Some of My Favourite Places in Paris

I could go on for days about all the things I love about Paris.  Besides being the capital of fashion, it is home to some of the world's greatest art. I think it would take the entire summer to get my fill of all the museums, but I only had four days. Here are some of the places I visited on my most recent trip to Paris.

Monumenta 2011 by Anish Kapoor at the Grand Palais

To read more about the Monumenta exhibition at the Grand Palais, visit the loop gallery blog for my review here.

Musee Bourdelle

Musee Bourdelle was the home and studio of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929).  Towards the end of his life, Bourdelle initiated plans to turn his studio into a museum and today it houses more than 500 sculpture works including Delacroix, Ingres and Rodin among others. This summer, Musee Bourdelle is the host to the Madame Gres retrospective. Read my review of the Madame Gres exhibition for Fashion Projects here.

Musee de la Mode

Palais Garnier Interior 

The Palais Garnier is the thirteenth home of the Paris Opera since it was founded by Louis XIV in 1669. Designed by Charles Garnier on the orders of Napolean III during the Paris reconstruction project carried out by Baron Haussman, the interior is characteristic of Baroque sumptuousness. While in Paris, I visited Palais Garnier to see a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet.

Musee d'Orsay

Home to the masters of Impressionism, the Musee d'Orsay needs no introduction. In spite of long lineups and a bad case of jet lag, I could not miss visiting this museum.

To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, Canada is my country, but Paris is my hometown.

All photos by Ingrid Mida and are subject to copyright.

Madame Gres at the Musee Bourdelle

Madame Gres White Gowns,  Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Born Germaine Krebs, the girl who wanted to become a sculptor became the designer Madame Gres and later was nicknamed the "Sphinx of Fashion". Secretive about her private life, her work was her passion and her career spanned half a century from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. Known for her use of  innovative construction techniques, her classically inspired pleated gowns, usually of silk jersey, resemble sculptures from antiquity.

An exhibition of gowns, drawings and photographs of Madame Gres work is currently being shown at the Musee Bourdelle in Paris. I visited the exhibition last week (where I ran into Hamish Bowles again!). I wrote a review of the exhibition for Fashion Projects. Visit Fashion Projects or click here to read my review.

Madame Gres, Couture at Work
March 25 - July 24, 2011
Musee Bourdelle
16 rue Antoine Bourdelle
75015 Paris