« La
Cité Fleurie » - the name indicates of course that you should find a lot of
flowers. Well, then mid-January is perhaps not the best time for a “flower-visit”,
but I was anyhow so happy to manage to get into this little haven, in the
middle of the 13th arrondissement, normally closed for “strangers” -
but sometimes you are lucky.
There are 29
small pavilions here, all artist studios … and only artists are admitted. The buildings
are from the 1880’s and the building material had been recovered from the 1878
Paris World’s Fair (Exposition Universelle).
Observed from above (thanks Google Earth), we
can see how the pavilions all have typical artist light arrangements.
Some famous
names from the past: César Domela, Henri Laurens, Henri Cadiou… and at no. 9, Gauguin
and Modigliani, who however were rather short-time squatters. (Modigliani had a
few tens of Paris addresses… he could very seldom pay the rent.) Rodin came here frequently to get his
sculptures patinated (have a patina put on) - by Jean Limet. Picasso and Giacometti came to see friends…
Of course
there have been plans to build something more lucrative here, but after tough
fights, which finally involved the President Pompidou, the place was saved and
is now considered as a “monument historique” (national heritage site).
I found a
few flowers…
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