Galeries Lafayette Champs-Élysées, kiosques à journaux

Last Thursday a brand new concept store opened at 60, Champs-Élysées in the old flagship store, GALERIES LAFAYETTE. What to wear? BIG SHOES! Are big feet in? Hooray. The gal in the short red jacket is one of their 150 Personal Stylists. They all greet you with a super friendly,
"Bonjour, Bienvenue!"

Naturally an essential Eiffel Tower inside.

With a 3-week homage on to Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel.

The baconies and grand stairway are somewhat reminiscent to their boulevard Haussmann store.

But everything else is très au currant, digitally-inspired with lots of honeycomb-style displays.

COMME DES GARÇONS created a special medium-priced casual collection of Ts and high-tops.

Even the furniture is modular. No two chairs are the same. Art books are color-matched to clothes.

A handsome new digital logo for the Champs-Élyées store. There are 4 floors of merch.

With LE FOOD COURT in the basement. Galeries Lafayette is smart enough to include PATISSERIE STOHRER as well as CHOCOLAT ALAIN DUCASSE, LA MERE DE FAMILLE. Plus bobun and veggie options and a CITRON restaurant on the first floor.

Coming outside into realité I couldn't help notice the news Kiosque à journaux. I've been looking for them all week and even bought an ELLE magazine. Paris' traditional news kiosques will be modernized into glass store fronts this June, leaving only 39 original dark green cupola-topped versions. Catch them while you can. I'm painting as many as I can till June. Thank you for reading and sharing Paris breakfasts. Subscription letters 💌maps and watercolors are in my Etsy shop. 

From Paris with love Xxx

Salon du Dessin, Palais Brongniart

A big, big THANK YOU to PBers who contributed to the crowdfunder appeal for stricken kiosque operators. It is now over 13,000€! ❤️Yesterday I dropped in the annual SALON DU DESSIN at Palais Brongniart 10,rue de Louvois 750002

The show is on through Monday April 1st and costs 15€ including a nice bag for gallery catalogues.

Inside this huge space is divided into small intimate booths. 39 fine art galleries from around the world.

The walls are covered with many masterpiece drawings. There's a narrow ledge to lean on and study to your heart's content the treasures. And many comfy chairs for relaxing.

Small drawings are such a different experience than looking at large paintings. You're looking inside the artist's head. Reading their thought process in many examples.

This Ingre portraits is polished and refined. But the study of the dancer by Degas is a gorgeous doodle by comparison. You're seeing with the artist's eyes the anatomy of the arm. The gesture.

Big museum paintings like DELACROIX'S LIBERTÉ must make a grand statement. They must grab your attention across the room with complex compositions and story-telling of historic events.

Where a delicate study like this Watteau is a whole other experience, poetic, whimsical and private.

The Spring bouquets at SALON DU DESSIN are just as exquisite as the master drawings. By the way, as elegant as the drawings and booths are, everyone is dressed casually, ready to go back outside and enjoy Spring. Don't worry what to wear but definitely go if you are in town! Thank you for reading and sharing Parisbreakfasts. Subscription letters 💌maps and watercolors are in my Etsy shop. 

With love💋 from Paris🐻 Xxx

Patisserie Stohrer letter, Fund for Kiosquiers

The best way to start work on the monthly letter art is making thumbnails while eating pastry 🥮 if possible.

PATISSERIE STOHRER at 51, rue Montorgueil, 75002 is Paris' oldest and prettiest pastry shop.

The story goes, Polish pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer accompanied King Stanislas' daughter Princess Marie when she married King Louis XV to Versailles. Moving to a new place is hard when you don't have your national pastries.

Many times I've dreamed of a NYC cheese Danish pastry but to no avail. I briefly considered baking my own. FYI, there is a touch of l’abricotage on top.

Stohrer's big contribution to Paris pastry is the rhum syrup-soaked baba. 

The rum was a Paris addition. Also available with whipped cream and fruits.

Both exterior and interior are exceptional. The graceful painted-glass figures inside are by PAUL-JACQUES BAUDRY, who painted frescos in Opera Garnier's foyer. Not your usual straw-hatted boulangerie hay slingers.

The awning at Patisserie has always been egg yoke yellow. This week I noticed it is now ultramarine blue like the exterior. Plus it is listing. Neither one is an improvement IMHO but they chose not to consult me, so I kept it yellow in the March Paris letter.

Look up at the Venetian chandelier and painted ceiling. And spend ample time browsing the divine savory and sweets. Prices are reasonable for an haute patisserie (4,90€ for pastries)

For research purposes, of course I got their winning chocolate eclair, puits d'amour, baba au rhum and Paris Brest (bottom left). Pastry chef JEFFREY CAGNES is among Paris' best. 

One of my first Paris maps was pedestrian street, rue Montorgueil. Subscribe to the letters and get the map too. Hmmm...I painted the whole shop yellow in 2015. Wishful thinking. And I did a little watercolor.

Speaking of the color yellow, I woke up late last night and read GUARDIAN journalist JOHN LITCHFIELD's story on the Champs-Élysées news kiosques destroyed by the Gilets Jaunes. Litchfield has set up a crowdfunder appeal for stricken kiosque operators. I'm offering two Paris Kiosque watercolors on ETSY . 100% (minus shipping) will be donated to the fund. Or go over and donate directly. Who doesn't love Paris kiosques? 

Thank you for reading and sharing Parisbreakfasts. 

With love💋 from Paris🐻 Xxx

Amélie Nothomb, Salon du Livre

On Friday I went to the annual March 4-day SALON DU LIVRE at convention center, Porte de Versailles (ligne 12). Attending any festival in Paris on the first day is a very good idea. Crowds are manageable and free bookmarks, bags and catalogs are readily available.

The French read. A lot. Real books. You see them on the Metro reading large books. And they're not prepping for veterinary school exams either. They read a lot of Belgian novelist AMÉLIE NOTHOMB.

Such long book-signing lines for Amélie Nothomb at publisher stand, Albin Michel. I did a little research. I've certainly seen her beautiful Japanese Noh mask-like face in book shop windows. Irresistible to paint. But I'd never read anything or so I thought. Fabienne-Claire Nothomb, better known by her pen name Amélie Nothomb, is a Belgian Francophone novelist. Part of her childhood was spent in Asia. A prolific author, since the publication of her first novel Hygiene and the Assassin in 1992, at the age of twenty six, she has published a book a year. Wikipedia.

Turns out I was wrong. Netflix for while made available her captivating, FEAR AND TREMBLING. The opening papragraph on AMAZON.

And the Youtube trailer. You can watch TOKYO FIANCÉE too. 

The Salon du Livre is a giant international book store open to the public. You see attendees leaving with bags and bags of books. Signed books. Very nice free shopping bags are given out but I'm set from the Salon de l'Agriculture a few weeks ago.

Small publishers with unusual designed books are in there next to the big guys. If you see something of interest, grab it. The French rarely reprint back titles. You won't find it next year.

The range of exciting children's books is endless. Illustrations are superb and sophisticated.No subject is taboo.

Kids 18 and under attend free. A love for books is encouraged from the get-go. Maybe that's why the French are so precise, articulate and vocal about the use of their language. Hmmm...

There is no Angelina at SALON DU LIVRE, which closes on Monday. A hot chocolate would go well with book browsing. Thank you for reading and sharing Parisbreakfasts. Subscription letters 💌maps and watercolors are in my Etsy shop. With love💋 from Paris🐻 Xxx