Birthplace of major artistic movements such as Impressionism or Cubism, the French capital has always inspired painters who, in turn, have highlighted Paris in several legendary works. Let's take a look at some of these masterpieces that still attract millions of visitors to the City of Light.
From the New Athens district (now the 9th arrondissement) during the Romantic period to the bohemian Montmartre of the late 19th century to the blossoming of modern art in Montparnasse during the Roaring Twenties: artists from all over the world came to paint in the capital, attracted by the masterpieces on display in the Louvre, the French state of mind (often freer than elsewhere) and, of course, the beauty of the city's many centuries of history.
But if its rich historical heritage is by nature very aesthetic, in the 19th century it is above all its modernity that inspired artists by providing them with new subjects such as train stations and railroads: Claude Monet painted the St Lazare train station several times, fascinated both by its innovative metal structure and the smoke emanating from the impressive steam trains, and we owe Gustave Caillebotte a beautiful snapshot of this city then in full urbanization with his famous "Pont de l'Europe".
The work of art is a pause in time.
After Haussmann's great works offering new views of the city with its large open avenues visible from the balconies, the advent of the Eiffel Tower in 1889 did not leave painters like Raoul Duffy and Robert Delaunay indifferent.
Others remained more attached to the river history of the city "beaten by the waves but not sinking" (translation of the Latin motto of Paris, Fluctuât Nec Mergitur) like Alfred Sisley who painted Le canal Saint-Martin in 1870 and Johan Jongkind who, on several occasions, was inspired by the quays of the Seine with its boats, bridges and monuments.
Finally, another Parisian characteristic often painted, the slate roofs whose regular arrangement could not but appeal to the precursor of cubism, Paul Cézanne.
The second muse of the artists, French or foreign, in residence in the capital: its epicurean spirit, notably illustrated by the guinguettes, cabarets and street parties. Alongside Renoir's world-famous “Moulin de la galette”, Vincent van Gogh immortalized the backyard of the café La bonne franquette in his painting "La Guinguette" where, with other artists, he came to drink absinthe.
An alcohol illustrated, among others, by Edgar Degas and Toulouse Lautrec even if the latter remains more associated with the Moulin Rouge, the most famous (still today) of the cabarets of the capital that he will sketch under all its seams and will contribute to popularize with his innovative advertising posters.
Speaking of innovation, it is impossible not to mention the master of impressionism Claude Monet whose painting "La rue Montorgueil", with its multitude of blue, white and red pennants, marked the history of art as did the work of his friend Edouard Manet.
A year before his scandalous "Déjeuner sur l’herbe", the pioneer of modern art described another Parisian scene in "Music in the Tuileries" where we meet his relatives such as the poets Charles Baudelaire and Théophile Gautier or, in this Paris decidedly very popular with painters, Henri Fantin-Latour.
To find Paris in painting, rendez-vous at the Musée d'Orsay, the Petit Palais or the Centre Pompidou which house some of these works but also, on other themes, many other paintings featuring the city of the arts.
Valerie from Comme des Français
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