French Impressions
French Impressions – Brenda’s most evocative images from her recent visit to Paris and the surrounding region are pre-sented in her photographic exhibition, exploring well-known places and revealing hidden gems, often overlooked in the hectic bustle of the city.
I hope my impressions will open new horizons to regular visitors to Paris and inspire a first trip for others. Helena and I traveled to Paris to enable me to take the photographs for my touring exhibition and for my two illustrated lectures. joker388
The main focus of the project was Monet and his garden at Giverny and the formal gardens of Versailles and Vaux le Vicomte. We had a hectic time in Paris and were lucky with the glorious weather, meeting many very interesting people and alowing the photos to graph our itinerary.
Helena also suggested we visit the homes of some of the composers, whose songs she has chosen for her recital. Our visit to St. Germain-en-Laye, Debussy’s birthplace, inspired me to research and photograph some of the chateaux of the “Sun King”, Louis XIV, who was also born at St. Germain-en-Laye. From the splendor of Versailles, to the villages and hunting lodges of the surrounding country-side, the legacy of this glamorous monarch still influences impressions of France.
Monet’s garden, an hour by train from Paris, is an artist’s paradise. Everywhere there is a picture demanding to be painted or photographed. Here his paintings come to life and subsequent visits to the Musée d’Orsay and the Marmottan Museum confirmed the realism of his work.
Montfort l’Amaury, the home of Maurice Ravel in the forest of Rambouillet, reveals a more medieval and romantic side of France. We had an eventful trip to Montfort L’Amaury, and although circumferences could have been quite disastrous, we were treated with such wonderful kindness from the people of the town. This idyllic location could have been the prototype of Marie-Antoinette’s play farm, the Hameau, which I thought was the most beautiful area of Versailles.