25.3.19

At the end of a long corridor…


There is a long corridor which connects the Saint-Augustin station of the metro line 9 with the Saint-Lazare station (and the metro lines 3, 12, 13, 14).  At the end of the corridor there is a red mouth. It has been there since 2011 and is actually a gift by the City of Montreal, celebrating their 150 years of public transport … and thanking the RATP, the Paris public transportation organisation, for one of the famous Guimard, art nouveau, metro entrances which they were offered a few years earlier and which you can find at the Square Victoria in Montreal. The lips are designed by the Montreal artist Geneviève Cadieux.
(I have quite often written on Hector Guimard and the metro, e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here…)

These lips made me of course think of another very famous red mouth, designed by Salvador Dali. I wrote about it (see here) after a visit at the Dali museum (and mausoleum) at Figueras in Spain. There is also another, less red, mouth to be seen.

This reminds me of course also of a third version of red lips, the ones at the entrance of the famous Paris cabaret "Crazy Horse", just round the corner from where I live.    













Yesterday, my blog (now 11 years old) had its 3 million-pageview. That makes an average of about 750 per day - yesterday some 1.300... Thank you all!!!

6 comments:

Karen said...

Congratulations, Peter. Amazing! I still enjoy your Blog and the photos and reading your posts. Missing Paris but not sure if or when I can return so thank you for allowing me to visit this way. I'm sure so many others (at least 750 per day) agree with me.

MadAboutParis said...

WOW...THREE MILLION...BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO!!!

Great to know that lips are still popular and relevant. Man Ray's version have always piqued my interest!

https://www.manray.net/the-lovers.jsp

claude said...

J'aime mieux la bouche de Dali.
Bravo pour ton blog un peu plus jeune que le mien.
Bonne continuation !
Belle journée !

Anonymous said...


What a lovely and powerful piece of art at the end of that long corridor!
During World War II, red lipstick became patriotic (Hitler reportedly disliked red lipstick) and women proudly wore their Victory Red as a big middle finger to the dictator.....
Love your post, M. Peter!
Thank you.
P.S.
Ladies: We can instantly create even more magic on our lips with the right shade of red. There's a make up brand in France with a name that rhymes with the name Flora.
The name of their magic lipstick? Liquid Lip Stain Collection - #01 - Always Red -
This is the bright, satiny lip color that gets the dancers of a "certain" cabaret in Paris through sweaty shows, endless high kicks, and lightning-fast costume changes — all without smearing. For their infamous and spectacular seasonal shows they buy the liquid lipstick in bulk........







Jean said...

Congratulations and thanks for so many interesting, unusual and fun posts. I always learn something new. And from the comments, too, like the one above.

joanna said...

Congratulations, Peter truly desired for your wonderful photography and inspiring blog.

Only in Paris would we see "Art" making such an unusual statement..