Visiting Paris Part Two: A Marathon First Day

Our first day in Paris involved a great deal of walking. In fact, every day in Paris involved a great deal of walking. We figure we spent at least seven hours each day either walking through the city streets or traipsing through museums. We started out first outing by taking the metro to the Champs Elysées area where we first visited the Arc de Triomphe. Here's a few photos of us looking rather windblown as we admire Napoleon's monument to his own war-time achievements.

Next, we walked down the Champs Elysées, through the Place de la Concorde, until we reached the Tuileries Gardens that surround the Louvre. It wasn't until later in the week that we discovered that the Musée Orangerie, adjascent to the Louvre, had just reopened after 6 years of construction that were required to resolve problematic additions made to the structure in the last century. We foolishly failed to take the opportunity to visit the museum. Oh well. Can't do it all. Unlike previous times I've visited this area, the weather didn't permit us to really enjoy the gardens--too cold and windy.

So, after only a few minutes of sitting in lawn chairs to admire the landscape, we moved on to our next task: a self-guided tour of the Opera Garnier, which was constructed by Charles Garnier at the end of the 19th Century. We intended to buy tickets to see a dance performance at the Opera later in the week, but an attendant informed me that the box office wouldn't open unti Monday morning. Until then, we contended ourselves with admiring the building's amazing interior, including its famous Marc Chagall ceiling, which the artist painted in 1964.

Our final stop of the day was the Marais where we wandered about before finally ending up at the Picasso Museum where we took in a Dora Maar exhibit. While I knew that Maar was Picasso's mistress and the model and inspiration for many of his paintings, I'd never had the opportunity to see any of her work. The exhibition showcased Maar's extraordinary photographs, including her photos of Picasso painting Guernica, which critics say have changed the way we understand the production of that particularly famous Picasso painting.

"She documented the work in such a careful way we now have a much better understanding of how his mind worked," says Carol Henry of Art Exhibitions Australia. "Her photos show us exactly in what sequence the line and form and colour were added." Although most of Maar's work seemed to be exhibited as "commentary" on her famous lover's art, her photographs, as evidenced by the two works show below, are beautiful and artisticially significant in their own right.

Bather (1931-36) and Silence (1935-36)

Once again, it seems a a female artist was left in the shadows of her male counterpart, or so it would seem after viewing this particular exhibit. I've since discovered that other recent exhibitions and analysis in the United States and Europe are beginning to shift the focus away from her relationship with Picasso to the merits of Maar's own fascinating and often radical work as a photographer.