Drakes in France: Day 2

Musée d'Orsay

We went to the Musée d'Orsay which, based on my art preferences, I consider the greatest art museum in the world.

Paintings

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Jeunes files au piano Young Girls at the Piano

Vincent Van Gogh - La Chambre de Van Gogh à Arles (Bedroom in Arles)

Vincent Van Gogh - Nuit étoilée sur le Rhône (Starry Night Over the Rhône)

Carol taking a picture

Everyone taking a picture

Vincent Van Gogh - L'Église d'Auvers-sur-Oise (The Church at Auvers).

The Church at Auvers plays a prominent role in "Vincent and the Doctor", the tenth episode of the fifth series of the revived science-fiction television programme Doctor Who in 2010. In this episode the painting depicts a strange, griffin-esque creature (called a krafayis) at a window of the church, which signifies to the show's time-travelling protagonist, the Doctor, that something evil was lurking in Auvers-sur-Oise in June 1890. Only when van Gogh himself, played by Tony Curran, defeats the creature at the church, does the painting revert to its original, unaltered, state. The krafayis is later revealed to have been blind, with blindness to the colors and shapes of the world and sky (as Vincent saw them) being a recurring theme of the episode

Paul Gauguin - Et l'or de leurs corps (And the Gold of Their Bodies)

Claude Monet - Le Jardin de l'artiste à Giverny

Her parents posed her in front of the painting, and I thought she was too cute not to get a picture.

Claude Monet - Woman with a Parasol. See larger versions below. I love these two paintings. Which do you prefer, facing left or right? Leave a comment.

Claude Monet - Essai de figure en plein-air : Femme à l'ombrelle tournée vers la droite (Woman with a Parasol, facing right)

Claude Monet - Essai de figure en plein-air : Femme à l'ombrelle tournée vers la gauche (Woman with a Parasol, facing left)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Bal du moulin de la Galette (Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette)

Vincent Van Gogh - Fritillaires, couronne impériale dans un vase de cuivre (Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase)

Claude Monet - Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe Dinner on the Grass

Sculptures

Busts (peekaboo)

Camille Claudel - L'Age mûr, or The Mature Age. This work reflects Claudel's abandonment by Auguste Rodin, who refused to marry her: She implores him kneeling while he prefers coming back to Rose, his longtime girlfriend.

Jean-Antoine Injalbert - Vase orné de mascarons, de nymphes et de satyres (Vase decorated with nymphs and satyrs)

Edgar Degas - Petite danseuse de quatorze ans (Little Dancer of Fourteen Years). This very famous scupture had been moved into a dark exhibition and put into glass for safety. This was me using a 14mm lens pressed up against the glass to remove glare.

Oddities

Vincent Van Gogh - Deux fillettes. Why did Van Gogh paint two children with adult faces?

Arc de Triomphe

Our visit to the Arc de Triomphe. Up the from the Champs Elysées from the Place de la Concord

The Arc

Carol decided it was her job to document my documenting...

I think this is like people who try to hold up the Leaning Tower in Pisa. I'd like to see the final picture.

Paris Opera

Where the pretty people hang on a Paris evening

The pretty people.

Food

It was sooo good I forgot to take a picture until the end. Mamie Burger, Paris. French fries in France, Belgium, and Germany are THE BEST! Walking by cafes seeing people eat food with fries was killing me, so I found a highly rated burger/fries joing on google maps.

The burger wars in Paris - the King and the Clown right next to each other.

No quarter pounder... the Royal!

Fashion, etc.

In general people, especially men, don't wear shorts in Paris. I think this guy tried to mix comfort and fashion, and failed at both. Elastic bands to hold his glasses. Dark dress socks. Dress shoes. Short-sleeved dress shirt tucked into dress(?) shorts.