Hi there,
Best wishes for 2020!
Did you celebrate well?
What are your resolutions? If you have any, tell me!
Do you want to know mine?
Well, be happy of course. Be happy with small things and precious moments with friends & family. Meet other people, or maybe really see and get to know people and treasure them for who they are. Listen. Embrace the uniqueness and try to not to focus too much on the differences that are upsetting. Be good and be patient. But not too tolerant, no, not tolerant for injustice. See the humor of awkward situations. Laugh a lot, laugh out loud, with tears if necessary. Be grateful.
I started this blogpost at the beginning of December. And then time just faded away. We left for Mexico in the middle of December, to visit Oldest and his girlfriend. X-mas was wonderful, our family gathered on the beach.
In November we went to Paris, my two sisters and I. It was a late present for my sister, whose birthday party was half a year ago.
So I want to take you to Paris! I won’t go in to everything we did, but I’ll just focus on the most special visit, to the exhibition of Charlotte Perriand, at the foundation Louis Vuitton, located in an impressive silvery artwork. It lasts until February 24th. Go if you are interested in interior design, or just art in general, a really must-see exhibition!
Walking up there, in the Bois the Bologne, and seeing this magnificent building was a treat for the eye. The architect is Frank Gehry, also the designer of the Guggenheim in Bilbao among many others. The interior is huge and unique. Upstairs you can go outside and have splendid views from the different terraces.
So who’s Charlotte Perriand? One of the biggest and inventive architects from the past century. She worked with and for Le Corbusier and was a specialist in designing interiors for small apartments. She was so far ahead of her time in seeing the necessity of living in limited square meters. Also her engagement in society is shown in the expo. It was her wish that all natural resources and cultural heritage be available to all people:
Laisserons nous perdre cet héritage!
Il faut continuer la tradition
en allant de l’avant
Libérer les richesses naturelles
et culturelles au profit de
tous les hommes
Chaise longue and Fauteuil grand confort
A scale model of an apartment
Small apartments and student dorms, meticulously designed to fit everything in 
A kind of cubicle, prefabricated
The exhibition is large and elaborate. Charlotte’s life was long and she kept on working in so many areas. She lived in Japan and Brazil for some time and mingled that inspiration in to her work.
Of Japanese influence
She loved to wander on the beach and collect stones and other natural material she found and use their shapes into her own creations.
Equally as important, other works of contemporary artists are shown in this exhibition. To name a few: Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier (of course), Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró…
Fernand Léger
Alexander Calder
Le Corbusier
taking a rest in le fauteuil grand confort 😉
And what else did we do? Just walk under the blue autumn sky.
In the Musée des Arts Décoratifs we found two other interesting exhibitions: Marche et démarche, about the history of the shoes and Affiches Cubaines, on graphic design in Cuba.
Did you know that foot binding – lotus feet – in China had also a sexual purpose?
Cuban art
Remember poor Marie Antoinette? Picture by Erwin Olaf
She was an inspiration for art, fashion and of course the movie industry. We visited her last residence, before she was guided to the guillotine. The exhibition “Marie Antoinette, metamorphosis of an image” is held in the prison where she spent her last weeks. Vive la république!
Just one last minute tip, to satisfy our culinary aspirations. Two great restaurants (need to book upfront!): Fluctuat and Caïus.
It was just two days, in one of the loveliest cities of course, and being immersed in art, I can happily end by these words of Charlotte:
Synthèse des Arts:
Elle joue à travers le temps, les continents.
Harmonie de même origine, mettant l’homme en état d’euphorie.
Elle enrichit son regard sur les choses,
elle le rend libre.
A la prochaine! Sophie
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