Le Petit Palais, in the heart of Paris has two shows dedicated to 18th century art on now through July 9, 2017. One is Le Baroque des Lumières featuring the best paintings from Parisian churches and the other is De Watteau à David. What a century this was far art, from Boucher’s frolicsome picnics, historical paintings, ancient ruins, to the art of the French revolution. The official museum website refers to the twin exhibits as un florilège (uhn flor-e-lege), or a gathering of remarkable things. What a lovely word!
America Collects 18th Century French Painting
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The musée Marmottan Monet, on the edge of the genteel 16th arrondissement of Paris, has just a few special exhibits a year and I often find that I’ve arived either too late or too early for their latest offering. This summer, I’ll arrive on time to see the first show in Paris dedicated to 
Pissarro moved outside of Paris with his family to live more economically and he often painted his modest village and its surroundings. I found a great Pissarro quote, “Benis soient ceux qui sont capables de voir la beauté dans les lieux les plus modestes là où d’autres ne voient rien” which means “Blessed are those who are capable of seeing beauty in the humblest places where others see nothing.” Well, the musée Marmottan Monet is about as far from a humble place as it is possible to get! Pissarro would probably be surprised by all the attention.
In the 18th century, Venice had become marginal as a military power, but it compensated by becoming the center for celebrations for all of Europe. Through forty works of art, this exhibit brings to life what was going on in Venice based on four themes: music and dancing; opera and theatre; displays of power; and Carnaval’s contributions to Venice.
Sérénissime (say-ray-nee-seem) means “serene” when used in a title, such as son Altesse sérénissime, or “his Serene Highness.” It is also the nickname of Venice, alough I can’t imagine a less serene place to be than in Venice during Carnaval!
This week, I got the official dates for my summer job in Paris. The plan is to arrive a few days before the set-up week starts so I can get over the weight of jetlag and to visit the south of France for a week once it’s over. This will give me time to take in a few museum exhibitions because once the program starts, days pass more rapidly than the high-speed train I’ll take down south.
First up is Au-delà des étoiles: le paysage mystique de Monet à Kandinsky (owe du-lah days ay-twahl) at the musée d’Orsay. In English, the title is “Beyond the Stars. The Mystical Landscape from Monet to Kandinsky”. The show is already open and if you’ll be in Paris, you can catch it until June 25, 2017. It features works by Symbolist artists who opted for mystery over science in their depictions of landscapes.
I’ve been following the French election with great interest. On the news, they kept referring to the “Koo Jay” of each party and it took me a while to realize that they were saying QG. This refers to le quartier général, or headquarters of, in this case, the political aspirants. As you probably well know, the choice on May 7 is centrist Emmanuel Macron who founded the En Marche! party about a year ago versus Marine Le Pen of Le Front National.
It’s finally spring in New England. That means that the students at my school have swapped pants and coats for short shorts and shorter skirts, putting a lot of leg on display. Cannes de serin (kan duh sare-ahn) is slang for “canary legs”; the expression refers to twiggy little matchstick legs. The bird in the photo above is a sandpiper, rather than a canary, but its jambes do bear rather a strong resemblance to some of the adolescents in my world.
