Merry Month of May, Deux

A feast for the eyes, the ears, the appetite Part II

Bienvenue and welcome back to Musée Musings your idiosyncratic guide to Paris and art. Last week I got a little sidetracked by Gleaning. (Fig 1) There’s so much to know! But I’m moving on. From now on, you’re on your own. But it wasn’t just gleaning that got in the way last week. I was a little less focused because I spent some time in the hospital on either side of writing the post. What happened there was so inexplicable that I am going to have to write about it to try to get a handle on it. So more about that eventually.

Figure 1. What the gleaners gleaned from Marché Richard-Lenoir, Sunday 1 June 2025

This week, I am sticking to my mandate. I’m going to tell you about a few of the exhibitions I saw in May which will be in Paris for the next few months, from which you might want to choose if you’re here now or will be this summer. And also why Notre Dame has to be on your must-see list. And a restaurant that I can heartily recommend. On y va!

One of the exhibitions I saw was Tous Léger at the Musée du Luxembourg. (Figs 2-5) The thesis of the exhibition is that the work of artist Fernand Leger influenced lots of artists who followed him but never met him. The similarities are these: their art challenges academicism, it appropriates the symbols of urban and industrial society and it was mostly for public spaces since these artists believed that art should be for everyone.

Figure 2. Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture with Fernand Léger painting on the wall

Figure 4. Karel Appel, The Cyclist, 1969

Figure 5. Left, Fernand Léger, Red Face, 1954; Right, Martial Raysse, Nissa Bella, 1964

As the wall text notes, the connections are sometimes thematic, sometimes formal and “by turns relevant, playful, and daring.” It’s an exploration of how “European and American artists assimilated, paid homage to, or rejected Léger's legacy, beginning in the 1960s.” I was surprised that I knew so many of the works in this exhibition, then I read that all of them are from two museums, the Fernand Léger National Museum in Biot and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MOMAC) in Nice, both of which I visited when I was obsessed with museums on the French Riviera, the Côte d’Azur. Before I became obsessed with Proust’s and Hockney’s Côte Fleurie in Normandie.

The exhibition space is fun, playful, joyful. Not only are borders painted vibrant primary colors but benches and stools are, too. I felt as if I was in a very well designed pre-school with the benefit of adult sized seating. In each space, a painting or sculpture by Léger is juxtaposed with a painting or sculpture by another artist or two, among them, Yves Klein who brought us Klein Blue. There’s a video playing on a constant loop that I have never liked - nude female models covered in paint writhing around on canvases (paper?) on the floor (of Klein’s studio?) while he walks around wearing a suit explaining what’s happening to an audience, made up of mostly men in suits. (Figs 6, 7)

Figure 6. Torso, Yves Klein in Klein Blue

Figure 7. Yves Klein painting nude model, video

There were lots of pieces by one of my favorite artists, Niki de Saint Phalle whose automatons you can admire in the Stravinsky Fountain across from the Pompidou and whose Tarot Park in the south of France, photographs of which are here, was based on Gaudi’s Parc Guell in Barcelona. (Figs 8, 9) Keith Haring is the final artist represented. I’ve known about him longer than he was alive (he died of AIDS at 31). (Fig 10) It was just the kind of exhibition you need sometime - heavy on the visuals, light on the intellectuals. Go, it will do you good. And stop for a bite at Angelina’s, there are two dishes on the menu, one savory, one sweet, celebrating Nike de Saint Phalle. (Fig 11)

Figure 8. Stravinsky Fountain, Paris, Niki de Saint Phalle

Figure 9. Tarot Park, France, Niki de Saint Phalle

Figure 10. Keith Haring in front of one of his murals

Figure 11. Niki Savory or Sweet - Angelina.
Left: Côté salé, le Croustillant de saumon Niki et son chutney d'abricot accompagné d'un taboulé de boulgour au yaourt grec et à la coriandre.
Right: Côté sucré, la pâtisserie Niki, composée d’un croustillant chocolat blanc, mousse amande, compotée d'agrumes et décorée d’une mosaïque colorée en chocolat blanc.

Another exhibition I saw was at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographs by Richard Avedon, the fashion photographer. Although his success came from photographing gorgeous women dressed in haute couture often in improbable settings, (Fig 12) Avedon said that he “felt the need to express his point of view on civil rights for African-Americans and the war in Vietnam…” It was the oil crisis, the economic recession and the deindustrialization of America that prompted Avedon to go on a field trip, to take photographs of working class people who had been “relegated to the margins of society by Republican President Ronald Reagan's ultra-aggressive neoliberal policies” So, for five years, (1979-1984) mostly during the spring and summer, he traveled to 20 different states with a large format camera, lots of heavy equipment and several assistants. Like Simon and Garfunkel’s song ‘America’ 20 years earlier, Avedon had gone to look for America. (Figs 13-17) The exhibition is well timed as another regime, after only a few months, has already caused catastrophic upheaval. Looking for America indeed.

Figure 12. Dovima with Elephants, Evening Dress by Dior, Cirque d’Hiver, Richard Avedon, 1955

Figure 14. Cotton Farmer, Richard Avedon

Figure 17. Loretta Lynn Fan Club and Richard Avedon

My Oxford cousin Kathy stayed with me for two nights on her way to Orvieto where she is now spending a month happily living her best life. While she was here, our itinerary was as full as it had been when I visited her. One day Katherine decided that we should have lunch at Bouillon Julien, because it is beautiful and traditional. It is indeed a beautiful art nouveau restaurant that received historic monument status in 1997. (Figs 18-20) Bouillons are traditional French restaurants offering simple, affordable meals in classic settings. I only wish the food equalled the decor. But the prices are so low, it’s hard to complain except that’s what I’m going to do. My traditional entrée, leek vinaigrette was the best thing I ordered. The roasted sea bream had not been thawed properly and was mushy. As for the slice of semolina cake for dessert, thank goodness we shared it!

Figure 18. Boullion Julien, interior detail

After lunch we went to the Petit Palais to see an exhibition on the dress designer, Charles Frederick Worth. (Fig 21) According to the wall text, Worth is the name of a man, Charles Frederick and of his descendants.… Worth is also the name of a house founded in Paris in 1858 whose success laid the foundations of the haute couture industry.”

Figure 21. Worth Inventer La Haute Couture, Petit Palais et Palais Galliera, Paris

Good to know that the father of French haute couture was an Englishman, born in Lincolnshire in 1825 who arrived in Paris at the age of 20, penniless and unable to speak French. He found work at a company that sold textiles, shawls and some ready to wear clothes. He quickly became their top salesman. His first foray into tailoring was when he opened a small tailoring department for the company. His designs won awards at the Great Exhibition in London (1851) and again at the Universal Exhibition in Paris (1855).

Of course, he didn’t stay put, he wasn’t meant to be a good employee. A series of portraits, both photographs and prints, establish Worth's sense of his self worth, establish his “conviction that haute couture is an art.”He had himself depicted as the “Rembrandt of fashion, wearing a beret or a toque and enveloped in ample drapery.” (Figs 22, 23)

Figure 22. Charles Frederick Worth, 1892

Figure 23. Rembrandt, Self Portrait, 1660

When he was 26, (1851) Worth married Marie-Augustine Vernet, who worked at the same company that he had. Worth created outfits especially for her, and voila, she became the world's first live fashion model. More significant was her role in promoting her husband’s designs. She set up a meeting with Pauline von Metternich, the wife of the Austrian ambassador, who lived in Paris in the 1860s. A leading Parisian socialite during the Second Empire, she became a huge fan of Worth’s designs. She introduced him to France’s Empress Eugénie, a meeting which was, according to the curators of the exhibition, decisive in his success. Once the Empress was onboard, other women in other European courts opened their doors, their wardrobes, their pocketbooks.

The Empress of Austria, known as ‘Sisi', contacted Worth at Metternich’s suggestion. She asked him to design the official gown for her coronation as Queen of Hungary. The couturier went on to create many dresses for Sisi. (Figs 24-27)

Figure 24. Day and Evening gown with two different bodices, this one is for day time, Worth

Figure 25. Empress Eugenie wearing a gown by Worth

Figure 26. Empress of Austria, “Sisi,’ wearing gown in which she was crowned Queen of Hungary, 1867, Worth

Figure 27. Costume ballgown, 1889, Worth

We often read about how art inspires fashion. It goes the other way, too. An exhibition at the Petit Palais some years ago demonstrated the important role images in fashion magazines played in Impressionist paintings. The House of Worth's creations were models for painters, too. (Fig 28)

Figure 28. Madame Ernest Feydeau dit La Dame au chien, gown designed by Worth, Carolus-Duran, 1870

Queen Victoria preferred English fashion designers, yet Worth dressed almost everyone who was anyone for the 1897 Devonshire Ball held for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Costumes had to be historical or allegorical. The costume Worth designed for the hostess, transformed her into Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra. (Fig 29)

Figure 29. Duchess of Devonshire dressed as Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, gown designed by Worth, 1897

Most interesting for me, Proustian that I am, was that Countess Greffulhe, the model for Proust's Duchesse de Guermantes, was a fan of Worth’s. There are at least four pieces in this exhibition worn by the Countess. The ‘Robe aux lys,’ with its large white lilies in which she was photographed several times. The gown she wore at her daughter’s wedding to the the Duc de Guiche. A tea gown with fabric by Tassinari & Chatel (Worth’s preferred silk manufacturer). And a cape cut by Worth from a ceremonial coat from Bukhara (Uzbekistan) which Tsar Nicholas Il had given to Countess Greffulhe. (Figs 30-33)

Figure 30. Robe aux Lys worn by Countess Greffulhe, gown by Worth

Figure 31. Countess Greffulhe wearing Robe aux Lys, gown by Worth

Figure 32. Silk gown, fabric by Tassinari & Chatel, gown by Worth

Figure 33. Cape cut from a ceremonial coat from Bukhara, Worth

In addition to the silk manufacture, Tassinari & Chatel, Worth worked closely with the leather goods house, Louis Vuitton. Vuitton designed a wardrobe trunk in the 1870s - with hanging space and drawers - so that Worth could more easily ship his creations across the Atlantic. (Fig 34)

Figure 34. Trunk for Worth designed by Louis Vuitton

The exhibition ends with a set of photographs of Jean-Charles Worth taken by Man Ray. Amidst elegant portraits and family photos are a series of nude shots which the curators call subserve and reflective of the closeness of the two men. (Fig 35) I’m not sure what we are to make of those images, but if you like fashion, you should see this show!

Figure 35. Jean Charles Worth, photograph by Man Ray

The next day, Katherine and I arrived at Notre Dame a little after 9:00 a.m., a little before the crowds. Although there was a winding path (a la Disneyland) that would accommodate lots of people as the day wore on, it was empty when we walked along it. Just inside the cathedral there are tributes to the firemen and workers who contributed to saving and then rebuilding Notre Dame. And plaques thanking the donors who paid for it, €846 million from 340,000 donors in 150 countries. There was the burnt but not destroyed French coq (Fig 36) which had made the rounds of museums during the past 5 years. The coq’s shiny new replacement is now atop the Cathedral’s spire. The fact that the coq, the symbol of France, survived, along with a bit of Christ’s crown of thorns, has been, since it was first discovered, considered a miracle.

Figure 36. The coq that stood atop the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral that was not destroyed during fire

The two most impressive aspects of the interior are how clean it is and how bright it is. Here’s how the critic for the Guardian (12/24) described it, “It was like stepping back into a medieval age and reliving the breathtaking awe Notre Dame cathedral would have inspired in the 14th century when the light from the rose windows threw a kaleidoscope of colors on its pale creamy walls before hundreds of years of liturgical smoke and city pollution blackened them.…” Norman Foster, the British architect, described the reaction of visitors today, as the “shock of the new” …He told the BBC: “We take the patina of age as reflecting antiquity … we don’t think in the past that that was brightly colored. It’s a paradox, because it’s bringing it back to its original roots.” It reminded me of exhibitions I have seen of what the Parthenon looked like when it was first built, painted in bright, shiny primary colors and not the austere white marble we associate with it. (Figs 37-40)

Figure 37. Notre Dame Cathedral interior

Figure 38. Notre Dame Cathedral, rose window

Figure 40. Designs by Matisse, Notre Dame Cathedral

It was very calm in the cathedral - there was no jostling, there was no noise. Everyone was respectful, many of us lost in our own thoughts, all of us happy to be in a monument that so many of us had watched burn a little more than 5 years ago.

On our way home from Notre Dame, Katherine wanted to hit another landmark. So, even though she was on her way to the land of gelato, at 10:30 a.m. we found ourselves by ourselves at Berthillon on Ile St Louis where Katherine chose a vanilla ice cream and cherry sorbet sundae overflowing with plump and I’m guessing, liqueur filled cherries and topped with an impressive amount of creme Chantilly. (Figs 41, 42) That was to tide her over on the train ride that took her to Milan where she overnighted en route to Orvieto.

Figure 41. The BEFORE: Katherine and her Vanilla / Cherry Sundae, Berthillon

Figure 42. The AFTER: Katherine and her Vanilla / Cherry Sundae, Berthillon

One last supper (not capitalized) to tell you about. Bistrot des Vosges, a restaurant in my neighborhood that I should have tried long before now. On a Saturday night, it was full but not crowded. People were talking but it wasn’t loud. The perfect restaurant atmosphere to enjoy a meal. Oh, and the waiter was really good - not "my name is Chad and I’ll be your server" good but professional and helpful. The restaurant is on Boulevard Beaumarchais, at rue Pas de la Mule, just before it becomes the Place des Vosges. It specializes in food of the Aveyron. I had tasted a dish from this region at a conference I attended in Clermont-Ferrand. I don’t know why it was served there because C-F is not in the Aveyron but never mind, that’s where I first tried it. The dish is Aligot, it’s a specialty of Aubrac, a village in the Aveyron. There aren’t many ingredients so you really need the right ones in the right proportions to pull it off - mashed potatoes, melted cheese (tome fraîche made in Aubrac), cream, and crushed garlic. This result is a creamy, elastic, velvety mixture that reminded me of fondue. Aligot was invented by monks as a filling dish to serve to pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela. The original version was bread and cheese. But once potatoes were introduced in the 16th C, the monks swapped out the bread for the potatoes and the rest is delicious history. The aligot is traditionally served with grilled sausage and that’s what mine came with. The salty sausage an excellent foil for the rich, creamy aligot. And if you are afraid of eating too much garlic, the restaurant has you covered. They serve the garlic on the side, swimming in melted butter. Have as little or as much as you want. The charcuterie platter I had for a starter was perfect. My dessert delicious, a café gourmand - three nibble size desserts, chocolate mousse, creme brûlée and a pistachio macaron. (Figs 43-45) The entire meal was delicious but it was the aligot that I’ve been dreaming about and for which I’ll be returning. I can’t wait to take Nicolas there when he arrives next week. Gros bisous, Dr. B.

Figure 43. Charcuterie platter with cornichons, salad and baguette, Bistro des Vosges, Paris

Figure 44. Aligot and grilled sausage, Bistro des Vosges, Paris

Figure 45. Dessert - Café gourmand - Mousse au chocolat, creme brûlée, macaron

BONUS One final Worth costume: Travesti Paraplui, 1925

Thanks to those of you who took the time to Comment, they are always much appreciated.

New Comments on Merry Month of May.

Hello Beverly,

I very much enjoy reading your monthly cultural snippets with the smattering of foody comments. I just saw the LUCE exhibit and the super cute Musée de Montmartre. I’m not sure if you have seen it yet but I would highly recommend it. The garden is beautiful and now is the right time of year to enjoy it. Best, Nancy

Oh Beverly, I love rhubarb and we don't have it in Israel. While in Holland I bought a piece of raspberry rhubarb crumble pie from a bakery and relished every crumb. A friend in Annapolis recommended the Bandit Queens when I visited in April. I downloaded it onto my kindle but it will have to wait. I'm working my way through all the Maisie Dobbs novels. Oh man, I sure wish I could transport myself to Paris and enjoy some museum/gallery visits with you!!! Sharon, Haifa & Annapolis

Dear Beverly,

Maira Kalman is an absolute favorite of mine. I LOVE her work and admire her so. I called the American libe in Paris several times to check if the lecture would be on Zoom but I never reached anyone. But maybe when you’re there you could ask if her talk will be posted to YouTube one of these days?

And, we love herring and potato salad. And sausage & lentils? I put it together in my own way but i started decades ago with a recipe from Patricia Wells “Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” from which I’ve branched out and fix it a different way almost every time now. Melinda, San Francisco & Paris

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