Petruschki's Journey Into The Blue - Chapter 6 - NewYork and Tokyo in Paris

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In December 2019 we went on a journey by bus and train through Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain and Ireland. The aim was the exhibition Protest! by Derek Jarman in Dublin. But there was so much to see on the way there. In the end we had visited 21 exhibitions and had also discovered a few other interesting stories.

Flame de la Liberté

The “Flame of Freedom” with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The Flamme de la Liberté is a full sized, three and a half meter high replica of the torch held by the Statue of Liberty in New York. Its made of copper and covered with gold leaf and was donated in 1987 as a symbol of American-French friendship. I immediately remember the movie A.I. by Stephen Spielberg which takes place in the future. Back then, what impressed me most from the film, was that New York had long since sunk in the ocean. The Coney Island ferris wheel stood hundreds of meters deep on the ocean floor and was turned by the ocean current. Only the tops of the tallest skyscrapers protruded from the waters. And then I saw the tip of the flame and thought, how crazy, if you would imagine that the whole Statue of Liberty was buried here in Paris between New York Avenue and Place de l'Alma, so that only the tip of the flame was sticking out.

The FLame of Liberty

La Flamme de la Liberté without the Eiffel Tower. There is really something under the flame of freedom. You can see the entrance to the tunnel of an expressway on the left. This is the tunnel in which Princess Diana, her friend Dodi Al-Fahyed and their driver Henri Paul had a fatal accident on the night of August 31, 1997. After that, The Flame of Liberty became the unofficial Lady Di memorial. In 2018 the place at the statue was renamed Place Diana.

Seine

La Seine - faces of a river

The sun on the Seine, an illuminated boat and two faces in the shade, on stone. Lightless, only sketches, but strangely alive, whose expressions you want to explore.

Paris Tour Eiffel

The Seine, the Eiffel Tower and at its feet, on the banks of the river, an illuminated tree.

Cathédrale de la Sainte-Trinité

Putin in Paris

This is the Cathédrale de la Sainte-Trinité, the Trinity Cathedral. A strange sight. I really liked the way the light is reflected by the onion domes. Its also called Saint Vladimir. With this newly built cathedral, Russia's Vladimir Putin probably wanted to set an example of his power in the French capital. It was completed in 2016 after Russia bought the property for the officially advertised price of 70 million. The French secret service is worried about the complex and its said that they surrounded it with jamming devices, because in the Palais de Alma right next to it there are official apartments of ministers and presidential advisers, which could now be under electronic surveillance from there.

St. Vladimir an der Seine, interesting article in the FAZ:

Seine Bateau Lacrima Christi

Tears for Lucifer or weeping wine

A ship on the Seine with trees lit up.

I thought that maybe a couple of lovers had their names drawn in blue and red chalk on the pavement on the bank, but on closer inspection I see that it says Eau + Elec ... water and electricity.

The ship is called “Lacrima Christi”. Either the captain is very religious or a wine lover. Lacrima Christi or Lacryma Christi is a well-known Neapolitan wine from the slopes of Vesuvius. The name comes from the ancient legend that Christ shed tears over the fall of Lucifer from heaven. They fell on the land and gave divine inspiration to the vines growing there.

There is also a Malaga wine with that name. There the name comes from the manufacturing method. The grapes are not pressed, but hung up until the juice flows out of them like tears and drip into containers. And I want to lie under the weeping vines and close my eyes and open my mouth.

Palais de Tokyo

Stone Bleacher, Palais de Tokyo

Here you can see the Palais de Tokyo from the banks of the Seine. With a blue sky and a blue truck. The Palais de Tokyo was planned as a museum building for modern art, was completed in 1937 and opened in the same year for the world exhibition. It is a large, spacious complex not far from the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero. On the day I was there, the thing towered white and pompous in the azure blue sky. Nevertheless, the bombastic architecture seems a bit ridiculous and absurd.

Palais de Tokyo

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

The Palais de Tokyo was specially built as a museum of modern art, so its interior is spacious and flexible, and the lighting is ideal for displaying paintings. In the east wing is the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the museum of modern art for the city of Paris.

The museum's permanent collection is located on the lower floor, where it is arranged in chronological order, from Fauvism, Cubism and Dadaism to Surrealism to Nouvéau Réalisme and the art of the late 20th century. The collection now comprises more than 15,000 works and is accessible online. It documents the various art movements of the twentieth century.

Paris Palais de Tokyo Femme sans pie

The woman without a foot

Beauty and decay, the ideal, over and done. Apart from the missing foot and the brutal metal wires sticking out there, I find the stone woman's hand position interesting. Despite all the weathered strength that the strong calves promise, she is so timidly girlish and that makes me sad for some reason.

The Palais de Tokyo was designed by the architects Jean-Claude Dondel, André Aubert, Paul Viard and Marcel Dastugue. They created a large complex with two separate wings that open onto the river. The two wings are connected by a covered colonnade. Two flights of stairs towards the Seine connect the colonnade with the square below with a large rectangular fountain.

Paris Palais de Tokyo Thalia und Eros

Thalia and Eros

Two enormous reliefs on the building's facades create a dramatic backdrop for the fountain. The reliefs were created by Alfred Auguste Janniot and symbolize the nine muses.

Thalia ("blooming happiness, happy feast, festival"; from ancient Greek "to bloom") is one of the nine muses of ancient Greece. She is the muse of comic poetry and entertainment. Later, Thalia was widely regarded as the protector of all theaters. Her symbols with which she is represented or described, are the comical mask, the ivy wreath and the shepherd's crook. Thalia is considered a rural woman and, like all muses, is a daughter of Zeus and Mnymosyne. She bore the god Apollon the corybants - priests who castrated themselves to be closer to their goddess Cybele.

In Greek mythology, Eros is the god of covetous love. In Roman mythology, he corresponds to Cupid, Cupido ("desire", "passion") as the personification of erotic desire.

In addition to the old idea of ​​Eros as a primal power, as a creator, there was also another image of him: Eros as a playful, wanton little boy. Eros is the son of Aphrodite and Ares. The story of Cupid and Psyche is famous. Psyche, Cupid's lover has a child from him. A daughter named Voluptas > Lust.

Paris Palais de Tokyo Säulen

The stolen paintings

And this blue sky….

On the night of May 20, 2010, five paintings with an estimated value between 50 to 100 million euros were stolen from the museum. The video showed the thief entering from the rear of the museum without triggering the alarm. He broke a padlock and cut a window pane. The thieves were caught in 2012, but the pictures are still missing. The stolen works are: Woman with a Fan (1919) by Modigliani, Dove with Green Peas (1912) by Pablo Picasso, The Olive Tree at L'Estaques (1907) by Georges Braque, Pastoral (1905) by Henri Matisse and Still Life with a Candle by Fernand Leger.

Musée d´Art Moderne de Paris

Anticipation

Now this is the entrance to the museum. Immediately I stumble up the stairs, breathless, because its like the premiere, the opening night, the first exhibition on this trip.

Woman in Gold and Blue, Entrance Palais de Tokyo, Paris

Golden Venus welcomes to Hans Hartung

And here a woman in gold and blue welcomes us, with pigeons a snails and feet in the surging sea. Venus in the shower ...

So now on to the Hans Hartung exhibition -La fabrique du geste-. I do a dance of joy.