A History in an hour.

Oh wonderful readers,

I can't say it enough - Paris is great! I mean, just the other day I was walking around in the Marais as suddenly the biggest rainstorm broke loose! It pourred down rain and in my search of shelter I just jumped into the nearest dooropening. And yes, it was a museum.

The Musée Carnavalet is located in a beautiful old mansion that served as manor for one of the oldest families in France and then as a hotel. It is beautiful and has an even more stunning yard in its court. So there I was, standing in a Museum. Of course I was going to look at it!

It is, as I discovered, a rather famous parisian history Museum that displays the history of France, and especially Paris through different artifacts. It takes you on a tour through time as you walk through the different rooms who are all decorated in the way of the time displayed and discussed in that particular room. Very charming. After you've seen several pieces of furniture of different time eras (and that really closely - more close than you could ever get in those big Museums!) you get led into the changing exhibitions space which harbours some lesser known historical painters and artists and changing expositions.

One piece in particular caught my eye since the person displayed is very a-typical for the way it's painted.

It's a piece by Robert Humblot of "Juliette Greco" the famous french singer and actress, in 1956, right next to some brilliant impressionist works. I loved the pose of the woman, holding a very strange animal, a cheetah, and wearing an even more bizarre outfit. The greys and blacks of the painting had a wonderful effect with the burgundy red of the wall. It seems like a normal portrait painting in the tradition of historical portraiture - apart from the obvious modern influences like clothes, hairstyles and weird pets. But the pose of the woman, the plain background and the important "accesoire" (here the pet), to describe the character of the woman, all remind us of a classical portrait.

And, as it was almost closing time, I rushed, sadly, through the rest of the wonderful Museum only to find this at the end:

A stunning hall, completely painted and furnished to create an overall look and impression of a majestic ballroom in the Art Noveau Style. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

It should rain more often if this is the result.