I had the apartment to myself on my last morning in Paris. Cynthia was spending time with Joao in their hotel room and I used the night to blog, getting to bed at 6:30am. I watched the day begin out the window and the people leave the club next door. One girl yelled Bon Suelo, which confused me, because that means good evening. I didn’t have much time to sleep. Cynthia came home a few hours later and wasn’t feeling well. She agreed to let me sleep and we scheduled a meeting time for 1:30pm in front of the Pompedu, the “largest modern art collection in all of Europe”. But she didn’t want to go inside. I prepared myself with a sandwich (which looked rather plain, but on fresh baguette from Paris, a sandwhich is never plain).
The Pompedu
I start by searching for the permanent collection. This place is worse than the Louvre for finding my way… but I’m not alone. I climbed stairs and wandered around, seeing a group of people on the outside staircase, but I can’t figure out how the hell they got out there! At least there’s some some elaborate modern art decorating the place to entertain me along the way.
Once I ascend on the string of escalators on the outside of the building, but enclosed by glass, I find my way to what I came to see. It’s the art from about 1920 – 1980 on the 4th and 5th floors. The 5th floor is where it’s at. There was so much experimentation with techniques and ideas during this time. I see works by Matise, Giocometti, Pollack, Rouaclt, Dubuffet, Braque… I don’t like them all, but I appreciate the go they had at it. Besides, their purpose wasn’t to make art that was liked, it was to try something new, express a single idea or simply their attitude. Some I LOVE and notice that I never would have expected these things to work, but they do. It’s like coffee… who came up with that! How do you know unless you try.
It’s ironic to me, how I haven’t painted much in 15 years because “I don’t know what to paint”. I worry that my ideas aren’t worth the canvas space. But here are these artists how stretch a 30 foot canvas just to scribble on it. Or build a gigantic tiled room installation just to frame a cartoon. Or cast a huge bronze sculpture and not bother with depicting the fingers of the figure… but here, their work is on display for the past 35 + years! I could use some of this arrogance if I plan to show my colors as an artist.
The shortened and more illustrated version of this day
Cynthia and I took a boat ride, on this cool and stormy, to view the city from the water. The most notable attraction was the required, Eiffel Tower.
That evening, we went for absinthe!
Goodbye to Paris!
