A myth persists that Paris in April is wonderful with cherry blossoms and love in the air all because of the song written by two men who had never been to Paris let alone in April. The truth is – Paris is cold and rainy as it has been this April. May is approaching and I hope that will all change. We’re ready!! Despite the gloomy weather —Paris is Paris. Traffic is heavy and restaurants are crowded. Reservations are a must- just like theCape at the height of summer.

Sunday we saw a little sun for which we were grateful. We went to the Musèe National de Picasso -Paris located in the 3rd arrondissment bordering the 4th- the Marias. The museum is one we had gone to several years ago but was sorely disappointing as it seemed we had more outstanding works of Picasso at the MFA-Boston so we had never gone back. It underwent a major renovation, closed for several years, and recently reopened. We went to see the special exhibition going on now and were so happy we did.

Along these passages there were cushioned benches. We sat to rest. I suddenly realized we were sitting on Giacometti originals!!! And on one wall were Giocometti sconces. (Most people were walking by these without taking note)

Can you imagine sitting on a Giacometti bench? Below is one of the wall sconces.

The exhibition we wanted to see was of the works of art collected by a prominent art dealer expressly commissioned decorate his Paris apartment.

Below is a metal sculpture by a 20c Armenian artist we’d never heard of.

Ervand Kotchar- born in Tiblisi, lived in Paris and died in Yerevan. Fascinating work with interesting technique. The photos are front and back of the piece. It is encased in glass producing a glare. He was part of a movement called Dimensions.

Love includes some of the explanations because they are succinct and can better describe the artist and their place on the art world of the early 20th century. De Chirigo is a favorite of some but not necessarily me. Nonetheless he is an important painter of that era. Note how the figures come out of the canvas. The shows curators were clever to place the painting on top of a cabinet- mimicking what was probably in the apartment’s reception hall. Note there was a table and chairs drawn below one of the paintings above.

Moving on to the permanent collection-

Fancoise Gilot was the only woman artist I saw. Her paintings were of a kitchen and a salad!

Below is a shot of one of the upstairs gallery room. The renovators kept the original beams creating beautiful spaces.

There were a number of wonderful Picasso’s with which we are all familiar. However this one below I’d never seen. I didn’t make note of its title unfortunately. And with this I’ll close- we are headed out to lunch at the Bistro du Vauban with views of Les Invalides.