Dali Museum
Today was rainy and gray, but we had already made plans to meet some friends in Montmartre, so we braved the elements and went ahead with our plans. After riding the funicular to the top of the hill (the kids thought this was a very cool "ride"), the first order of business was finding a place for lunch. We had several suggestions from tour books, but not surprisingly, all of these recommended places were all booked up for lunch. We ended up, though, in the most adorable little bistro, quintisentially French. It had 5 tables inside and a couple outside. They brought the menu over on a chalkboard and set it up on a nearby chair. The plats du jour, poulet Basquais (chicken with vegetables) and steak, were both delicious and served with crispy little roasted potatoes and a bottle of the house red. It was such a pleasure to be inside this cozy little place while the rain fell outside.
After lunch, we headed to the Dali museum. At first we were skeptical (it didn't look like much as far as museums go), but it was better than being out in the rain, so we decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a fascinating collection of Dali sculptures and prints, which intrigued the kids tremendously. One especially cool piece was a print that looked like one thing (an insect) when viewed normally, but then looked like something else entirely (a mask) when viewed as a reflection in a metalic cylinder. Towards the end of the museum was a gallery which was selling Dali lithographs. We looked at one (which featured, among other things, a sleeping lady, a bee, two ferocious tigers coming out of a fish coming out of a pomegranate, and an elephant with camel legs). We spent quite a while in front of it, telling stories about what was going on. The woman whose job it was to sell the lithographs, was taken in by our conversation and came out of her little office. She ended up talking to us for over half an hour, telling us all about Dali's life, his wife, Gala, who apparently made him what he was as an artist, his friendships with Freud and Picasso, and the symbolism in his paintings.
After lunch, we headed to the Dali museum. At first we were skeptical (it didn't look like much as far as museums go), but it was better than being out in the rain, so we decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a fascinating collection of Dali sculptures and prints, which intrigued the kids tremendously. One especially cool piece was a print that looked like one thing (an insect) when viewed normally, but then looked like something else entirely (a mask) when viewed as a reflection in a metalic cylinder. Towards the end of the museum was a gallery which was selling Dali lithographs. We looked at one (which featured, among other things, a sleeping lady, a bee, two ferocious tigers coming out of a fish coming out of a pomegranate, and an elephant with camel legs). We spent quite a while in front of it, telling stories about what was going on. The woman whose job it was to sell the lithographs, was taken in by our conversation and came out of her little office. She ended up talking to us for over half an hour, telling us all about Dali's life, his wife, Gala, who apparently made him what he was as an artist, his friendships with Freud and Picasso, and the symbolism in his paintings.
posted by M-E Family at 10:16 PM
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