Saturday 19 May 2012

Today I was heading to Montparnasse. A market similar to the one at Bastille was in the square near the tower. This food stall looked awesome. There were huge vats of freshly cooked meats and sausages and veggies being served up in long fresh bread rolls – yum!

 

My choice was the poelee campagnarde. The liquid from the stew seeped into the bread so there was very little mess.

I was headed to the Montparnasse cemetery to see a famous sculpture by Brancusi. While I was looking for it, I saw possibly the nicest grave I’d ever seen. No name, just polished metal with gorgeous little figures, a low-burning candle and flowers at one end and a mobile at the other. The yin and yang symbol on the mobile suggested buddhism to me, but I have no idea, really.

It was beautiful and peaceful. On top of another grave was this incredible bird-like figure. Shards of mirror had been assembled like a mosaic.

In a quiet corner was the Brancusi sculpture – The Kiss.

The sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty is buried here also, his cloak draped over the grave as though he’s just shrugged it off after coming home from work. Not far from where they used to live and hang out, Simone de Beauvoir and Jen Paul Sartre are resting here too.

I have no idea why all these metro tickets have been left on their grave.

The fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is around the corner from the cemetery. The exhibition was not hugely interesting to me – kind of outsider art/native art. But the building and the concept is awesome. The gallery is basically an enormous glass shell and depending on the exhibit, different walls, or no walls, are put in place. Coloured curved ones were used for this show, that you can just see through the glass.

There are also enormous glass walls that separate the front lawn/garden from the street. A blue bird has been painted on a glass panel.

These moulded plastic orange chairs were inside as well – I just love the punchy statement they make.