EUGENE DELACROIX

Mondays are typically quiet days after the weekend.  Neither of us has anywhere to be and my Chiro isn't open (yea!!).  So that leaves the day open to...whatever we want to do (gotta love retirement!!!).

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Louvre (we bought a year's pass so feel we can go for a few hours and not have to spend the entire day) primarily to get a feel for it and see how it's laid out.  We spent time in an area that showed how the Louvre developed and, as we were leaving, we noticed they had an exhibit of paintings by Eugene Delacroix. We decided to visit it another time,  but in the brochure I had noticed, at a different location, you could visit his home/studio and the art there.  I'm much more interested in that!  I just love seeing where and how people lived.

We decided to go to his home today.  This is Ascension Day in France so an official holiday and many places are closed.  We weren't really sure if the museum would be open or not.  We took a chance! We took a bus to the area of the Musee then, before we went there, we walked by an apartment we had been really interested in before moving here.  It's also in a great  location but had no elevator and with my leg that was a deciding factor against it.  Seeing where the apartment actually is made us appreciate our apartment and our choice.  Renting sight unseen is difficult so it's nice to feel you made the best decision.

I digress....we found the little street the Musee was on and it was darling!  A circular, small cobblestone street with a small center area.  Very cute!!!  If you weren't looking for it, you could miss the entrance to the Musee.

This would be a cute little street to live on!

We walked through the entrance into a cobblestone courtyard.  Now this is my kind of museum!!!

I imagine these are apartments around the Musee

Once in we were able to, at our own pace, go through the rooms ending with his studio that overlooks this beautiful garden.  This was his actual home, and it said he enlarged the windows looking into the garden for the light it brought into the room as he painted.  We walked down some stairs and sat in the garden for a while.  I think I would love having a garden like this behind my little house.....except for the maintenance of it!!!!

That large window looks into his studio

Three paintings by Delacroix form the backdrop to the Chapel of the Holy Angels at Eglise Saint-Sulpice just a walk from his studio.  This tiny chapel was inaugurated in 1861 and in 2016 the City of Paris restored it.  We decided to take the walk (we'd been to Saint-Sulpice before) just to "walk the steps he walked every day while painting" and see these particular paintings now that we knew more about them and the artist.

Compared to other churches we've visited, Saint-Sulpice is not as ornate or overwhelming.  Perhaps it's just a less-crowd-visited church...I don't know.  But it's still a nice place to sit for a minute and reflect....

Eglise Saint-Sulpice

In the chapel where the three paintings are, one is on the ceiling and the other two are on the walls.  The wall paintings were done in a different way in order to help preserve them in the climate of Paris.  Interesting....

Jacob's struggle with the Angel

It's amazing to me someone can create like this!  And it's amazing it's still here after all these years for us to enjoy.

Leaving the church, there is a beautiful fountain and benches where people can sit and enjoy the day. I sat there for a few minutes and watched a little boy with his arms in the fountain up to his elbows!  Little boys are the same everywhere!!!  Before I could snap a picture of him, he was off chasing the pigeons that were everywhere (reminded me of a piazza in Italy!!!!).  That picture I got!!!!

Simple fun of chasing birds!!!

People ask what we do each day.  This is what we do...we walk the streets, we visit the different quartiers, we step into the magnificent churches, we view art in a new way, and we take the time to watch a small boy chase birds!  Oh, and maybe we have a crepe or ice cream cone!!!!!