TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Travel France: Paris Picasso Museum, Louvre, Love Locks on Bridges

Today we visited the Picasso Museum in Paris (in the Marais District), which was reopened last October 2014. The museum is a renovated 17th century building, which in itself is a pleasure to visit. (The vaulted ceilings with wood rafters in the top floor are quite handsome!)

The Picasso collection is extensive, and the exhibit includes works by other artists such as Braque, Modigliani, Matisse, Renoir, and Cezanne.

We have visited the Picasso Museum in Barcelona but this one in Paris strikes me as more interesting. I was able to see the development of Picasso's style from realistic (see nude woman below) to cubist (see cat above). I was reminded of what I teach my students, and that is that writers and artists need to know the rules, and then they can choose to break the rules. (There is a toll for breaking the rules, and the writer or artist will or should know what the costs is. In writing, it can be confusion for instance, but if that is what the writer wants, then so-be-it.)

From the Picasso Museum, we went to the Louvre, which is closed today, but we sat near the pyramid, along with many others and took pictures.

We later took a look at the workers removing the love locks from the bridges of Paris. This has made world news.Around five years ago, couples started attaching engraved locks on the grill siding of some bridges in Paris and tossing the keys into the Seine. This practice became very popular but the weight of the numerous locks has caused damage to the bridges. Paris officials have tried to stop this practice, but people continued. This time officials are serious about the removal.

(I have a suggestion to the local government of Paris: create a Love Wall, and divert people who want to place love locks to that wall.)