Paris1972-Versailles2003

Well I am amazed always of the many wonderful monuments in my eternal Paris. I have to say better and more than anywhere else, one reason is call the most beautiful city in the world, and I agree. Here we have a wonderful building call the Petit Palais a wonderful expression of architecture and history. Glad to find me more pictures in my cd rom vaults that should be in my blog for you and me, Therefore, here is my take again on the Petit Palais of Paris !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I,

My first encounter here was on a Incas of Peru exhibition about 15 years ago, and it remains close to me. I am talking about the 
Petit Palais de Paris.  The Petit Palais, was built on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1900, houses the 
Museum of Fine Arts (Beaux-Arts)  of the city of Paris. It is located in the 8éme arrondissement or district of Paris, Avenue Winston-Churchill, facing the Grand Palais. The Petit Palais is served close by the Metro lines 1 and 13 at the station Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau and Metro line 9, station Franklin-Roosevelt , as well as by the bus lines RATP 28,42,72,73,80,83 and 93.

The Petit Palais, was built on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1900, houses the Museum of Fine Arts (Beaux-Arts)  of the city of Paris. The Petit Palais, an architectural gem of the Belle Époque,a masterpiece, a symbol of the revival of fresco painting in France at the beginning of the 20C.

The Petit Palais is organized around a semi-circular garden. The exhibition sites are located on the first floor (2nd US), the ground floor (1st US) being originally dedicated to offices and reserves. The façade is about 150 meters long, centered by a monumental porch topped by a dome. Ionic columns with diagonal scrolls adorn the main facade as well as the semi-circular peristyle of the inner courtyard. The décor is complemented by numerous bas-reliefs. The sculptures on the façade are, the city of 
Paris protecting the Arts  with a woman seated holding in her left arm a ship symbolizing Paris and surrounded by the Muses; on the right, a group with the Seine river  and its tributaries. On the left, the Four Seasons group  with young women carrying sheafs of wheat and fruit. From the moment it was installed, the entrance gate designed by Charles Girault was praised for its elegance and virtuosity of its execution. The entrance vestibule were executed between 1903 and 1910, with four Symbolist-inspired panels for the museum’s entrance vestibule: Mysticism, Plastic Art, Thought, and Matter. The entrance rotunda is the only space in the Petit Palais lit by stained glass. At the base of the roof are four oculi closed by stained glass windows decorated with interlocking patterns, made of white and opal glass.

The large galleries were each tasked with decorating the vaults of the two galleries. From 1906 to 1911, Cormon retraced the history of old Paris, from the Battle of Lutetia to the French revolution (North Gallery). Roll, meanwhile, was responsible for illustrating modern Paris (South Gallery). Above the galleries are sixteen plaster busts representing famous artists, such as Eugène Delacroix, Pierre Lescot, and François Mansart.

The pavilions to the north, Ferdinand Humbert painted two ceilings celebrating The Intellectual Triumph of Paris between 1909 and 1924. Humbert introduced into his composition a contemporary figure, an ordinary stroller wearing a hat and an overcoat, descending the steps of a staircase. To the south, Georges Picard depicted The Triumph of Woman.  The garden peristyle with cover the vaults of the garden portico, reinvented the art of fresco painting and rediscovered a decorative technique forgotten since the Renaissance, punctuated by medallions depicting the Months alternating with the hours of day and night. The three large sections of the vault are punctuated by the female figures of the Seasons. The final phase of work was carried out after WWI. The decoration of this dome, above the southeast rotunda, was entrusted to Maurice Denis, who retraced the history of French art using portraits of the greatest artists accompanied by their most famous works.

The Petit Palais is organized around a semi-circular garden. The exhibition sites are located on the first floor (2nd US), the ground floor (1st US) being originally dedicated to offices and reserves. The façade is about 150 meters long, centered by a monumental porch topped by a dome. Ionic columns with diagonal scrolls adorn the main facade as well as the semi-circular peristyle of the inner courtyard. The décor is complemented by numerous bas-reliefs. The sculptures on the façade are, the city of Paris protecting the Arts  with a woman seated holding in her left arm a ship symbolizing Paris and surrounded by the Muses; on the right, a group with the Seine river  and its tributaries. On the left, the Four Seasons group  with young women carrying sheafs of wheat and fruit. Donations made by the Dutuits and Tucks in particular enrich the collection of works: precious antique, medieval, French and Italian Renaissance pieces, as well as famous Flemish and Dutch cabinets and paintings. Paintings and sculptures, tapestries and objets d’art from the 18C. The museum also has a collection of 19C works, the result of commissions and purchases made by the City of Paris (Dalou workshop) as well as bequests and donations, of the greatest interest (Carpeaux, Carriès, Cézanne, Chassériau, Courbet, Delacroix, Ingres). The works on display reflect the main pictorial movements of the 19C. The 1900s period is illustrated by art nouveau style objects such as glassware by Emile Gallé or a dining room by Hector Guimard.

Additional exhibition spaces are created on the ground floor , with reserves moved to the basement. The permanent collection is exposed to the left by entering, the temporary exhibits to the right. In between the two, at the bottom of the garden, a coffee shop is wonderfully done to eat in a stunning garden. The windows of the exhibition spaces and the canopies of the permanent collections are designed for natural lighting. The offices are located above the temporary exhibition spaces. An amphitheater is created on the ground floor under the garden. I need to tell you this our favorite spots and main reasons to come here other than an unusual exhibition like that of the Incas, The bookstore-boutique is located on the ground floor of the Petit Palais and is accessible free of charge through the museum’s main entrance. The Café 1902 is located in the garden and is accessible free of charge through the museum’s main entrance. During garden renovations, access to the Café is via the permanent collections. This is a must to sit sip and enjoy just been in Paris.

From 1902, the Petit Palais becomes the Palais des Beaux-Arts of the city of Paris to host a permanent collection from antiquity to the end of the 19C, these collections were enriched by multiple donations of which one can cite the most important are of Eugène and Auguste Dutuit ceded their collection in 1902, rich of nearly 20 000 works and featuring several major works of the Dutch school including a autoportraits of Rembrandt and the abduction of Proserpine of Rubens, Greco-Roman Antiquities, Art objects of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, engravings and drawings of masters such as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Fragonard etc.); in addition Edward and Julia Tuck ceded in 1930 their collection of 18C French art objects; Ambroise Vollard yields several modern works at the museum, including the portrait of Ambroise Vollard in the chat by Pierre Blackwell (1924) or another portrait of the painter by Paul Cézanne (1899); Roger Cabal bequeathed to the museum a collection of icons in 1998. Alongside these donations, the museum will acquire many works, including several paintings by Gustave Courbet. For the past several years, contemporary photography has entered the Petit Palais when it was decided to present, in introduction to major international exhibitions, images of photographers inspired by the civilizations . Some of these photographs were then acquired by the museum. The museum’s graphic arts funds consists of 18 000 engravings and 9 000 old and modern designs. The collection of drawings includes many more much more, too numerous to mention in one blog post.

The Official Petit Palais webpage:  https://www.petitpalais.paris.fr/en

The Paris tourist office on the Petit Palais:  https://parisjetaime.com/eng/culture/petit-palais-musee-des-beaux-arts-de-la-ville-de-paris-p3490

The City of Paris on the Petit Palais : https://www.paris.fr/lieux/petit-palais-musee-des-beaux-arts-de-la-ville-de-paris-1526

There you go folks, another dandy monument of my eternal Paris, this is a must to see. I have written so much on Paris ,the city I worked for almost 10 years and very glad I did,in fact proud of it. The area around this monument is superbe and fully enjoyable by all. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Petit Palais of Paris !!! as I

And remember , happy travels, good health,and many cheers to all !!!