Paris Doors Packed Together
Today we will go back to Paris to visit a place filled with historical reminders of famous people. As some of you know my daughter, Elizabeth, is a writer and professor of English literature. She had a major interest in going to Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise to find the graves of Oscar Wilde and Proust. Who was I to say “no” when she had been so patient with me doing my visual art thing? Anyway, it sounded rather interesting from a visual standpoint, too. So off we went way out to the outer districts of Paris! Here is a view towards central Paris from there:
This cemetery even has a resident cat. This one really knows his/her way around jumping into openings and onto graves. This is a very old place way up on a hill overlooking the city. Here the cat decides to bide time on one of the benches. I suppose climbing the hills is tough on cats, too.
We walked and we walked and we walked up hills and down hills, over cobblestones and climbing steps, for several hours looking for these graves. There are sections marked off, however it isn’t as clear to two Americans as I think it would be to the French. Finally, up the hill we went again, across the way and in the distance I spotted it. Once you are close, you can see it! Look:
Oscar is so loved. There were several people there, reading and taking photographs, too. Do you know what those marks are? Here, look closer:
Yes, the marks are lipstick kisses! There must be a million of them along with notes to the famous writer. Truly, it was a moving tribute. Do you want to know if Elizabeth and I left our own kisses to Oscar? No, the lipstick is pitting the monument (what does that say about what it does to skin?), so we did not want to add to ruin. Also, being a rather neurotic American I wasn’t willing to share those germs (although I would have considered drawing some lips). There were flowers and written words presented like this:
Which were left for the great writer. It was so interesting being able to explore this place. If you are interested, the web site is excellent and gives an amazing virtual trip. You can find a famous person’s grave and gain images right to it. One could spend days, no weeks, exploring in here. See if you can find Modigliani‘s, Gertrude Stein‘s or Colette‘s grave. There are others, too.
Well, all of those crypt doors did not pass me by. Nope, I couldn’t help myself and had to snap a few photos and try my hand at sketching one. Now, this really looks like a door from Alice’s rabbit hole, but that would get me going on a whole other subject. In turn, that would be opening myself up to your learning about some of my more questionable humor, so we will not go there. You use your own imagination.
The truth is, it does have a rather whimsical character about it. I am not one to find cemeteries morbid or to dislike talk of moving to the next plane in life. Truly, this visit was fascinating on so many levels. Does this subject bother you? The more I look at this, the more the curvy doors appeal to me…well the whole crypt appeals to me in the way it appears to move. I guess it tells of the life beyond. What do you think? Do you want me to stop drawing crypt doors?
This was a fun adventure with Elizabeth, but we never found Proust’s grave site, before we had to move on. Well, on another trip, we will go looking again.
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There are 9 Comments to "Paris Doors Packed Together"
I just taped a comment and then did a silly thing and lost it. So now I think of something a teacher in artschool said to us when we lost something we worked on in Photoshop: “don’t worry, the next version will even be better” ! That is what I try to keep in mind when “loosing” things on the computer:)
Kim, thanks so much for sharing these wonderful pictures of Le Cimetière Père Lachaise! I know that it’s right around the corner from my job and I now wonder why I don’t go there more often! But I must say your pictures do that! I love the first one with sculptured women on a crypt with Paris behind her and the tree trunk in the foreground. It is such a peaceful view. And the cat! I can remember now, that when I last went there with two cousins and we looked for Heinrich Heine’s grave, we saw that people had put catfood under some trees and we thought that there must be a gang of cats living there but never saw one. This one here is a beautiful specimen, and looks great on the green bench:)
Your sketch of the crypt door: again I must say that your doors are so alive! This one is too, and I wonder what is behind the dark fenced windows. And I wonder also if I’d like to be in there or better scattered into the winds. Those doors are so very solid that they seem to be able to keep a soul from wandering. I like this subject and it doesn’t annoy me at all, I think on the contrary, in our modern world we don’t care enough about how to “handle” death and what it means. This is a very thoughtful post and sure makes me want to go to this cimetary again!
Please don’t stop drawing crypt doors, or other doors. Somehow your doors look like persons to me…
Have a wonderful day
love
Andrea
Hello Andrea,
This excellent advice from your art school teacher is just the thing for me to hear today. Sometimes I get so irritated with the computer – and Photoshop is a big one – and it sure doesn’t do the computer any good for me to be irritated and it sure as heck doesn’t do me any good! What a good lesson for many areas of life! I was just reading an article about a new study about laughter releasing the same hormones exercise releases, now if we can turn these irritations into knee-slapping laughter, we might be onto something!
You know it was so much fun, and a lot of exercise, going up there. It is truly an amazing historical place with a lot going on…it was very active, but also very peaceful. You have to be feeling good, because the hills and the stairs soon become “ohh la la” as one charming French woman was heard to exclaim as we came downsome stairs she was heading up! The views are truly magnificent! The cat clearly “owned” the place and let everyone know it, too! What an interesting story about the cat food. I never thought about how this cat might find food. I suppose I thought about mice, etc.
Thank you for your kind words about the crypt doors. I sure wish I had of taken more photos up there of the crypts as there were some truly amazing structures and old ones, too. We peeked inside quite a few of these and mainly there were alters there. I suppose the graves were below these areas or there were ashes where we couldn’t see. Also, many of the doors were beginning to rust and break away from the older crypts and some of the stained glass windows were broken. I am sure the weather takes it’s toll on these materials. There were very modern, polished stainless steel monuments there, too. That was another fascinating thing where the very ancient sat beside the uber modern. You are so right some of these doors came across as very, very solid at one time as though they were trying to keep a soul contained. I wonder if that was the thinking. The other thing which struck me was how there were single monuments for entire families. At one point I counted 16 notations of remains at one site with room for additional! Me? As I said to you that day…I want to be scattered to the wind!
I am glad you like these doors and the subject. You encourage me a lot with this idea of sketching something recognizable. I fought it for so long, but now find it can be just what I need sometime. I am glad you do not feel annoyed by this subject. Like many people, I have had the opportunity to visit this subject in painful ways or have felt the need to be with someone deep in grief. In order to do that, it is important to know what I feel about it, too. Thanks for understanding!
Oh do go up there again, Andrea! As you know it is one of those places where you can find a lot of peace and also a lot of inspiration.
I promise I will not stop drawing these crypt doors. Isn’t that funny how these doors take on personalities? Well, when you think of it, there are so many things which come together to bring life to its fullest…I suppose you can say doors are one of those things!
Thanks My Friend. You are a great evening!
Kim, I enjoyed this ramble through the cemetery. On my one trip to Paris I didn’t make it here. Another trip!
That headstone at Wilde’s grave is really striking.
P.S. I really like your sketch, and no, I don’t find cemeteries morbid. Quite a few years ago my son accompanied me on his spring break to the little town in rural Alabama where I was born. A highlight for him was visiting a cemetery and looking for old, old markers.
Yes, San, do go, because I think you will enjoy it a lot. I can just imagine the stories which will come out of you! Thanks for your kind words about the sketch, and I’m glad you don’t find cemeteries morbid! Yippee! If your son loves old graves, he needs to explore some of the more rural cemeteries in England! There some of the graves are falling into ruins – vegetation grow wildly through the broken areas! You can also see the coffin edges which are also beginning to see better days. Now these are graves where you might not even see the dates, but I do remember one which was dated the mid 1600′s! He would love it! There are really old ones in Pere Lachaise, too, but I didn’t see anything other than crypt doors and stained glass crumbling…then again, maybe I missed it! As you say, another trip!
Thanks San!
Kim I love graveyards and this is one I’d adore going to, though i can see that if I want to find specific graves i might need to spend a lot of time there. Great seeing Oscar’s grave with all the lipstick kisses. I wonder what he’d think of that. I really like your new freehand work and the idea of drawing doors. and I like the thoughts of the kitties in the cemetary and cat food being left out for them. Now I may try that virtual tour.
the virtual tour was fun. of the graves i checked out i though Chopin’s was most beautiful monument and Piaf’s had the most flowers, fresh too.
Oh Suki, you would love it, if you love graveyards! The other thing you would love is all the literary history there! It would take a lot of time to find specific graves. One thing I forgot to mention is that there are a few “maps” at the front and at the back, however the distance from the front to the back of this cemetery is quite far! You can also purchase maps from a man at the front gate, although it did not appear he was with the cemetery people. Well, Oscar was fairly flamboyant and there was that scandal, right? So I am guessing he would love knowing how much he is loved now and probably have a big smile on his face, too! You would have loved that cat and probably could have gotten it to come over to you, because no one else could make that happen!
Thank you for your positive support in me working again with something recognizable. It takes a lot of support to get those old tapes to stop playing!
Suki, I am so glad you enjoyed that. Before we went I also had a great time playing on that web site! Ah, Chopin’s grave…I will go have a look/see and Piaf’s with the flowers…there were a lot of fresh flowers there, that is so true. Actually, I don’t remember seeing a lot of artificial flowers at all! Thank you for bringing that up, because it does make me think about that issue of the flowers! Some actually had planted flowers, too…and fresh flowers in vases in the crypts!
I am glad you went to the link and enjoyed the visit. You would love, love, love Paris and all of the walking and flowers and cafes!
Thanks Suki!