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Newsletter 11.6.2022

Me and Joan Mitchell at the Fondation Louis Vuitton

Bienvenue and welcome back to Musée Musings. Your idiosyncratic guide to Paris and art. Do you believe in hubris? That if you are over confident and sure that everything is going to be fine, that you are setting yourself up for something, maybe many things, to go wrong? I do believe in hubris and I usually do my best to avoid too much confidence, too much pride. It’s a superstitious thing, too. Pride goeth before a fall. Better to stay with the conditional and avoid the declarative, just in case. All the same, I think that it was hubris that got me, and unfortunately Peter, too these past 10 days. I remember blithely telling you about Peter’s upcoming visit and all the dinners, museum visits, theatre performances we would be sharing.

Well, the visit got off to a good start. We had dinner at Peter’s neighborhood restaurant, Georgette. He’s got a favorite table and he’s one of their favorite diners. And I really like the food there. Well, I liked the food. It’s gotten a bit trendy, weird actually, since last time. Some odd combinations for entrées, like Jerusalem artichokes puréed with random ingredients, including coffee. Which I couldn’t try because of my no caffeine after noon rule. The plats are a little less inventive, thank goodness.

Espadon & puréed panais (sword fish and pureed parsnips)

But I missed the Daube although the espadon (sword fish) with mashed panais (parsnips) was good, if not exceptional. Even though the menu had changed, we began as we always do, with a kir royale, a flute of champagne with splash of creme de casis.

A couple days later we met for dinner at the legendary Le Grand Vefour.

The view from our table at the Grand Vefour

It’s been around in one iteration or another since the French Revolution. It was awarded a 3rd Michelin star in 1953, and kept it for 30 years. When Guy Martin became chef in 2000, the 3rd star returned, but only for a while. Finally, in 2021, with the pandemic causing havoc to fine dining everywhere, Martin liberated himself from Michelin, returned the other two stars and has for the past 18 months been serving simpler meals. The space is still beautiful, the waiters are still very professional, the sommelier still very knowledgeable and my three course menu was beautifully presented and delicious. And honestly, I was happy not to have all the layers of protocol that dining at starred restaurants entail.

My lovely salmon three ways - poached, smoked and eggs

Exhibition Poster, Fondation Louis Vuitton

Peter was not feeling well and we assumed that it was just jet lag, so I went to see the Joan Mitchell exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton on my own. Actually, there are two exhibitions, a retrospective in conjunction with the Baltimore Museum of Art and the San Francisco MoMA. A second exhibition is a conversation between canvases of Mitchell and Monet in conjunction with the Musée Marmottan-Monet. It is a conversation they have been having for a couple of years now, at least in miniature. At the Orangerie which is home to Monet’s last great Waterlily series, a painting hangs sentinel on the wall just outside, a painting by Joan Mitchell, on long term loan from the Pompidou. I will tell you about that enormous exhibition next week.

The Fondation Louis Vuitton is right next door to the Jardin d’Acclimation. And the Louis Vuitton people now manage it. And recently, they’ve decided that if you have seen art the Fondation, you can just walk out the back door and experience nature in the Jardin. There was a huge persimmon tree heavy laden with fruit in my path. One came home with me but decided not to ripen. He had his chance.

My friend was still under the weather, but I wasn’t. And I couldn’t wait any longer to see the current and what I’m guessing will be the last Proust exhibition for 50 years. At the BNF (Bibliotechque Nationale de France). Which holds nearly all of the writer’s manuscripts. The name of the exhibition is "Marcel Proust, la fabrique de l’œuvre" (the making of a work). And while I know that fabric is tissu in French, there was something organic in the way the original text and the numerous edits appears on the pages of the manuscripts that are here for us to see. The edits go on and on and on, like a flapper’s dress from the 1920s, the happy decade that Proust didn’t live long enough to see.

Finally it dawned on me as it had already dawned on Peter. He wasn’t suffering from jet lag. And I didn’t have jet lag either. For a few days, I hung in there. Then the migraine kicked in and I had to call SOS Medecin Paris. A doctor was there in an hour. Two shots put me temporarily out of my misery. And the cost of this home call? With my Carte Vitale it was 55 euros. For Peter, without a Carte Vitale it was only 35 euros more. Getting sick in France is unpleasant but it won’t bankrupt you!

A few weeks ago, I saw an exhibition on Frida Kahlo which I really appreciated. Here, finally is my review of it for you. CLICK HERE TO READ. I hope you like it. Gros Bisous, Dr. B.

Readers Comments, for which I am always grateful.

New comment on Mirror of the World: Masterpieces from the Dresden Cabinet d’Art:

Thank you for my "15 minutes of fame" and thank you for this review. It was one of the exhibits on our list, but when Ben got sick I forgot all about it even though it was just a few blocks from our hotel. So I was able to enjoy it through your eyes. In Baltimore, the Walters Museum has a room of curiosities, but the things are not as fantastic as some of the things you show in this exhibit. Sorry to have missed it in person. Deedee, Baltimore

Hi, I enjoyed your post today. Paris is an embarrassment of riches, to say the least. “Jealousy” does not do justice to how I feel. Have you seen my article on my cabinet of curiosity? Apropos the show at the Luxembourg…https://reinventinghome.org/maybeck-house/ Enjoy! John, Berkeley

New comment on Giovanni Boldini: The Master of Swish:

Excellent and informative article which heightened my visit to the Boldini exhibition in Paris this Spring rediscovering this somewhat forgotten artist. Thank you and look forward to reading you again, Margart

New Comments on Ginevra’s newsletter - thanks so much.

Beverly, I tried to find Ginevra’s post on your blog, but it isn’t on display yet. ??? I wanted to comment that I really enjoyed her writing and I hope she fills in for you again soon...but NOT because you’re sick or otherwise indisposed – please get well soon! I look forward to your writing about the final exhibition of Proust at the Bibliotheque National de France, and I hope you will have some advice for readers who have been trying to read the whole of Remembrance of Things Past but have so far failed to complete it. I need help! —Morris, Chapel Hill, NC

Hello Ginevra, great photo ! May I remind you that bibliothèque is féminin ?

Therefore : Bibliothèque Nationale (not National) Wishing your mom speedy

recovery, jf, New York City & Paris

Quelle merveilleuse surprise. A mini-you who looks and writes beautifully. And glad to be reminded of Oscar Wilde's dandy antics since I made a point to visit l'Hotel where he died and it's unusual spiral staircase. Kathy, DC

Brava Ginevra! You’ve obviously inherited your mother’s gift for writing as well as her knack for close observation. Your SF letter was charming, and so were the photos -- compensating for the grim subjects you touched on. A huge section of my family lives in the Bay Area, not just SF but Sonoma and Oakland. So they naturally get warned regularly by my seismologist husband to pack up and get out of there. Easier said than done. Husband Guust says, "5.1 is nothing special on the Hayward Fault. But the big one is sure to come. She still has time to move elsewhere." Maybe you and Nicolas should move to Paris. They haven’t had an earthquake n many years. Grosses bises (bumble bees?) Julia, Vallauris, France

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