Discover Paris by 6 artworks

Everybody knows Paris. This beautiful capital city of France is often depicted by different artists. Gallerease has selected six typical artworks with three different themes of Paris.  

Rue Clignancourt; 18th arrondissement

This street is often painted by artists like the Dutch painter Isaac Israels (1865-1934). In these two paintings, probably made from his balcony at the Rue Clignancourt, he painted the hectic street life of the Rue Clignancourt.

_{Rue Clignancourt around 1910, Isaac Israels}

He lived in Paris between 1904 and 1913 and had his workshop at the 10, Rue Alfred Stevens near Boulevard de Clichy. His artworks are mostly with street life, fashionable ladies and interiors of cafés, parc scenes. As well he sought regurlary out fashion houses like Paquin to continue his study of the fashion world.

_{Elegant lady overlooking the Rue Clignancourt, Isaac Israels}

Montmartre, 18th arrondissement 

Nowadays the Montmartre area is very trendy area but when George Michel (1763-1843) painted the hilly areas of Montmartre, Paris wasn't that big as it is today! 

The famous Basilique du Sacre-Coeur wasn't build yet; this started in 1875. Montmartre orignally was a small village just outside Paris. Probably it originally was named Mont Mars (Mars Mountain) or Le Mont du Martyr (The Mountain of the Martyrs) but eventually it received the name of Montmartre.

During the Belle Époque, from 1872-1914, lots of artists lived in this area.

Looking at this artwork by Jan Sluijters, you see how this village was changed into a part of Paris as we know it nowadays. It wasn't that small village anymore but already a part of Paris and very trendy for artists.

Artist like Raoul Dufy, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso and Amadeo Modigliani all lived in this Quartier des artistes-peintres (Artist area). 

_{Les Environs de Montmartre by George Michel}

_{Montmartre, Paris by Jan Sluijters} 

La Tour Eiffel, la Rive Gauche, 7th arrondissement  

The Eiffel Tower was originally made for the 1889 world's art fair and was named after the engineer Gustav Eiffel. Although nowadays it is the most-visited-paid monument in the world, when it was designed and built it was a subject of controversery. Even famlus artists like painter Adolph Bougereau, writers Guy de Maupassant, Alexandre Dumas fils and others signed a petition named 'rotestation des artistes contre la tour de M. Eiffel' against this 'awful' building. It was said that when the Eiffel tower project was finished Guy de Maupassant had lunch in the Eiffel Tower everyday...because this was the only place where he could not see the tower!

Paris without Eiffel Tour is nowadays not imaginable; but around 1901 people were not visiting the tower anymore. In 1909 everybody thought that the tower would be dismantled because the permit of 20 years given by the Paris community was finished and nobody was interested in continuing the exploitation of this iron tower. Luckily the French decided not to destroy it and this tower became the global symbol of Paris and France. 

^{Parisian Light I by Wessel Huisman available at Grachtengalerie}

 ^{La Tour Eiffel by Maurice Utrillo} 

For more artworks about Paris or France have a look at our online collection at Gallerease!

*Header: les Tuileries Paris by Hans Ittman available at Kunsthandel Marcel Gieling