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Le quartier Montparnasse des années 1900-1920
Monday, 1/12/09
A painted building in Montparnasse:
Vincent took us on a tour of the Montparnasse neighborhood. We saw the Tour Montparnasse, one of the tallest buildings in Paris. It was highly controversial to build this skyscraper at the time – the 1960's – because Paris did not want such a modern structure in the highly historical city. We continued our tour of Montparnasse to many homes of artists who lived there in the early 1900s. This area became full of life as artists moved from Montmartre, which was getting too expensive. Many of the buildings, especially the windows, were decorated in the style of art nouveau, with designs inspired from vegetation. There were also some buildings covered with intricate mosaics. Vincent showed us an art académie where many artists worked and studied. I think it must have been a great place to work because you could talk to and be inspired by many other fellow artists.
The tower of Montparnasse:
We also passed by several famous brasseries where the artists regularly hung out, including La Coupole, where we ate lunch. Because La Coupole has become famous for hosting many well-known artists, it is now very chic and expensive. Their specialty is seafood- mostly oysters. I had croustillons de Camembert for an entrée – a crispy cheese appetizer; lobster ravioli for the main course; and the house tiramisu for dessert. It all tasted excellent! It was really fun to see the different silverware they brought out to use with each course- especially for the people who ordered escargots (snails) or oysters.
M.D.
An artist's atelier and a sculpture of Balzac:
