Mon Petit Palais

Sunday, April 6. It is cold and rainy but I decide to go to the Petit Palais as it contains the Musee des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris. Have to stand in line because there is an exhibition of Goya drawings here as well. I'm just going to visit the permanent collection as it is FREE, as are all of the City of Paris museums!! A good thing to know when the exchange rate is bad. :)

This turns out to be a wonderful afternoon. First of all, the building itself is worth a visit. Designed by Charles Girault, it was built for the Universal Exposition of 1900, along with the Grand Palais which is across the street. Then there is the collection, which is excellent and has been expanded by a number of important donations. It is a lovely museum and manageable in size, with Greek and Roman art, medieval art, all the way up through the Impressionists. (The city's modern art collection is elsewhere.) Here are some of the highlights (for me at least):

The Dutruit Collection: an extensive collection of 17th century Dutch and Flemish art.
The Decorative Arts, including vases by Emile Galle
The Dining Room from Hector Guimard's private residence (more on this later).

OK, so here's an interesting story (always assuming, of course, that I read the notes correctly): Gustave Dore (b. Strasbourg 1882 - d. Paris 1883; prolific artist best known for his illustrations of many, many books, in France, England, Germany, including Don Quixote and an English version of the Bible) produced a series of large-scale paintings depicting scenes from the Bible, of which one is in this museum: La Vallee des Larmes (The Valley of Tears). Apparently, there were quite a few of them and, after being displayed in Europe, they went on tour to the US. Somehow, they must have gone astray because they were discovered in, get this, 1947 in a warehouse in New York. This was quite a feat because when I say large-scale, we're talking at least 10' high by 15' wide. They were ultimately sold at auction.

Once again, I stay until closing time, race through the last few galleries and promise myself to come back. There's a nice gift shop selling, among other things, a doormat that says "Mon Petit Palais" which I think would be perfect for my back door. :)