Diane in Montmartre(PART 2 OF 4)
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill (the butte Montmartre) which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank.
Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district.
The other, older, church on the hill is Saint Pierre de Montmartre, which claims to be the location at which the Jesuit order of priests was founded.
Many artists had studios or worked around the community of Montmartre such as Salvador Dalí, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.Montmartre is also the setting for several hit films.
This site is served by metro line 2 stations of Anvers, Pigalle and Blanche and the line 12 stations of Pigalle, Abbesses, Lamarck - Caulaincourt and Jules Joffrin.
Artists gather
In the mid-19th century, artists such as Johan Jongkind and Camille Pissarro came to inhabit Montmartre. But only at the end of the century did the district become the principal artistic center of Paris. A restaurant opened near the old windmill near the top, the Moulin de la Galette.
Artists' associations such as Les Nabis and the Incoherents were formed and individuals including Vincent van Gogh, Pierre Brissaud, Alfred Jarry, Gen Paul, Jacques Villon, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Suzanne Valadon, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Maurice Utrillo, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Théophile Steinlen, and African-American expatriates such as Langston Hughes worked in Montmartre and drew some of their inspiration from the area.
Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and other impoverished artists lived and worked in a commune, a building called Le Bateau-Lavoir, during the years 1904–1909. Composers, including Satie (who was a pianist at Le Chat Noir), also lived in the area.
The last of the bohemian Montmartre artists was Gen Paul (1895–1975), born in Montmartre and a friend of Utrillo. Paul's calligraphic expressionist lithographs, sometimes memorializing picturesque Montmartre itself, owe a lot to Raoul Dufy.
Contemporary Montmartre
There is a small vineyard in the Rue Saint-Vincent, which continues the tradition of wine production in the Île de France; it yields about 500 litres per year.
The Musée de Montmartre is in the house where the painter Maurice Utrillo lived and worked in a second-floor studio. The mansion in the garden at the back is the oldest hotel on Montmartre, and one of its first owners was Claude Roze, also known as Roze de Rosimond, who bought it in 1680. Roze was the actor who replaced Molière, and, like his predecessor, died on stage. The house was Pierre-Auguste Renoir's first Montmartre address and many other names moved through the premises.
Just off the top of the butte, Espace Dalí showcases surrealist artist Salvador Dalí's work. Nearby, day and night, tourists visit such sights as the artists in Place du Tertre and the cabaret du Lapin Agile. Many renowned artists are buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre and the Cimetière Saint-Vincent.
Montmartre was the setting of the film La Môme, (La vie en rose) which elaborates on the life of famous French singer Edith Piaf and her times in the slums of Paris, and of Amélie, the story of a young Parisian woman determined to help the lives of others and find her true love, is set in an exaggeratedly quaint version of contemporary Montmartre. 2001's Moulin Rouge! was also set in Montmartre, the story of a young man who believes in truth, beauty, freedom, and love, and who falls in love with a famous courtesan. 1954's Moulin Rouge, solely about the life and lost loves of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, also took place in the district.
Downhill to the southwest is the red-light district of Pigalle. That area is, today, largely known for a wide variety of stores specializing in instruments for rock music. There are also several concert halls, also used for rock music.
SOURCE: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PICTURES: from the Denman Library
Fujiko Hemming loves Montmartre.
Why does she love it so much?
...'Cause she identifies with struggling artists who have lived in Montmartre, I suppose. As a matter of fact I've just finished reading one of her books.
Under the sky of Montmartre
How could I possibly have dreamt of living in Paris?
I might have died as a pianist without a fame
in the Shimokitazawa house my mother left for me.
One day in the autumn of my life, spring visited me
with an unexpected luck thanks to my mother in Heaven.
I couldn't know what to do in the future---simply doing my best day-in day-out honestly to my heart.
When despair struck me, I prayed to God.
Who coule live with a perfect plan in mind?
Yet, anybody is given a place in this world by Heaven.
So, if you accept the place, Heaven may guide your life.
Basilica of the Sacré Cœur stands out with a mountain of clouds on its shoulders
as if a man stood up with a fate given by Heaven.
Likewise, each of us mey be leading a life with a given fate.
(Note: Picture from the Denman library
Translated by Kato)
SOURCE: "My heart's in Paris"
by Fujiko Hemming
16 - 17ページ 『我が心のパリ』
著者： フジ子・へミング
２００５年２月２５日 初版発行
発行所： 株式会社 阪急コミュニケーションズ
...sounds a little bit sad, but encouraging, isn't it?
I think so, too.
So, Kato, do you love Montmartre?
Oh, yes, I do. I love Montmartre as much as Saint Germain des Prés.
Take a stroll in Montmartre
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jqiPWt__iL0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Listening to Édith Piaf's CD, I like to take a stroll around Montmartre.
Oh, do you? So, you love Chanson Française (French song), don't you?
Yes, I do.
Paris - Montmartre
<iframe width="425" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/c6mzqsFK0dE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I'm a bit tired of watching street scenes.
Oh, are you? Then why don't you enjoy the shows of some street artists?
Montmartre with street artists
<iframe width="425" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_X5QBHueJ7c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
(To be continued)