Musée Cognacq-Jay

The Musée Cognacq-Jay houses a collection of 18th-century paintings, sculptures, furniture, and other oddities given to the city of Paris by 20th-century entrepreneurs Ernest Cognacq and his wife Marie-Louise Jaÿ, founders of (the now-closed for reasons of "security" and "renovation") Le Samaritaine department store.

We visited the museum with friends Adam and Rachel and thoroughly enjoyed both the collection and the hôtel particulier that houses it. One of the most intriguing pieces was this titillating painting titled L'amour frivole:

The first thing you notice is likely the creepy guy in the window trying to undress a sleeping maiden. But then, looking closer, you might also see this: 

L'amour frivole is attributed to Swedish artist Jean-Frédéric Schall? That's not a very Swedish name, you think to yourself. And the painting was previously attributed to Pierre-Antoine Baudouin? What's going on here? A bit of googling, and I discovered that L'amour frivole is more likely the work of Niclas Lafrensen, the younger. I understand, however, where the confusion might have come from. This painting by Schall certainly echoes the subject matter of L'amour frivole. 

What do you think? Should I alert the Musée Cognacq-Jay about this faux pas? 

If you go:

Musée Cognacq-Jay

8 rue Elzévir

3rd arrondissement

Métro: Saint-Paul, Chemin-Vert, Rambuteau

Open from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday

Closed Mondays and some holidays

Oh, and it's Free!

Two Days with Moritz and Rebecca

After a glorious, five-day romp in Paris, Becky flew back to the States yesterday (sad times Panda). Now that she and Gladis have come and gone, we only have one remaining visitor coming up - Maggie's mom. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, we're super late in gushing about two visitors we had in early April, when the ash cloud was still just a bit of indigestion in the belly of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano.

Rebecca (Maggie's 2nd cousin) and Moritz (Rebecca's partner) had previously been our hosts when we visited Munich for Thanksgiving. We were excited to return the favor during their trip to Paris, and we hope we showed them as good of a time as they showed us.

Since neither Rebecca nor Moritz cared too much about hitting all the major sites of Paris, we were free to meander through our favorite areas, stopping by places both familiar and completely new. For example: the Maison de Victor Hugo (the apartment where he lived between 1832-48 is now a free museum run by the City of Paris) . . .


 . . . the Berthillon salon de thé . . .

 . . . La Grande Épicerie du Bon Marché, where all kinds of Easter-related delights could be found  . . .

 . . . and the Pont des Arts, where couples recently began leaving small padlocks attached to the bridge as a sign of their undying love (the City of Paris just announced it will soon begin removing said padlocks).

But the big event of the weekend had nothing to do with where we went or what we did. It started when Moritz emailed us several weeks before the visit, asking for restaurant recommendations for a "special celebration." Maggie came up with Les Ombres, the restaurant on top of the Musée du Quai Branly with close-up views of the Eiffel Tower. Here's the happy pair before dinner:

When they got home, we found out that Moritz and Rebecca had had the "best meal of their lives," followed by a short walk to the Eiffel Tower, where Moritz proposed, and where Rebecca accepted. Hooray! and congratulations!

It turned out Moritz and Rebecca showed themselves a good time in Paris. We're just glad we got to go along for the ride.

Musée Cernuschi

We're getting pretty predictable. Blah blah blah free museum blah blah blah - even Andrea quipped, "If there's anything I've learned from your blog, it's that you and Maggie are free museum day whores." Well, Andrea, do we have a surprise for you! Here's a post about a museum that's free all the time: the Musée Cernuschi.

Situated in a former hôtel particulier (private mansion) just off the Parc Monceau, the museum houses the incredible collection of Chinese and other Asian art amassed by Henri Cernuschi, a 19th-century banker.

Screens, statues large and small, lots of Buddhas, terra cotta warriors, awesome temporary exhibitions, this museum pretty much has it all. Did I mention the Buddhas? And of course the building itself is gorgeous/epic. Bonus: The Musée Cernuschi is right down the street from the Musée Nissim Camondo, so you can make an afternoon of it.

Musée de la Vie Romantique

In early March, we continued our quest to visit every free museum in the city by checking out the Musée de la Vie Romantique (16, rue Chaptal, 9th arr.). The museum houses a limited collection in a quaint cottage hidden behind some typical 9th-arrondissement buildings.

There are about 8 rooms total in the permanent collection, many of which are lavishly appointed in Romantic period décor. That's Romantic with a capital R, the 19th-century historical era, not romantic aka lovey-dovey mushy-pushy flowers-and-kisses stuff.


Most of the art, sculpture, and objets d'art in the museum come from the private collection of painter Ary Scheffer - a close friend of Georges Sand - and Sheffer's descendants. This includes his nephew-by-marriage, Ernest Renan, whose bust you can see below, center, and who was one of the first theorists of nationality and nationalism. (Louis hearts Renan.) There are also lots of fun 19th-century fabrics and thus lots of terrible patterns, which you also see below.


After seeing the museum's entire collection in about 20-30 minutes, we headed to the adjacent greenhouse-café, which was empty, unserviced, and slightly chilly when we visited in March, but which will be perfect during slightly warmer times of the year.

The Musée de la Vie Romantique is currently running a temporary exhibition on Chopin, in honor of the 200th anniversary of his birth year, called The Blue Note. It runs through July 11th and we'll probably check it out when we go back to the Musée to see what the café is like in nicer weather.

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

We are now beginning our 7th month here in Paris, and let's just say we're beginning to think about stretching every euro so that we make it home with at least a few centimes in our pockets. One easy solution: visit FREE museums! That's right, there are some free things in Paris (not many, though). The museums in Paris that are free are those run by the city of Paris. A few weeks ago, we visited the Musée Bourdelle, and this past weekend, along with our friend Damien, we checked out the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Albert Gleizes, Les Baigneuses, 1912

The collection runs the gamut of post-impressionist 20th-century artists, styles, and media. If you're looking for big names and famous works, you should probably check out the Centre Pompidou, Musée de l'Orangerie, or the Musée Picasso, which are all "national" museums. But the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris has received its fair share of donations over the years, and there's lots of interesting stuff to be found.

Jacques Lipchitz, Personne assis jouant de la clarinette II, 1920

Modigliani, Brauner, and Cueco

Along with its sister-museum across the way (the Palais de Tokyo), the museum is a hot spot for temporary exhibitions and contemporary installations. When you go, be sure to check out the Salle noire (black room) and its installations by Christian Boltanski. In one, you can browse hundreds of phone books from all over the world. Damien discovered long lost family members in Italy!

Another highlight of the museum is the big, colorful reinstallation of a massive painting executed by Raoul Dufy for the 1937 Exposition Internationale. It's a celebration of the history of electricity - thanks, Ben Franklin!

Thanks, City of Paris, for running wonderful, free museums like this one! Can't wait to visit another one next weekend!

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
11, avenue du Président Wilson
75116 Paris
Tues - Sun 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Musée Bourdelle

As promised, I'm here to tell you about our recent visit to the Musée Bourdelle, a museum dedicated to the life and work of artist Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929).

Assistant to Rodin, teacher of Giacometti (and others), Bourdelle was a well-regarded sculptor in his own right. The museum includes his house, studio, and gardens and can be found at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle in the 15th arrondissement.

The museum is free for all except when there is a temporary exposition, and during our visit, the exposition featured the genre-changing dancer and choreographer, Isadora Duncan.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the exposition so we won't be able to capture the beauty of it in this post. However, Louis somehow managed to snap this one of the Princesse de Polignac, one of the very, very rich (artist-supporting) ladies he's studying while we're here in Paris. I suppose if he had been sent to jail for taking this we could just chalk up his bail as a work-related expense, right? 

La Princesse Edmond de Polignac, 1913 by Jacques-Émile Blanche (1861-1942)

The exposition featured photos and videos of Duncan and her students, "the Isadorables," as well as many, many works of art she inspired, including several drawings by monsieur Bourdelle himself (see one here).

The Isadora Duncan exposition is only up through March 14, so if you're able, we highly recommend a visit! And if you can only make it after the 14th, the permanent collection is still a delight to behold (and it's free!).


Musée Bourdelle (site in French)
18, rue Antoine Bourdelle
75015 Paris
Tues - Sun 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.