Venturing Further on Tuesday

On Tuesday morning I decided to tackle the Metro to go westwards to the Musee Quai Branley. The Metro is amazing and the many lines are coded by number and best of all colour!
So a quick trip with one change of line and a bit of a walk and I arrived at a fabulous garden!

 This is the garden that follows the facade of the Musee Quai Branly and has the added bonus of the Eiffel Tower benind it.

The design of the museum is incredible, inside and out. It's elegant and exciting inside. The work which is from four vast areas, Oceania, Asia, Africa, Americas is beautifully displayed. The lighting is low, the floor is gently sloped. You have to have your wits about you because of all the very close glass display cases.
It is huge but seems intimate because of the warm red and darker red colour scheme and the subtle lighting. My only gripe is that there is no cheap cafe/eatery. Unless I missed it, one is directed to the swish restaurant separate to but part of the design. It's very modern and very chic but would definitely not suit everyone.
Walking further westwards one passes another part of the museum which has a green living wall.

When I reached the next bridge over the river I was shocked to see where I had arrived.

It was so exciting to be at the Eiffel Tower on such a beautiful day. I'll wait 'til I come back in January to join the throngs to ascend.

The view east back towards the centre of the city.

The view west.

This amazing building is the Palace Chaillot, a remnant of the 1937 Paris International Exposition. It's huge and seems a bit shabby. In fact the area near the tower and the bridge has an air of the showground about it with carousels and lots of hawkers.
I walked across the bridge, turned right and came across the Palais de Tokyo and the Musee d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris.

 This was also built as part of the 1937 Paris International Exposition and it is a great example 1930's modernist neo classical architecture. It reminded me of the architecture built under Mussolini in the 1930's outside Rome. It's very shabby as well but grungey cool and well patronised.

This wing of the design is the Palais de Tokyo which has temporary contemporary art exhibitions.

This is the other building that has housed the Museum of Modern Art since 1961. Inside were some fabulous surprises!

 This is the view back to the tower over the river.

 The concrete relief which is a major statement on the facade of the building.

The courtyard with many severe columns. Inside was a friendly no frills cafeteria on this lower level with free access to 17 rooms full of modernist art.

 The first room was full of large works by Robert Delauney, the three here designed for the 1937 Exposition. There were other terrific works as well by the same artist.

 In the next room apart from some later Cubists the Delauney featured at the end of a display of some terrific Cubist furniture and decorative arts.

 This suite with a matching desk is upholstered in python skin.

 I was travelling back to front so I next came across these fabulous sculptures by Chaisser who also did the painting and the totem below. he was associated with Dubuffet.

 These small works are by Jean Fautrier - fantastic.

 These sculptures are by him as well.

 Then a whole section on the wonderful work of Bonnard.

 This is a large and beautifully painted work by Bonnard.

 Raoul Dufy has many works in the museum but this pink one was the standout for me. There were many works by the Cubists and the Fauves, some Dada and Surrealist pieces as well. It's fabulous.

Then there is the collection of more recent work. It was really exciting to see Yves klein's Blue Man - the colour is astounding.

 The room full of Pencks was terrific as well.

 I have to look up this artist.

 This was an exhibition of 53 self portraits by Henry? I thought immediately of how thoughtful and sensitive and creative is the work of Susie Losch by comparison.

 

Sam Maddock's work is much more thoughtful as well.

But over all this is a great museum, away from the very crowded main cultural centres. It has a great story and a collection put together largely through donations and generosity so it is quite a unique view of modernism. It was well worth the visit and I'll come back as I missed out on three temporary shows that cost!