Colin Churcher's Blog for 2016: Wednesday 13 January

We were all set to take a ride on RER line B to the Parc de Sceaux today. However, line B has frequent interruptions and we checked with the screen in the Villiers station before getting tickets. Sure enough there was a slow down as a result of a suspicious package being found. Quick change of plan and we decided to walk to the Place de la Concorde and visit the musee de l'Orangerie.

Pierre Herme on the Boulevarde Haussemann was pushing their Gallettes du roi.

The musee de l'Orangerie is a well organized gallery. There was a special exhibit of the role of women in the development of photography. The photographs were interesting although the commentary was poorly written and difficult to follow in places.

The signage in the museum was difficult to follow and the details of each photo were placed very low so than many had to bend.

The permanent exhibition consists of paintings acquired by Paul Guillaume, a dealer/collector. Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani,Derain, Utrillo, Rousseau, and Soutine are all hung in a manner which allowed good viewing and good crowd flow.

Cezanne

Derain - Harlequin and Pierrot

The highlight of the musee is at the ground level where there are two large oval rooms devoted to eight very large canvasses by Monet illustrating water lilies and water plants in Giverny. Each room has a series of benches in the centre with the four canvasses around the outside. An opportunity to sit quietly and contemplate.

What to do for lunch? Mary pointed out that we were not very far from Le Grand Colbert. A brisk walk along the Tuileries and past the Louvre and we were given a nice corner table. The a la carte menu had pickled herring as a starter and this was followed by fondant de boeuf (7 hours) for Mary while I had the confit de canard. It was washed down with a half bottle of red Sancerre.