In September I went to Paris, alone, and endeavoured to experience some culture (and some pastries). The Musée d’Orsay was high on my list of things to see, since it contains the work of some artists I rather like but don’t know a lot about, and used to be a train station (giving me the opportunity to send my train-loving father this postcard).
In a manic evening of web-browsing on the night before I left, I discovered that if you are under 26 and live in an European Union country, you can get in for free. And so I did.
The museum itself has been converted in a really interesting way, and is full of the kind of artworks you see reproduced so regularly that it’s difficult to believe they even exist in an original, concrete form.
I enjoyed sketching Degas’ little statues of ballet dancers. They were on glass shelves, so you were looking at the higher-placed dancers from below. Some of them had surprisingly chunky limbs.
Fun fact: people visiting art galleries have an overwhelmingly positive attitude to other people visiting art galleries who happen to be sketching. I got complimented in various different languages, even when I was hideously disfiguring Sarah Bernhardt! I didn’t scan that one; be assured that it is not a flattering portrayal…
In line with the usual content of this blog, I did see and draw some interesting teapots, and also discovered an unusual object which will be very helpful in a certain witch-related illustration project I have in mind. That will take some explaining, so it can wait for another post!
