Second Day

There was a possibility of a double visit today--Musée du quai Branly and Musée Rodin--but it did not come to pass. I tend to spend too much time in a museum when I get there to be able to manage two in one day. So, Musée du quai Branly won out over Rodin today.

I took the métro to Invalides and walked from there up to the quai d'Orsay and headed west. It was another glorious day, and all the gilt was shining brightly!

Here is one of the entrances to the museum, advertising one of the special exhibitions that I particularly wanted to see:

The museum's website describes the permanent collections in this way: "An unpartitioned geographical itinerary comprising 5,450 artefacts from all four corners of the world. At the end of the ‘ramp’, the long winding walkway that spirals up from the reception hall, the permanent collections area presents the great geographical regions in which the Musée du quai Branly’s remarkable collections originated: Oceania, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The visitor makes his way fluidly across them, taking in the major crossroads between civilisations and cultures: Asia-Oceania, Insulindia, and Mashreck-Maghreb".

I have to admit that after about ninety minutes I began to go into MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) mode! This museum is worth several return visits.

Some of my favorite exhibits were the textiles:

But the Christian paintings from Ethiopia were great, too:

And the exposition "Autres Maîtres de l'Inde" was wonderful.

Perhaps my favorite artist was Jivya Soma Mashe, with his fascinating depictions of village life and mythology in white on brown:

 

The museum building itself is pretty cool:

After a nice lunch at the Café Branly, I wandered back to the Right Bank and took the métro back to the hotel.

En effet, I was a tired but happy girl!