Last Days in Paris with the Godfreys



After long days at Versailles and the Louvre, we were ready to visit some smaller museums on Thursday.  Kelly was able to get away from his work and come with Shauna, Todd and me.  After the usual morning rain cleared, we went to the Hôtel Biron where the sculptor Rodin lived and worked.  It is located near Napoleon's tomb.  We waited for a day without rain because there are a lot of his sculptures displayed outdoors.

Napolean's Tomb from the Gardens at the Rodin Museum

Rodin was commissioned to create doors for a museum that never was built.  These doors are his Gates of Hell from Dante's Inferno.  His Thinker sculpture was originally created for the Gates of Hell.

Gates of Hell

Le Penseur

Rodin's Victor Hugo statue depicts him sitting on the rocks of the Island of Guernsey where he lived in exile.  He reaches out to calm the waves and the Tragic Muse accompanies him.  We also love the statue of the French novelist Honoré Balzac.  Rodin aimed to portray the writer's persona rather than a physical likeness. Balzac is larger than life and imposing.

Shauna with Victor Hugo



Balzac Statue

The statue of the Burghers of Calais was commissioned by the city of Calais, France, to memorialize the 500th anniversary of the Hundred Years' War.  Calais, on the English Channel, was under siege by the English for over a year and the people were starving.  The English offered to spare the city if six of its top leaders would surrender themselves, presumably to be executed.  The king demanded that they walk out wearing nooses around their necks and carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders and then five other burghers volunteered.  This is the moment Rodin depicts with a poignant mix of defeat, heroic self-sacrifice, and willingness to face imminent death.  Although they expected to be executed, their lives were spared by England's queen, who told her husband that their deaths would be a bad omen for their unborn child.  The power, anguish and resignation on the faces of the Burghers makes this one of our favorite sculptures.


The Burghers of Calais

The Kiss

We ate our baguette sandwiches on a bench in the garden of the museum and then set off for the Marmottan Museum.  It is another small museum in a mansion with an impressive collection of Impressionist art.  Monet's son left his personal collection to the museum and it has paintings by the impressionist artist Berthe Morisot, who was married to the brother of Manet.  There is also a collection of illuminated manuscripts.  It contains Monet's painting entitled Impression: Sunrise of the harbor in Le Havre where Monet was from.  Impressionism is the term that was initially used derisively by the critics to describe this new style of painting by Monet and the other artists who were rejected by the French Academy from exhibiting in the officially sanctioned art shows. They felt the paintings weren't finished.  But the artists embraced the label and started using it themselves.  The Marmottan is a little gem of a museum.

Kelly at the Marmottan

Impression:  Sunrise

Triptych of the Assumption of the Virgin
in the Arms of Christ and Eight
Scenes of the Death of the Virgin
XIII Century

We walked out to blue sky and view of the Eiffel Tower.  We welcome those days where the sky is not gray all day.

Eiffel Tower and Blue Sky

Friday was going to be rainy again so we opted for a day at the Musée d'Orsay.  This museum is in an old abandoned train station and is so beautiful.

Musée d'Orsay

My favorites were the Van Gogh paintings.  He died at Auvers-sur-Oise and left behind a room in the inn filled with his paintings.  Below are a sampling of a few of my favorite paintings at this museum.

Church at Auvers-sur-Oise by Van Gogh

Van Gogh Self Portrait

Todd and Van Gogh's Starry Night

Monet's La Rue Montogueil, à Paris
fête du 30 juin 1878

Caillebotte's The Floor Scrapers

Friday evening Shauna, Todd and I went to Galeries Lafayette to look for some gifts for them to take home to their kids.  The stained glass dome here in the center of the store is so impressive!  It is such a beautiful store.  The souvenirs here are all made in France.  It's a nice change from the usual tourists shops.

On Todd and Shauna's last day in Paris, we went to the Cluny Museum, a former abbey built on the ruins of the Roman baths from the beginning of the Third Century AD.  It was the town house of the Abbots of Cluny, and was built starting in 1334 and rebuilt from 1485 to 1510.  It contains the national museum of the middle ages.  We were able to walk inside the remnants of the Frigidarium or cooling room of the Roman baths.

Musée du Moyen Age

A couple of my favorite pieces were the golden reliquary in the shape of a foot from the XIVth century and the wooden statue of John the Baptist.  I love the look on John the Baptist's face.  I also liked the carved statue on wheels of Christ on the back of a donkey that was used in processionals.

Foot Reliquary of St. Adalhard

Kelly with John the Baptist

We found a good little pizza place around the corner for dinner Saturday night and took one last bus ride to the Eiffel Tower.  A nice couple from Vancouver, Canada was kind enough to take our picture.  We had such a fun week with Todd and Shauna and covered a lot of Paris.  It was hard to see them leave.