Il pleut sur Paris

For the second July in a row I brought a rain coat to France thinking that it might come in handy in an emergency. For the second July in a row my rain coat has become my constant companion and second best friend (the best friend walks next to me). If it isn't raining (which it usually has been), it is unseasonably cool. The temperature today I believe has reached 21C but that was during the rain. I believe this is the first time since we arrived that the temp has poked above 20, yesterday I think 19 was the high. An early morning walk would require facing up to sunrise temperatures of around 12.

Aujourd'hui il a plu (at least according to Google translate). We went on a planned indoor foray. We went to what is my new second favorite museum, Musée National d'Art Moderne, the National Museum of Modern Art, located in Centre Georges Pompidou, only a shortish walk from where we sleep.

As is true of any truly great museum, there is too much. There is just plain way too much. We did what we think is best, you walk and what strikes you you look at. There is so very, very much truly great art present that there is no possible way to even hope to absorb any sort of portion of it all. You walk and what strikes you you look at.

This is a great, great museum.

So, with apologies to anyone already intensely familiar with the Pompidou collection, as we walked today these are things that struck mostly me but sometimes struck the FT.

This is La plage de Fécamp (Beach at Fécamp) by Albert Marquet (1906).

I like the painting and next week at about this time we will be in Fécamp and may be able to line up more or less the same angle for a photograph.

Here's today bicycle content, Roue de bicyclette (Bicycle wheel) by Marcel Duchamp. The dates listed for creation of the work are 1913-1964. It doesn't say if it took that long for M. Duchamp to build the wheel or if he built it early in that period and then rode it until 1964.

The bicycle content is that bicycle people may notice that this is a classic 36 spoke 3 cross build, old style.

This is Les mariés de la tour Eiffel (Wedding party on the Eiffel Tower) by Marc Chagall (1938-1939).

I include it here because if you stand in the same spot and turn around you see this view through the closed for the day Terrasse Paul Ricard.

See, we are in Paris after all.

The first appearance by a member of the blue man group may be "Arman" by Yves Klein (1962).

I have remarked several times recently that one undeniable thing about modern art is that the new kids like their stuff big. BIG.

This is Plight by Joseph Beuys (1985). This construction was originally done in 1985 for Anthony d'Offay Gallery in London. The Pompidou exhibit is an exact reproduction of the original installation.

What you get is two rooms with walls covered with rolls of felt. In the first room is a medical thermometer and a blackboard inscribed with empty musical staves placed on a closed concert piano. The thermometer fluctuates based on the number of people in the room, because of the dampening effect of the felt, any sound must also be provided by those observing the art.

The new kids like their stuff big, this one is also room sized, it is also quite new.  It is THEVERYMANY by Marc Fornes (2010).  This thing completely fills an approximately 10 by 20 foot room.  It is possible for a person slightly shorter than me (FT) to stand underneath the construction at a couple of strategically located spots.

The exhibit includes placed on the wall near the entry to the room three large pages of plans for the construction.  The art wasn't actually constructed.  It was conceived and planned with complete architectual drawings, and only then constructed.  The construction appears to be of heavy duty card stock material held together with small brass rivets.

The new kids are serious.

Before we left the building we got a photo of Sacre Coeur and the FT proving that it was most assuredly NOT an outdoor day in Paris.

We made it back to base in time to watch the end of today's stage on the less than 54 inch TV in the corner.  The FT has been spending a fair amount of time in that pose and in that spot, open window with the foliage of Square René Viviani visible across the street.

That square includes the oldest tree in Paris which will no doubt merit a photo here if there is ever a day without all day off and on showers.

As we made our way back to where we sleep we passed Hotel de Ville which is already being decked our for what we expect will be a big celebration tomorrow, Bastille Day.

I have been told that the fireworks here are shot off over the Eiffel Tower.