Well we had our day out today and our destination was St. Germain-en-Laye. This is a small city outside Paris which has another beautiful chateau which contains the National Museum of Gallo-Roman France.
But we didn't go there today, instead we went to the National Museum of Maurice Denis. He was one of the founders of the artistic group called the Nabi's. They were a group that recognized one of the prevailing attitudes of the day which was to create images on the 'flat' surface of the canvas. They were also a sort of mystic group who used symbolism to impart their artistic vision.
So off we went on the Metro and RER down to Chatelet where we would link up to the line taking us out to St Germain-en-Laye. But when we got there we were faced with a lack of train, there was some sort of technical issue and the trains between the station at Nation and Etoile Chas. De Gaulle were not running at all. The station where we were is in the middle of town so we were stranded for a period of time without any real information, and hampered by our poor French when an announcement was played over the highly distorted PA.
Finally a train rolled up from the opposite direction and we were trying to figure out where it might be headed. Finally a board on the train lit up with the destination and it was ours, so I hollered at Deb who was engrossed in a conversation with someone and told her to make tracks on to the train. She did, and we were off.
When we arrived it was just after noon so we found a nice little outdoor cafe and had lunch, which turned out to be pretty good. Then it's a short walk downhill to the museum which is housed in an old hospital building, old as in 1688 by one of Louis XIV's mistresses and was a hospital until 1830. So it's quite an impressive building in itself, very spacious. Maurice Denis had seven children and one can only imagine the sounds of boisterous merriment in the stone vaulted stairwells and the open beam ceilings.
Yet again we come away with a new sense of respect for a painter basically unknown to us, except for pictures in books that do absolutely nothing to convey his talent and those of his associates. So we spent a full afternoon just enjoying the vision of this group of painters, the last hour or so of our visit was spent sitting in a shady spot in the extensive garden.
But we didn't go there today, instead we went to the National Museum of Maurice Denis. He was one of the founders of the artistic group called the Nabi's. They were a group that recognized one of the prevailing attitudes of the day which was to create images on the 'flat' surface of the canvas. They were also a sort of mystic group who used symbolism to impart their artistic vision.
So off we went on the Metro and RER down to Chatelet where we would link up to the line taking us out to St Germain-en-Laye. But when we got there we were faced with a lack of train, there was some sort of technical issue and the trains between the station at Nation and Etoile Chas. De Gaulle were not running at all. The station where we were is in the middle of town so we were stranded for a period of time without any real information, and hampered by our poor French when an announcement was played over the highly distorted PA. 
Finally a train rolled up from the opposite direction and we were trying to figure out where it might be headed. Finally a board on the train lit up with the destination and it was ours, so I hollered at Deb who was engrossed in a conversation with someone and told her to make tracks on to the train. She did, and we were off.
When we arrived it was just after noon so we found a nice little outdoor cafe and had lunch, which turned out to be pretty good. Then it's a short walk downhill to the museum which is housed in an old hospital building, old as in 1688 by one of Louis XIV's mistresses and was a hospital until 1830. So it's quite an impressive building in itself, very spacious. Maurice Denis had seven children and one can only imagine the sounds of boisterous merriment in the stone vaulted stairwells and the open beam ceilings.
Yet again we come away with a new sense of respect for a painter basically unknown to us, except for pictures in books that do absolutely nothing to convey his talent and those of his associates. So we spent a full afternoon just enjoying the vision of this group of painters, the last hour or so of our visit was spent sitting in a shady spot in the extensive garden.
I love these paintings!
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