Well, as said many times I love to drive to a place , then unload and walk, and walk, and walk with my family in tow gasping for a break ! This again is the best way to see a city a country anything, I was lucky me think, to have first worked by Montparnasse train station and later my entry point to Paris from my current Morbihan breton, It is heavenly eternal Paris, However, for many nostalgic souls of Paris, Montparnasse is tops and I agree, Let me tell about this is Montparnasse in Paris, part IV !!! in my black and white series, no pictures. Hope you enjoy it as I.
You will follow in the footsteps of famous artists, writers and politicians with a visit to Montparnasse. In the years that followed WWI or the Great War, this area became a bohemian magnet. Among the famous names to have lived here were the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, French writer Jean Cocteau and the French poet and playwright Guillaume Apollinaire, who died in 1918. Some political exiles also made Montparnasse their home, including Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. The district was however from 1900 and especially during the inter-war period the heart of Parisian artistic and intellectual life. After Apollinaire, Gauguin, Matisse and Douanier Rousseau, many foreign artists, mostly Jews, went into exile in Paris to find conditions favorable to the development of their art. Modigliani, Zadkine, Soutine, Chagall… So many names that will then form “L’École de Paris”, an appellation that designates more a group of people than a real artistic movement. The world-famous painter Pablo Picasso was one of the first artists to leave Montmartre and settle in Montparnasse, and behind him followed a flood of intellectuals and artists like Cézanne, Jean-Paul Sartre, Giacometti, Dali or Ernest Hemingway. All this intellectual and artistic effervescence really contributed to the creative and libertarian atmosphere that characterized Montparnasse in the Roaring Twenties, which can be considered as the Golden Age of Montparnasse.
At the entrance to boulevard Edgar Quinet, allée George Besse, you can see a sculpture by Ossip Zadkine, La Naissance des Formes, posed here in 2012. Then go to passage d’Enfer, to the right of rue Campagne- Premiére, elegant passage , unfortunately fenced , where the photographer Man Ray lived from 1922 to 1940. Finally, in the house at 242 boulevard Raspail Picasso settled temporarily in 1911. Take Rue Campagne-Première. Note the building at no 31 magnificently clad in sandstone by Alexandre Bigot, the same ceramist who decorated the Lavirotte building. Arrived at Boulevard du Montparnasse, turn right and go to the Closerie des Lilas, one of the mythical brasseries of the district where artists and intellectuals like Gide, Jarry or Apollinaire met. Turn left and take Avenue de l’Observatoire. Note the superb Fontaine Quatre Parties du Monde or four parts of the world fountain, also called the Observatory Fountain, the work of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Completed in 1874, it offers a superb view of the Jardin du Luxembourg Gardens. Cross the Jardin des Grands Explorateurs then turn left before the Jardin du Luxembourg Walk along rue Auguste Comte, turn right on rue d’Assas then turn rue Vavin. If you want to discover Zadkine’s work, the Zadkine Museum is located at 100 bis, rue d’Assas Zadkine was a contemporary sculptor. His former workshop transformed into a museum allows the organization of a certain number of exhibitions or various cultural events such as the presentation and signing of artists’ books, interventions, performances. At n°26 rue Vavin is a superb white ceramic building designed by the architect Henri Sauvage. Note the top floors built on a terrace.
The Musée Bourdelle let you stroll in the workshops and gardens of the late 19C sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. Bourdelle studied under the more famous sculptor, Rodin, for years. The sculptures are impressive and the garden is scattered with them which makes it look, in my opinion, like an old backyard from Antiquity. It is located at 18 Rue Antoine Bourdelle 15éme
Located in the heart of the Montparnasse district, the Musée de la Poste or Postal Museum surprises us with its rich and old collections, around the postal universe. There are historical (37,000 pieces), philatelic (400,000 pieces) and artistic (6,000 pieces of modern and contemporary art) collections that tell us the story of the French postal services, but also that of France. You can regularly discover themed exhibitions, special visits and workshops for the whole family, It is located at 34 boulevard de Vaugirard 15éme.
The Fondation Cartier was created by the very famous French jewelry maker “Cartier”. But the goal of this artistic center has nothing to do with jewelry: it is actually to discover and promote new contemporary artists from France and all around the world. Last but not least, you can end your visit in the garden of the foundation which itself is a work of art. The 35 different species of trees and 200 species of plants will make you forget the busy boulevards and plunge you into an exotic and enchanted atmosphere. It is located at 261 Boulevard Raspail 14éme
After scaling the area’s heights, venture underground to explore the Catacombs of Paris. This is a labyrinth of underground tunnels, some of which have walls embedded with skulls, bones and other skeletal fragments. There are the remains of approximately six million Parisians in the catacombs, many of which were transferred here during the 18C and 19C when some of the city’s graveyards were being closed. During the time of Revolutionary Terror in the 1790s, many cemeteries of Paris were closed for sanitary reasons. But the remaining bones of the six million corpses had to be put somewhere and the best idea they found was actually to bury them under Paris !! Located entrance at 1 Av. du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy,14éme
The Montparnasse Cemetery is somewhat unique because there are a lot of artists buried there. But mostly you can see the tomb of very well-known intellectuals and French artists like Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Charles Baudelaire along with many others. Pick up a map at the entrance on Boulevard Edgard Quinet.You take rue Huyghens then go straight to the Cimetière du Montparnasse. Take a tour of this pretty cemetery where many personalities are buried, such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Serge Gainsbourg, Samuel Beckett, Antoine Bourdelle, Ossip Zadkine, Constantin Brancusi,etc. It is located entrance at 3 Boulevard Edgar Quinet 14éme
You have spectacular views of the district or arrondissement and the rest of Paris from the Maine-Montparnasse Tower, a 700-feet (213-meters) skyscraper. In addition to the observation deck there is also a shopping plaza on the top floor. Some people have commented that the views from here are even better than those from the Eiffel Tower’s viewing platforms. Indeed, The view is absolutely striking and offers you a whole panorama of Paris. If you can get there for the sunset, you definitely are the luckiest person alive, The Tour Montparnasse’s 59th-floor Observation Deck boasts dazzling Eiffel Tower views. Rather than looking out from the Eiffel Tower, you can gaze straight at it – arguably the best view in Paris! Main entrance at 33 Avenue du Maine 15éme
The Paris Observatory is the oldest observatory still in use. It is actually one of the observatories that helped to launch the field of meteorology in Europe. This observatory started construction in 1667 for the Sun King’s, Louis XIV of France, astronomers! He ruled over France for a whopping 72 years and 110 days! Today, the observatory is still at the heart of French astronomy and considered a major institution in the world of science today! It is located at 61 Avenue de l’Oservatoire 14éme,
Then take rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs to rue de la Grande Chaumière, symbol of the great hours of Montparnasse. Built to welcome the faithful workers of the 14éme arrondissement or district at the beginning of the 20C, the Notre-Dame -du-Travail Church reveals a breathtaking iron and steel structure once you cross its threshold. For the record, the 135 tons of iron used in the construction of the church came largely from the Palais de l’Industrie, built for the 1855 World’s Fair and destroyed three decades later to make way for the construction of the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais. A plaque at number 8 recalls that Gauguin and Modigliani had their workshops in this building. At No. 10 was the Académie Colarossi, named after the sculptor Flippo Colarossi, where Rodin, among others, taught. Finally, you will see at No. 14 a painting academy founded by Antoine Bourdelle. At the end of the street, you arrive at the Carrefour Vavin, today Place Pablo Picasso. Here was the intellectual lung of the district, in particular thanks to its four large brasseries (Le Dôme, La Coupole, La Rotonde and Le Select) where artists, at the time penniless, spent more time remaking the world than to consume it.
In the 1920’s and later on, all the artists that lived in Montparnasse would split between two cafés: the more literary Le Dôme or the more musical and for painters La Coupole. La Coupole, for instance, was painted by the very artists that would actually hang out in this café , Among the most famous personalities that frequented it are Hemingway, Josephine Baker or Giacometti The La Coupole 102 boulevard du Montparnasse), elegantly decorated in Art Deco style. Le Dôme 108 bd du Montparnasse, founded in 1897 and once popular with Anglo-American literati, is now an upscale seafood bistro. French restaurant, brasserie and piano bar La Closerie des Lilas at 171 bd du Montparnasse, dating from 1847, has welcomed Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dali and Jagger, etc. Most of the artists and writers hanging out in these cafés were living in extreme poverty, attempting to create their next masterpieces while also trying to eat and pay their rent. Spending hours at these cafés wasn’t a problem, even for the very poor, as for the price of a few centimes, you could sit talking, drinking, writing, and creating for days on end. Writer and artist Jean Cocteau once famously said, “poverty is a luxury in Montparnasse”.
The Rue du Montparnasse are known in whole Paris and even in all of France for their authentic Breton “crêperies”. My favorite crêperie in the area is Ty Breizh. Besides serving up traditional sweet and savory crêpes, the joint is authentic, friendly, and right in the middle of Montparnasse ,It is located at 52 Bd de Vaugirard 15éme
Les années folles translates from French to The Crazy Years. This refers to a time period in Paris in the 1920s, and you may recognize it’s American counterpart, the Roaring Twenties, The Roaring Twenties got their start with the emergence of new artistic movements such as Dadaism, Surrealism and Art Deco , The Left Bank is known as a scientific and artistic hub in Paris, and this is where Montparnasse is located. It should come as no surprise, then, that Montparnasse quickly became the place to be for artists, writers, and philosophers. the artistic movement of Surrealism, and many of the artists that belonged to this movement were known to hang out in Montparnasse. Painter Salvador Dali and writer André Breton headed this movement, and they were both living and creating in Montparnasse at this time.
The Rue de la Gaieté « Gaité » literally means cheerfulness and this street is aptly named, It used to host the “guinguettes” of Montparnasse which were popular cabarets of the 19C. It is now crawling with little colorful theaters. If you want to get more than a glimpse of Montparnasse lifestyle, you can book a play at the Bobino theater for instance. Since the 1870s, this boulevard has served as a center for stagecraft; here, icons like Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker played alongside music hall royalty from the belle époque After your visit to the Cemetery, take Boulevard Edgar Quinet on your left to Rue de la Gaité. Cross this street known for its theaters . The most famous theaters are the Bobino Theater, the Montparnasse Theater or the Italian Comedy. Not far from there ,the pretty rue des Thermopyles, one of the prettiest streets in Paris, me think,
The 7 Parnassiens movie theater is an independent movie theater, listed as an art-house, set only 500 meters from the famous Montparnasse tower. Receptions, art gallery, screenings… Discover what this movie theater featuring 7 rooms has to offer. Inaugurated in 1978, the program is dedicated to art films in original version, and some African movies. Enjoying seven screening rooms, the movie theater hosts many festivals all year around such as the Identités sans frontières. It is located at 98 Bd du Montparnasse
Thanks to Les Grands Voisins’ ambitious plan, the former Saint-Vincent-de-Paul hospital, which was located in a barren area between Port-Royal and Denfert-Rochereau, has been transformed into a vibrant live-work utopia. 2,000 individuals, including refugees, artists, and crafters, are already residing and working here, while the initiative is still in the early stages. This is located at 74 Avenue Denfert-Rochereau 14éme,
La Ruche, which means the beehive in French, was the name of an artistic community that cropped up in Montparnasse in the early 19C. It was a cheap place to live, and as an artist, you were guaranteed to be surrounded by other artists and writers. The residence was (and still exists as a coworking and exhibition space) located in the Passage Dantzig in the 15éme arrondissement in Montparnasse. Countless artists such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger, Robert Delaunay, and Diego Rivera called La Ruche home at one point. La Ruche may have been a place of desperation in the past, but after WWII, people like Jean-Paul Sartre and René Char worked together to bring the artistic haven out of the gutter. Today, exhibitions are open to the public, and it feels pretty special to be wandering around the former home of so many great icons.
The Rue Daguerre is particularly worthwhile to see because authentic market streets are becoming less common in Paris. The 14éme arrondissement at its most neighbourhood-specific extends from east to west south of the Cimetière du Montparnasse. The most intriguing part of the street is on its eastern end, where it intersects with Avenue du Général Leclerc. Stroll or shop along a row of vintage-looking boulangeries, butchers, and greengrocers here. Wonderful ambiance,
The open market or marché Edgar Guinet nearby offers delicious fresh produce and hot food , The hilly area Butte-aux-Cailles has a verdant village vibe, with cobbled streets, Art Deco buildings and old villas. A fast-gentrifying working class neighborhood, it’s an insider secret. Wander place Paul Verlaine, rue Daviel and villa Daviel. Cool off at Art Nouveau pool, the Piscine de la Butte aux Cailles. Do go up from the train station to the Jardin Atlantique 1 place des Martyrs du Lycée Buffon 15éme,
I had time to stay by the Jardin Atlantique on the roofstop of the Gare Montparnasse a place of heavenly thoughts with its beautiful basin of Miroitements and the ile des Hésperides island right on it so green and peaceful. A large mirror captures the sun’s rays and illuminates the bassin des Miroitements (shimmer), which is in the shade most of the time. This is just around the corner from my old office location in rue des Departs. I still come by here into Paris each time! The Jardin Atlantique or Atlantic Garden is in the Necker quartier or neighborhood of the 15éme arrondissement or district of Paris. The site is accessible by the 1, Place des Cinq-Martyrs-du-Lycée-Buffon. Also by the Place Raoul Dauty or the Rue du Commandant René Mouchotte. The Metro Montparnasse-Bienvenue on lines lines 4, 6, 12, and 13 (stop Gaîté) , and the line 6 Pasteur as well as the bus lines 88, and 91 takes you here. It is a heaven when need to kill some time or just walk around after a long day’s work or visiting… This hanging garden was built in 1994 on a slab that covers the station platforms that were previously in the open air. it was built above the tracks of the Montparnasse train station, on an area of 3.5 hectares, and surrounded by bars of buildings of the whole Maine-Montparnasse complex . A large square lawn with no access is the center of the park. It is crossed in the center by an alley that leads to the fountain of the Island of Hesperides where there is a portico whose on each foot houses a weather equipment and which supports a large orientable mirror. The garden offers a playground for children, whose configuration made up of small squares and cashed paths, stands in stark contrast to the rest of the park. This area is overflown by a long curved pedestrian walkway. The park also offers a weight-training area, tennis courts, ping-pong tables and guided tours. The 130 hoppers in the garden allow the station and the underground parking lot built below to be ventilated in a plant-based environment.
And of course, Montparnasse wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the famous Gare Montparnasse train station. Actually, this train station is one of the city’s most important, and serves regions to the South and West of Paris. My entry point to Paris for the last 12 years !!!
The Paris tourist office on the Jardin Atlantique: https://parisjetaime.com/eng/culture/jardin-atlantique-p1075
The Paris tourist office on Montparnasse: https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/walks-in-paris/the-montparnasse-of-artists
There you go folks, a wonderful sublime corner of my eternal Paris, the most beautiful city in the world !! You need to walk it smell it, see it enjoy it, Montparnasse as we do. This post will help you get started in your Paris adventures and enjoy the city as I. Again, hope you enjoy the post on this is Montparnasse in Paris, part IV !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 