Musee de la vie Romantique, Pierre-Joseph Redoute

You can take Bus 67 all the way from Central Paris to Pigalle, 18eme. Then walk 5 minutes to the musee de la vie Romantique. Metro ligne 12 goes too. For some unknown reason the bus dumped us out at Hotel de Ville. I could not resist buying a few peonies/pivoines on sale as I waited for the next 67...

Musee de la Vie Romantique is one of Paris' prettiest small museums. 16, rue Chaptal 75018

Take a tea outside, relax

And smell the roses.

Inside more roses at the first Joseph-Pierre Redouté exhibiton in Paris just opened on till October 1.

A major botanical artist (1759-1840) and Belgian, Redouté recorded the floral varieties in Empress Josephine Bonaparte's garden at Malmaison.

His technique of fine stipple engraving, using tiny dots rather than fine lines allowed for more subtle color gradations.

A number of his oils are on view.

Redouté, the 'Raphael of flowers' is still revered for his exquisite floral renderings, especially his roses. 'He lead the way in an era of natural sciences, classifying and identifying plants collected over five continents - then reproducing them in watercolor on precious vellums of unequaled scientific accuracy and artistic talent'.

More than 250 paintings, watercolors, objets d'art are presented in 3 rotating 'saisons' so you can return several times to see different artworks.

Floral Sevres porcelain inspired by Redoutë's botanical engravings.

I was smitten with these fragile gold bouquet holders. 19th century fans, jewelry, embroidaries, wall hangings in the exhibit reflect the craze for botany.

To be painted with a rose wreath in your hair! You'll find wreaths like this at 14, rue des St-Peres at Flower.com

Stunning examples of wallpaper designs based on Redouté's engravings

Close-up of endpapers from the museum's Redouté catalog, 'Le Pouvoir des Fleurs'

Contemporary works by 26 artists are included in the exhibit.

They gave us brown paper wrapped bouquets as we left the preview. I had my 3 peonie buds tucked in my bag waiting to be painted. Thank you for reading Parisbreakfast.  If you'd like to receive Paris letters and maps in your mailbox, do visit my Etsy shop. 

And don't miss musee de la vie Romantique if you're a flower-lover!

Kimono/ musee Guimet, la Fete des Printemps, glycine

Lavender blue dilly, dilly…

There are plenty of flowers at the exposition, KIMONO, Musee Guimet.

Showers of cherry blossoms

Reflect the flowered kimono fabrics

They certainly influenced French couture designers like Yes Saint Laurent with this patterned robe.

The annual La Fete des Printemps is on at department store Printemps

Yellow and purple go together always on the color wheel. Have you tried it?

Perfection, this yellow door crowned by lavender wisteria. The French word is 'glycine'!

More yellow and purple.

I left a note on this window sill. SVP Paint your shutters jaune!!

Old Paris has hidden enclaves of cobblestone streets full of wisteria, for the moment at least. You'll feel you've stepped into the countryside. Have you searched them out? Very affordable too...free! 

Thank you for reading Parisbreakfast..

Bon WEEKEND a tous!

Old Paris

Thank you PBers for coming round to my Etsy sale this weekend. And what a glorious weekend it was here. I still love The Old Paris. For some classic 20s French music please CLICK.

A tourist was practicing her selfie shots while two gents could have cared less at Aux Vieux Paris.

The wisteria are out in full bloom.

Serenity now in the gardens

Around Notre Dame

I hope the old timey shops on Ile Saint-Louis never go away.

Nor the classic red table cloth restaurants. What would Paris be without the old standbys?

For charming French windows walk by perfumer Diptyque on rue Pontoise and bd Saint Germain

Perfect swan 🦢 

I wandered over to the weekly Sunday bird market. I bet this hasn't changed much.

So easy to fall in love.

A French family testing out a new addition

Beautiful skies yesterday in Paris.

An old timey band, Borsalino was playing classic French tunes. You can hear them on my Instagram...click link above

Easter Etsy Weekend Sale, creating the Spring letter, think Green

PB Etsy Easter weekend SALE ALERT! Storewide (except for prints)  $15 off on everything else! Offer is good until the 18th of April Just use the code at checkout: PBEASTER17

Let me know if you have any problems. I've been thinking Green this week. Wasn't it Earth Day?

New Spring seasonal vegetables are in the markets. Hooray!

It seemed like an easy idea to translate into watercolor. Ha.

17,000 pencil sketches later...not so easy but much eating of radis rouge. These are big radishes.

Asperges too...matching the subtle pink-to-green color...not so easy.

Petit pois! A more yellowy green.

Last weekend I made a dash to gorgeous chateau Vaux le Vicomte, just an hour from Paris.

I fell in love with these British floral prints.

Perfect for my April letter non?

But a trip to Georges' candy shop, Le Bonbon au Palais changed my mind.

Better go with French school labels. Why can't I write like French school kids? Practice, practice.

Et voila. The end result after much vegetable eating. Maybe I should do this every month?

BHV has green on their mind. Windows full of garden whimsy, especially the Magritte apple pillow.

Flower shop, Au Nom de la Rose is thinking greens. What is Citisus? Pretty no?

Green grass everwhere in Paris, especially under chocolate bunnys. They were even mowing the lawn in my tiny garden out back! 

I'm painting up a storm of petit pois bonus watercolors for new subscribers and renewers. Get yours while the Easter Weekend Sale is on. Why not? Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast.  Easter Etsy weekend sale on Paris letters, watercolors and map subscriptions. 

Bon WEEKEND a tous!