Escargot, Hugo & Other Tasties

Today began at the Musée d'Orsay. The d'Orsay houses art from1848 to about the turn of the twentieth century. We saw a few more pieces of Delacroix's work and this famous painting by Cabanel (1864) that our art history teacher seems to think was created more for the titillation of men than as serious art. She had the same attitude toward much of the sculpture we saw as well.

Pieces like this. Sexist that I am, I liked it. The eroticism was acceptable when the art was classical and mythic in nature. Manet broke the code. He put his naked women in contemporary scenes and more realistic settings. That was apparently totally controversial, the Academy was not impressed. Manet was one of many artists whose work wasn't acceptable, bringing about a famous Salon of the Rejected—which birthed the move to impressionism, etc. The politics of art. Getting your work accepted into the Academy's Salons basically determined an artist's career.

Manet's Olympia is another of the famous images at the d'Orsay. It reflects the epitome of the struggle between the Academy and the modern movement. Olympia is an unrepentant prostitute whose realism and lack of romanticized presentation offended just about everyone. I like it too. Perhaps I'm too easy to please. My sense is that each work reflects something of its times, and that's what fascinates me. I do have a prejudice for beauty, including erotic beauty, though I understand that the eroticism served a purpose that was eventually transferred to photography about mid-nineteenth century.

So anyway, we spent the morning in the Musée d'Orsay learning about art. Then I left, stopping to take a picture of yet another horse. I seem to be enthralled all of a sudden with horses. This one is just outside the museum. I took the Metro across the Seine (and for once, it was across, not under), back to the Marais.

We were scheduled to meet in the afternoon to look at the architecture of Place des Vosges, a "prefect" representation of Renaissance architecture. Conveniently, it's also where Victor Hugo lived for many years and where his museum is located. I spent the afternoon there.

The Place des Vosges is a huge enclosure created around a large park that was originally a jousting ring. All the buildings are red brick rising over an arched arcade. It's a big, expansive place that was built in the early 17th century by the protestant  king, Henry IV (1589-1610), the one almost killed in the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre. It was a place for the very wealthy. In fact, the covered arcade was meant to protect them from the perils of walking the filthy streets and is considered the first "shopping center."

I sat in a café under the arcade, which is home to many expensive shops. It's outside, but under an arched roof. I indulged in escargot for lunch. I'd never done it before and yum—it was very fun and made me feel trés elegant and French—seemed to go with the locale. They tasted sort of like muscles to me, but that was probably the garlic butter.

After lunch I tackled Hugo's apartments. According to the audio guide, Liszt and Berlioz were among the many guests that visited him in these rooms. The most fascinating thing I saw was Hugo's desk. I don't have a good picture of it because flash is not allowed and the picture is dark, but what was startling was how tall it was. Hugo wrote standing up! I'm thinking of setting a scene in these apartments during the 1848 Revolution.






Hugo was  also a connoisseur of interior design. He liked to find antiques and oddities and was quite drawn to objects of d'art oriental, which was of course very popular in his day. His bed was a four-poster of dark wood, very sensuous and beautiful. I sat for quite awhile in his salon, the red room where he entertained. Like I said yesterday, I've been listening to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and feeling very taken by Hugo at the moment. His writing is brilliant, ironic and compelling. He's sort of washing over me like a wave.

Speaking of which, I got home before the rains. We had a genuine thunder storm tonight which was actually welcome. The humidity today was outrageous and the storm cooled things down, freshened the air and was dramatic and exciting. I should have run out to Pére Lachaise! (Two exclamation marks in the same diary... boy, the literary police will not be happy about that.)