The Montmartre Museum - again

I know, I have already talked about the Montmartre Museum several times, e.g. here, when it was under the threat of being closed, and here when it was saved and some first improvements of the installations had taken place. The inauguration of the extended and renovated museum took place recently, so I felt I had to talk about it again.

Here are some views of the outside, compared with a painting by one of the occupants of the buildings, Maurice Utrillo...

… and here some views of the gardens and the view over the vineyard, compared with paintings by Auguste Renoir (The Swing) and Suzanne Valadon….

… and here some other paintings by Renoir from the garden (Monet appears on one of them).

The extended spaces allow a much richer presentation of paintings, drawings and other documents linked to the rich history of the premises and Montmartre in general.

Special attention has been given to the renovation of what was the home and workshop of Suzanne Valadon and her son Maurice Utrillo. Here a view from the outside and from the stairs…

… and here some views from the workshop, compared with photos of Suzanne and, in the middle (one of) her husband(s), André Utter, and to the right her son, Maurice Utrillo…

… and from the living room (see also top picture), compared with paintings by herself. Hardly anything here is really “original”. Photos and paintings have been there to help to make the rooms look as similar as possible to what once was.

Here is the chamber occupied by Maurice Utrillo, portrayed by his mother. The window is closed by steel bars and a net, there to make it impossible for Maurice to “export” paintings and “import” bottles. He was often more or less “imprisoned” to prevent him from being found in the street completely drunk. The postcards on the wall are there to remind us that he often made his paintings from photos and postcards, a way to keep him away from the outside temptations.

Here are two photos of Suzanne and Maurice, a drawing of her son and a painting of the grandmother, the husband and Maurice by Suzanne.

Suzanne had started as an acrobat, but injured she started modelling (and more). We can see her portrayed by Renoir, by Toulouse-Lautrec, by Degas (see the photo taken by Degas as pre-study to one of the paintings), Utrillo, Modiglaini, Puivis de Chavanne and a photo dedicated to her by Picasso.

Suzanne became a very good artist herself as we have already seen. Here are some photos of her and some self-portraits (those days’ “selfies”).

The renovated museum’s ticket office and shop occupies a space which once was the lodge of the housekeeper, for a couple of years occupied by “Père Tanguy”, portrayed by van Gogh (and others). I talked about him in a previous post.  

This is where Renoir lived when he made one of his most famous paintings, “Le Moulin de la Galette” – also painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh, Picasso…. I felt I had to tell you something more about one of the two windmills which stood – still there – on what became a very popular cabaret during the end of the 18^th and the beginning of the 19^th centuries (I wrote about it several times, e.g. here and here.). The 17^th century windmill, “Blute-Fin” was then transformed to a viewing tower with a platform on top – as we can see on the publicity, postcard and paintings by Utrillo and van Gogh. The platform is still there…

… and Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron were dancing on it in the Vincente Minnelli movie “An American in Paris”!  

Francisque Poulbot

I recently made a post on the improvements which have taken place at the Montmartre Museum. Last weekend an event took place there, in the gardens, where so many nice well-known paintings have been made. A sculpture, bust, was inaugurated. The person who was brought into honour was Francisque Poulbot (1879-1946), affichiste and illustrator, especially known for the drawings of the local Montmartre street kids, urchins, so famous that they now are just referred to as “poulbots”. The house where he spent his last years is nearby and you can find some of his kids as decoration. (I posted about him a long time ago.)

Francisque Poulbot was also also co-creator of the “Montmartre Republic”, of the local vineyard, the “Clos de Montmartre” (see previous post) and a lot of other things which somehow saved Montmartre, from destruction, over-exploiting… 

The “Montmartre Republic” colours were there and a lot of people (despite the first really cold day of the season).

There were of course speeches by Presidents of the “Montmartre Republic”, of the “Old Montmartre” (Le Vieux Montmartre) association, of the Montmartre Museum and of the “Francisque Poulbot Friends” and we heard a song dedicated to Francisque by Alain Turban (who will have a Montmartre “show” at the famous “Olympia” February 3) …

With the crowd, it was not easy to get good close-ups…

…  but, when it was almost all over I managed to get closer. I also took a photo of the bust creator, Agnès Rispal, talking to one of the invited persons, Christian Cabrol, an eminent, now retired, cardiologist, who among many other medical exploits executed the first European heart transplantation in 1968.

We then joined the little “Poulbot Orchestra” for a little aperitif.

Something completely different: Close to the Montmartre Museum there is a little one-room flat where the composer Erik Satie lived 1890-98. He had then a short love story with the painter (who also worked as model for Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec…) Suzanne Valadon (who lived where the museum now is), he played as “bar pianist” at the famous cabaret “Chat Noir”. All of you may not know his name, but I’m rather convinced that you will recognize his music. Below you can even listen to a free version by “Blood, Sweat & Tears”.

The Montmartre Museum - again

Some three years ago I posted about the danger of the closure of the Montmartre Museum. It was saved. In July last year I posted about the museum again, including about the plans for important improvements. In that post I also talked about all the well-known artists who have lived and worked here – Renoir, Valadon, Utrillo, Bernard, Dufy…

I passed by the other day and had a check on what has been done so far. Parts of the garden are in a very good shape...  

... and some nice and safe stairs to the lower parts of the garden (little park) now gives a good access to the museum on the other side of the main building …

... and further down also a chance to get a better, different, view of the vineyard, the “Clos de Montmartre” (see previous post).

Other parts of the garden and some adjacent buildings are still under renovation – ongoing until 2014.

Although I have already talked about it in my previous posts, I cannot omit to show you some paintings from the garden by Renoir, by Valadon, by Dufy…  It was when he worked here that Renoir finished one of his most famous paintings, of the nearby “Moulin de la Galette”. … and in the garden you can now find an installation reminding of his painting “The Swing”.

A personality who had a lot of influence on some of the painters was Jules Tanguy, “Père Tanguy”. He worked here for some five years as a “housekeeper” and later opened a little shop (now an art gallery) where he sold painting equipment – often against a painting, which he then exposed. Among his friends and customers you can name Cézanne, Renoir, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh… and Emile Bernard, one of the occupants of the present museum. The two latter, van Gogh and Bernard, portrayed “Père Tanguy”, van Gogh several times. Emile Bernard was a very close friend to especially Gauguin and van Gogh. There is even a photo of Bernard and van Gogh together on the Seine bank (van Gogh turns his back). “Père Tanguy” and Bernard were some of the few personalities who were present during van Gogh’s funeral in 1890. Bernard even made a painting of the event.  I think it’s worth mentioning that “Père Tanguy” was a great fan of and sold Japanese prints, that van Gogh also became a fan and that this type of art to a high extent influenced van Gogh’s and some other post-impressionists' way of painting. You can see some Japanese prints behind “Père Tanguy” on van Gogh’s portraits of him. We must certainly be very grateful to "Père Tanguy"! 

The Montmartre Museum - to be closed?

I was alerted that there is a threat that the Montmartre Museum could be closed; the City of Paris has indicated that they would withdraw their annual subsidy. This was a good reason to revisit it!

The Museum has been in operation for some 50 years and has its home in the oldest remaining buildings on Montmartre, originally inhabited by “Rosimund”, who succeeded Molière in the Royal troop of comedians. During the 19th century the place was transformed and was occupied by a number of famous artists: Auguste Renoir, Suzanne Valadon, Maurice Utrillo ...

The place was later more or less abandoned, but saved and transformed into a museum.

The museum is situated close to and overlooks the Montmartre vineyard (see previous post), the St. Vincent park (see previous post), the St. Vincent cemetery (see previous post) and the cabaret “Lapin Agile” (see previous post).

Here you can see what it looks like, outside – including a sculpture (by Charles Delporte) and the last (?) rose of the year ...

... and inside. There are many interesting documents to be seen and of course a number of paintings, gravures... of the different artists who have occupied the place. You can e.g. find Utrillo’s easel and some Valadon and Utrillo paintings, some Toulouse-Lautrec posters...

As mentioned, Auguste Renoir had a studio and painted here e.g. “Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette” (1876), “The Swing” (1876), painted in the garden, “Dance in the City” (1883) and “Dance at Bougival” (1883), the two latter having Suzanne Valadon as model, then 18 years old. She was probably then pregnant as her son, Maurice Utrillo, was born later that year, father unknown (possibly Renoir?). You may see the restaurant where Renoir painted “Dance at Bougival” in one of my previous posts.

Below you can see Suzanne a few years later (1888), “Hangover”, painted by Toulouse-Lautrec and some of her own paintings from the garden, “Nudes” (1919) and “Garden” (1928).

Suzanne made this portrait of her son in 1921, he was then 38. Maurice was very productive and painted several times the nearby cabaret “Lapin Agile”. One painting is of the house where he then lived, now the museum. Maurice Utrillo is buried just downhill, at the St. Vincent cemetery.

In the museum you can find the original of a painting from 1875, by the caricaturist André Gill, representing a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan, made to decorate the wall of this small cabaret and restaurant, which is how it got its name “Le Lapin à Gill” (“Gill’s Rabbit”). With the time the name was transformed to “Lapin Agile” (“Nimble Rabbit”). If you check one of my previous posts, you can read about the number of later famous artists who have performed here and also about all celebrities who have attended. You can see (the copy of) this painting under the leaves.

One of the paintings in the museum is by Adolphe Wilette, “Parce Domine” (1884). It was made to decorate a then famous cabaret “Le Chat Noir”, where “all” artists met those days. Wilette was also in charge of the original decoration of “Moulin Rouge”, including the design of the red mill on top. (If you are interested you can read about the story behind the name “Moulin Rouge" in some of my previous posts, e.g. here, here and here.)

Another painter who worked here was Raoul Dufy. This painting is obviously one of his last, from 1953.

At last I wish to mention Fransique Poulbot, who also worked here, famous for his illustrations of Montmartre children, now known as “poulbots” and widely copied - and falsified. You can also read more about this in a previous post.

Now, don’t we wish this museum to be saved? If you agree, you can sign a petition here!