ever lasting water lilies glitter in the sun.

Palm trees are heavy with shimmering glass fruits,

or blue flowers,

and fountains look frozen.

Walk in the Trianon to look at more traditional crystal works, like this chandelier.

Outside, crystal swans float along with their shiny transparent reflection,

but it takes more to to disturb living swans.

All these dreamy pictures were taken by my friend Anne Marie Dumas.

Jardins de Cristal à Bagatelle, every day 10 to 18 up to November 8, entrance €3.

Bagatelle garden is route de Sèvres, Bois de Boulogne. Metro Pont de Neuilly + bus 43 up to Neuilly-Parc de Bagatelle (end of the line). But you can also take bus 43 from Gare du Nord, or Gare Saint Lazare and ride all the way by bus. It might take a little longer, but it’s a nice trip through Paris.

Paris Parc de la Villette : a place to visit this summer, for art, outdoor films and concerts

This summer, there are a lot of good reasons to go north up to Parc de la Villette, the largest of Paris gardens, offering a wide range of cultural and leisure activities.

The art event takes place in the beautiful glass Grande Halle :

Up to August 17, come in and discover a giant installation by Yayoï Kusama, who has been working on dots for forty years.

This artist, who was closed to Pop Art and Andy Warhol in the sixties, takes this pattern both light and seriously, declaring “My life is a dot lost among other dots”.

Tuesday to Sunday 14 to 22, free entrance.

And it goes with a workshop on dots for kids (from 2 years old). July Sunday 20, Wednesday 23 and Saturday 26 at 16.30. It’s one hour long, with a drink at the end, and costs € 7.  But you have to make a reservation, dialing 33(0)1 40 03 75 75.

Up to August 17,  you also have the opportunity to watch a film (in original version) sitting on a lawn, at Prairie du Triangle, Tuesday to Sunday at nightfall. Price € 2  . For € 5 you can book a deck chair and a blanket. Program on : www.cinema.arbo.com/index.php3?p=tous_films -

World musics every Sunday up to August 24 at Folie Belvédere : it’s scènes d’été (Summer Stages), July 20 and 27, August 3,10,17 and 24, one concert at 17.30 and one at 19.30. Free. Program and information on 33(0)1 40 03 75 75.

For all information on these events and detailed programs go to : www.villette.com/

Parc de la Villette, 211 avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris, Metro Porte de Pantin or Porte de la Villette

ephemeral garden and everlasting myth around Paris town hall

At the edge of Marais area’south part, Paris Hôtel de Ville is nowadays offering us two kind of dream, one on each side of the building.

On Town Hall’s eastern side, a free temporary exhibition is dedicated to Grace Kelly, princess of Monaco.

Anyone who has seen her entrance in Hitchcock’s Rear Window (except Jim Stewart, performing the main character) can understand why Grace Kelly became a Hollywood myth, and consequently a prince’s bride.

There is a huge line in the afternoon, so I would suggest to go in the morning if you don’t want to wait too long.

You’ll still have stars in your eyes while walking on rue de Rivoli towards Town Hall square.

There, you can take an ecological and dreamy journey.

A quiet green pond reflects Town Hall’s front.

People rest in the sun close to a wooden cabin.

and luxuriant plants almost hide the traffic of one of Paris most crowded areas.

Les années Grace Kelly, Princesse de Monaco Hôtel de Ville salle Saint-Jean Metro Hôtel de Ville, everyday except Sundays  10/19, free entrance (last entrance 18).  Up to August 16.

Le jardin éphémère, Parvis de l’Hötel de Ville, Metro Hôtel de Ville, free entrance everyday 9/21, up to August 17.

Musée Bourdelle : a quiet journey back to old Paris Montparnasse

The current exhibition Rêve Brisé by Alain Séchas also gives the opportunity to discover the Bourdelle Museum.

It’s a brick building of the sixties, on a quiet street close to the noisy avenue du Maine, Montparnasse Raiway Station and Tower.

Along the street, a garden with benches to sit, rest, dream or read among some of the more than 500 sculptures by Antoine Bourdelle that are permanently exhibited in all parts of the museum. Here a neo antique warrior with a modern background.

The arcades on the museum’s building side makes you almost feel you’re in a cloister, with profane statues.

this one is called the Fruits, and this proud young Eve is typical of many Bourdelle’s women figures.

As this gracious silhouette in the dark of the museum entrance.

Many of Bourdelle’s works are exhibited in a large room lighted by a glass roof.

The famous Héracles archer. (1909)

A bas-relief called La Tragédie, made  in 1912 for the Champs-Elysées Theater.

In the back of the exhibition rooms, you get further in the past, entering the studio where Antoine Bourdelle worked from 1884 up to his death in 1929.

It overlooks a backyard with outdoor scultptures, among these, another (bronze) version of the dying centaur that we just saw in the studio. It is really cool out there, even on hot days.

Back toward the street, you can also visit Bourdelle’s appartment, originaly located impasse du Maine, which no longer exists.

It’s cluttered up with statues which certainly were some place else when Bourdelle lived there, and modern metallic chairs and halogen lamp look terrible. But still, you can get an idea of a nineteenth century Montparnasse artist home, focusing on the few pieces of furniture along the walls.

Musée Bourdelle, 18 rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015 Paris Metro Montparnasse, tel 33(0)1 49 54 73 73, open everyday except Monday 10-18, free entrance when there is no temporary exhibition (currantly Alain Séchas Rêve Brisé up to August 24.

Artsenat 2008 : French Modern Art in Paris Jardin du Luxembourg #2

Most of Artsenat 2008 charm comes from the setting of modern art next to nineteenth century sculptures and in a garden where people also come for other activities.

Morceaux Fleuris (left) and Origine Pop (right) created by Faz in 2008 might not be so charming if they weren’t set on both sides of the tribute to Delacroix by Aimé Jules Dalou and the young lady walking her baby in a red carriage makes the whole installation complete.

Just as the Arbres de Vie (2008) by Nathalie Decoster fit in the green of the original trees.

And the rain has filled the cups of Grand poète ivre (a tribute to Li Po) by Axel Cassel.

Jordi la cage de lumière et de vent 2008

Christophe Dalecki Petite ligne verte

IP 26 by Nicolas Sanhes (2007) shines on its classical architecture background.

And some prefer to sit in the sun and enjoy the view.

Life goes on as ever (I remember riding pony along this alley when I was a kid)

And at the end of this alley stands a huge head.

Tiny young girls next to the 6 meters and a half high Prophète by Louis Derbré (2007) and the statue of Valentine de Milan, duchesse d’Orléans in the background.

The huge profile fitting in the “Allée des reines” (row of nineteenth century statues of ancient queens)

As the half circle made of nine bronze sculptures spell out of the work’s title : Tolérance

Letter “E” of this installation by Guy Ferrer framing the landscape.

After pacing up and down the garden, the nicest place to rest is the fontaine Médicis, next to the Sénat.

There you can sit in the shade along the water.

the sculpture by Auguste-Louis Ottin features cyclops Polyphème in the process of crushing the lovers Acis and Galatée.

Marble and flesh lovers of all ages.

Jardin du Luxembourg 75006 Paris RER Luxembourg. Open from sunrise to sunset. Exhibition Artsénat 2008 up to September 21.

Artsenat 2008, French Modern Art in Paris Jardin du Luxembourg #1

Boulevard Saint-Michel and rue de Médicis all around the Luxembourg garden, iron gates are covered with various large photos.

But inside the garden, during all summer, “Artsénat 2008” proposes an exhibition of French Modern Art, “Du vent dans les branches” (”Wind in the Branches”).

Around Robert Combas, whose work is on the poster, forty less well known artists have settled down in the garden.

You can sit on the lawn next to flowerbeds and large orange Germination (2003/2004) by Philippe Desloubières.

Un certain walkman, created in 1987 by Philippe Seené seems to jump imitating the gesture of the sculpture laying in the bush behind him …

…l’effort, a 1907 sculpture by Pierre Roche.

Figure accroupie (2000) by Jeanne Bouchard seems to be part of the trees around.

While in her Sphère étude n°1 (1995) a skinny Sisyphe rolls his heavy burden over seated readers in front of …

…le triomphe de Silène, triumph of French nineteenth century sculpture, by Aimé-Jules Dalou

The stag in the installation by Roland Cognet (Cerf, 2008) watches the tennis players.

While red strips hang over the chess players heads, it’s du vent dans les branches, the 2008 installation by Jean-Marc Sicard which has given its name to the whole exhibition. Around the trunks, red strips on which one can read the riddle written on the hanging ones : “être dans le vent est une ambition de feuille morte”( to be trendy is a dead leaf’s ambition )

In front of the Orangerie stands the huge Pôt de jambes en bouquet de pieds et de mollets (pot of legs with a bunch of feet and calves) created in 2007 by Robert Combas.

If you are in Paris this week, up to June 15, you can see works exhibited in the Orangerie.

In front of the entrance, a 2006 canvas by Robert Combas is facing his outdoor sculpture : le guerrier païen (the pagan warrior).

The Orangerie hall, with Extrusion de feuilles, a 2008 sculpture by Jean Isnard, in front of Cut hands, a 2007 painting by Michèle Robine.

Forêt de Songes and Le corbeau (2007), by Philippe Borderieux, in front of Eve on the promised land, two 2007 canvasses by Corinne Phima.

Enjoy 24 and 25 by Xio Fan Ru (2007)

Banc (bench, 2008) and Evitement (High pass (?), 2007), installation by Jean-Paul Réti in front of le Pont (the bridge, 2007) by Stéphane Pencréac’h.

La source by Stéphane Pencréac’h (2007)

Part of Arbre # 2 (2003) by Tian Bing Li .

Artsénat 2008, Orangerie du Sénat 19 bis rue de Vaugirard 75006 Paris (entrance in Luxembourg garden) everyday 11/19, up to June 15, free entrance. Program of following exhibitions on http://www.senat.fr/evenement/artsenat/2008/index.htm

Artsénat 2008, “Du vent dans les branches”, jardin du Luxembourg, entrance rue de Vaugirard, RER B station Luxembourg, open everyday from sunrise to sunset, free entrance, up to September 21.

Summer coming in Paris : enjoy opera outdoor

June in Paris, season of outdoor opera in gorgeous settings.

This year, it’s Jacques Offenbach’s les contes d’Hoffmann (Hoffmann’s Tales)

This week it takes place in Paris Jardin du Luxembourg, and the scene is set in front the Senat Palace.

If the weather is fine (and it’s definitely better to go on a warm evening) you can take a walk in the garden and buy a ticket on the spot, close to the Senat and the rue de Vaugirard in front of Odeon theater entrance. It starts at 21.15 and runs on June 12,13 and 14. Price : 89 euros (”Carré d’or”), 67, 57 and 39 euros.

Then it will take place in Parc de Sceaux, in front of the castle on June 26, 27 and 28, and it’s a beautiful location too. I was there last year for die Zauberflöte and it was delightful. But this year, weather is a bit hectic theses days, so you’d better check weather forecast before booking in advance, calling 0892 707 920 (from France only).

From July 12 to September 14 takes place in Parc de Sceaux the Orangerie Festival, indoor classical music concerts, every Saturday and Sunday evenings, interesting to combine with a walk in this beautiful garden. Informations on : http://festival.orangerie.free.fr/

Reservation : FNAC and http://www.concertclassic.com/

After Sceaux, les contes d’Hoffmann will travel in other places in France, up to September

All information and reservation on : http://www.akouna.com/operaenpleinair/

Jardin du Luxembourg 75006 Paris, RER Luxembourg, main entrance Boulevard Saint-Michel, south entrance rue Auguste Comte, east entrance rue Guynemer, north entrances on rue de Vaugirard. Open everyday sunrise to sunset.

Parc de Sceaux RER B station Parc de Sceaux. Open everyday from sunrise to sunset. All information on http://www.pds92.net/parcdesceaux/accueil.htm

Louise Bourgeois : welcoming hands for you in Paris Tuileries Garden

The great monographic exhibition dedicated to Louise Bourgeois in Paris Beaubourg is closing on June 2.

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If you can’t make it, it will be shown next in New York Guggenheim, and then in Los Angeles. But in Paris, you still have the opportunity of visiting a sculpture installation by Louise Bourgeois in Tuileries garden.

Welcoming hands displays six sculptures of bronze hands laid on granite stones, created in 1996 and originally set in New York.

holding hands, and a single tiny hand.

the installation is located on the Jeu de Paume museum side, overlooking place de la Concorde and Richard Serra’s Clara-Clara.

They invite you to a strange journey wandering among them, and as most of Louise Bourgeois’s work, they provoke deep ans contrary feelings.

A most appropriate visitor’s reaction and attitude was Carolina laying her young pink hands in the hollow of the sculptured hands. She really got the artist’s point.

Jardin des Tuileries 1 place de la Concorde 75008 Paris, metro Concorde, opened everyday up to sunset.

Richard Serra in Paris : a walk in Grand Palais and Tuileries gardens

Monumenta is a special artistic event in Paris, confronting art and architecture : it shows a work specially created by a contemporary artist to match wit the huge and beautiful Grand Palais glass roof . This glass and steel cathedral was built by architect Henri Deglane for the 1900 universal exhibition. It has been recently renovated, and the first Monumenta occurred last year with an installation by Anselm Kiefer.

For Monumenta 2008, Richard Serra created Promenade

Though it was raining cats and dogs yesterday afternoon in Paris, it did not prevent tourists to take pictures sheltered under their umbrella. So, as you can see, I did the same.

And what better place to take a walk than the Grand Palais nave ?

The artist’s idea was to work on uprightness, so he has erected five huge steel rectangles aiming to the glass roof, disposed along a median line, though they are not exactly perpendicular to the ground. And visitors walking around look tiny.

If you get closer, perspective changes, and you discover that the surface is not plain nor even, but veined with different shades.

As Richard Serra says : “My work mostly deals with wandering and looking, but I can’t tell anyone how to walk or how to look.” Some like to touch it too.

Monumenta 2008 closes on June 15, but should you miss it, you still have the whole summer and fall to experiment another walk with Richard Serra’s work. You just have to go down the Champs-Elysées avenue, cross place de la Concorde and enter Tuileries gardens.

You go through Clara-Clara, which was designed in 1983 for this particular location, but had been removed since. 25 five years later, visitors seem much more receptive to this experience. And this is good news.

Its curbed lines enhance the straight perspective from Arc de Triomphe to Louvre. Just as Promenade, it is both a sculpture and an installation, and the movement, scale and changing point of view of the visitor is part of the work.

Monumenta 2008, up to June 15, Nef du Grand Palais, Main entrance, Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris metro Champs-Elysées-Clémenceau. 10 to 19 Mondays and Wednesdays, 10 to 23 Thursday to Sunday. Closed on Tuesday. Entrance 4 euros. Special events on Saturday nights : Saturday June 7 at 19.30, concert : Etudes and other works for Solo Piano by Philip Glass. Saturday June 14 at 19.30, sound surrounding by Motus. More information on : http://www.monumenta.com/2008/

Clara-Clara will be part of the outdoor modern sculpture exhibition in the Tuileries gardens, up to November 3, entrance place de la Concorde, metro Concorde (way out towards Jeu de Paume and Orangerie museums). Free entrance, open daily up to sunset.

Paris Museum of Romantic Life : German romanticism…and roses

Paris “Musée de la vie romantique” always shows delightful exhibitions related to romanticism, and it is one of the most exquisite places to visit, specially in this season.

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These days, “The Golden Age of German Romanticism ” shows drawings and watercolors by German artists working at Goethe’s time, including a View of Rome by Goethe himself. Besides Füssli and Friedrich ( three beautiful drawings by each), it is an opportunity to discover less well known artists, like J.G Shadow, whose portrait of Schiller is on the exhibition’s poster.

In a doorway rue Chaptal #26 opens an alley, and walking along makes you think you’re far away from Paris.

At the end of it, you come to light at the museum’s entrance.

The exhibition rooms are in three different buildings, so going from one place to another, you cross the courtyard and its gorgeous flowers.

The last part of the exhibition takes place in the central house, and to get in, you climb up the outdoor stairs adorned with the most beautiful roses.

It is part of Ary Scheffer’s townhouse, a painter of early nineteenth century, and you go through his living room.

When we left, we were a bit disappointed to discover that the tea room had not opened yet, for it is part of the place’s charm. If you come in June, it will be open.

Then, you will enjoy tea time in the garden, with bird songs and children voices from the next door school. Lovely.

Musée de la Vie Romantique, 16 rue Chaptal 75009 Paris metro Saint-Georges tel 33(0)1 55 31 95 67 open 10 to 18, closed on Monday. Exhibition : L’âge d’or du Romantisme Allemand, up to June 15, enter 7 euros. Information on www.vie-romantique.paris.fr/