More Monet

As of today, I have seen works by Monet in four museums in Paris: the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Musée de l'Orangerie, and the Musée Marmottan-Monet. (On Tuesday, I will see more in a special exhibit in the Hôtel de Ville.) The Marmottan has the largest collection of Monet's works in the world, and also contains earlier works, including some exquisite medieval illuminations. At the moment, there is also a special exhibit of 20th century paintings by brothers Raoul and Jean Dufy. The highlight for me was Monet's work.  I can't say the museum is on my short list of museums to see in Paris, but it's certainly on my long list. The collection includes the painting which gave the Impressionist movement its name: Impression, Sunrise. It also includes a fair number of later Monet paintings, which are close to abstract. I have to say that I don't enjoy his very late paintings as much, but I am greatly taken with the fact that he kept on developing and finding new ways to approach his work well into old age.

On the way to the museum from the subway station, in the Jardins du Ranelagh, I saw a statue of the French fabulist La Fontaine that included an illustration of the fable of the fox and the crow. The crow has a piece of cheese in his beak that the fox wants to get for himself. He praises the crow for his beauty and flatters him by wondering if his voice is as wonderful as his plumage. The crow falls for the bait, opens his mouth, and drops the cheese, which the fox gleefully makes off with (off with which the fox gleefully makes? no, I don't think so).

P.S. Random historical tidbit: The Métro stop where I got off for the museum is called La Muette, and it is named for the Chateau de la Muette, three different incarnations of which were built at different times around this area. In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers made the first manned hot air balloon flight from the second Chateau de la Muette, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lived.