The weather wasn’t the best…

When the weather is warmer and drier, a Tuesday evening in the Marais, all the streets, bars, restaurants… should be crowded. Well, the weather wasn’t warm and dry the other day.

If you wanted a Vélib’ bike, it was easy to find one.

Another part of the "Petite Ceinture"

I already wrote a few times about the “Little Belt”, the “Petite Ceinture”, the railway that was created around Paris in the middle of the 19^th century to interconnect the then newly created major railway stations and also to allow travelling around Paris - before the creation of the metro system. (I already wrote about it e.g. here, here, here, here and here.) Most of it is abandoned, but to a large extent the tracks, the bridges… are still there, awaiting a possible new utilisation.

The other day I made a little walk along part of it, starting at the Villette basin. What I first discovered was that something existed in the vaults under the railway tracks. Well, does it really exist or not? I saw nobody… but there are several Internet sites about “La Vache Bleue” (The Blue Cow) and several coming events are announced (see e.g. here and here). It’s a place for different artistic activities. I have to go back, maybe during the warmer periods of the year.

I found these inscriptions on the walls, which may indicate that the activities are threatened, but found nothing on the net that confirms this fact.   

Following the tracks you will find the old railway station “Pont de Flandres”, open for passenger traffic 1869-1934.

A bit further away, just before the abandoned “Petite-Ceinture”-tracks disappear underground, you can now find the newly opened and almost completed, metro-tram-railway station “Rosa Parks”, serving the partly parallel railway lines connecting Paris with the eastern suburbs. (I wrote about Rosa Parks recently, see here.) The whole area, formerly very industrial, is under reconstruction into a mixture of housing and offices.  

Subway - above ground

When the Paris metro system was planned by the end of the 19^th century, already nine lines were envisaged – today there are 14 (or 16, if you add nos. 3bis and 7bis). At the outset, there was a west-east line (the present line no. 1), a north-south line (the present line no. 4) and a circular line. Line no. 1 was opened in July 1900 during the World's Fair.

What you would refer to as a circular line corresponds today to two lines:
Line no. 2, which partly opened also in 1900 (actually the part which is not “circular” and goes from Place Charles-de Gaulle – Etoile in the direction of the Bois de Boulogne) and was completed in 1903...
... and today's line no. 6 – first known as line no. 2 South -, which opened with a first part from Etoile to Trocadéro also in 1900, reached Place de l’Italie in 1906 and Place de la Nation in 1909.  

What is particular with both lines, nos. 2 and 6, is that they are partly above ground, which somehow may make them more interesting, especially from a sightseeing point of view - some landmarks can be seen through the windows.

Here you have an approximate map of lines nos. 2  and 6, the yellow dotted lines being what’s above ground….

… and here are some pictures, a mixture from lines nos. 2 and 6, very slightly different in design.

The more spectacular parts of line no. 6 may be the crossing of the Seine River, at Pont de Bir-Hakeim and Pont de Bercy. (Line no. 4 was the first one to cross the Seine under water in 1910.)

Coluche

On the stairs at the end of a little street, Rue Lemaignan, you can find the portrait of "Coluche" (Michel Colucci). He died in 1986, only some 42 years old in a motorcycle accident. He was a comedian and an actor, extremely popular, known for his irreverent sense of humour. He dared to say what most others wouldn't dare, on- and off-stage. He even (for fun... or not?) announced his candidacy for the presidential elections in 1981 - before withdrawing, but reaching 16% of voting intentions. In 1985 he created the "Restos de Coeur", an association which has survived him and today offers help (food, lodging...) to more than a million people, especially during the cold months.

The portrait here, quite recent, is meant as an homage, commemorating 30 years since his death. It was very officially recently inaugurated by the mayors of the 13th and 14th arrondissements.

From the top of the street you see "nothing", from the bottom of the street you see the portrait. I hope that theses pictures will explain how the artists, Zag & Sia, have worked.

Why here? "Coluche" lived just round the corner in a red-brick house, more or less overlooking the beautiful Montsouris park. 

I already posted about this park, see here, when it was greener than this week.

Talking about colours..., I admired some black and red.

Anders Zorn - Paris years

Anders Zorn (1860-1920) was a Swedish painter, etcher and sculptor. He had the chance of being quite successful already during his lifetime. He travelled a lot, visited the US several times and even made official and unofficial portraits of some presidents, Cleveland, Taft and Th. Roosevelt.

He was a great portraitist and obviously made a fortune in painting royalty, presidents, nobility and members of the “high society”. But he also portrayed himself, his wife Emma, family members, friends, artists … and a lot from his native “Dalecarlia” in Sweden, including a lot of nudes.  

Zorn made some 289 etchings. Often we can see “duplicates” – a painting and an etching of the same motif.  

Still travelling a lot and frequently returning to Sweden, he had a fixed address in Paris 1889-1896. His address was on Boulevard de Clichy, more or less in front of the “Moulin Rouge”. (I included a picture of the “Moulin Rouge” around 1890.)

He had some immediate success, was awarded the French Legion of Honour in 1889 – at the age of 29, was asked to paint his self-portrait for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (the one from 1889 above) …

During his Paris time he hardly produced any street views. There are some paintings and etchings of a Paris "Omiibus" and of a Montmartre prostitute in red – “Night Effect”. 

But he made a number of portraits – paintings and etchings – of some of the local celebrities like Paul Verlaine, Auguste Rodin (made later – 1906), Antonin Proust (journalist and politician, portrayed also by Manet, Rodin..), the actor Coquelin Cadet, the baritone singer Jean-Baptiste Faure (art collector who bought a large number of Manet  paintings especially and it was probably in one of his homes that Zorn could meet Gounod, Maupassant, Degas, Monet…), Ernest Renan (philosopher, historian, writer), Anatole France (poet, journalist, novelist), Marcellin Berthelot (chemist and politician)…