Paris for Vacation

Rembrandt Celebration : Visit 4 Paris Exhibitions

We  recommend that everyone take advantage of Rembrandt celebration to visit four Paris exhibitions of his works on paper.

In the Louvre's:  show of 64 drawings, most of them from French public and private collections.

The three other shows concentrate on Rembrandt's etchings. The Petit Palais is exhibiting 180 from its collection, among them a number of the famous self-portraits.

 A small show at the Institut Néerlandais, "Rembrandt et son Entourage," shows many of the same etchings as the exhibition at the Petit Palais, with the advantage that each one is accompanied by an explanatory text (in French)

You could admire the lovely portrait of Jan Six (1647) reading by a window, the trussed sow about to be slaughtered (1643), the door-to-door rat poison vendor (1632) and several of the same self-portraits, but there is also a masterly depiction of a shell (1650) and a lively genre scene, "The Kouck Maker" (1635) showing a woman making crepes in the street.

This show will be followed by two others at the Institut Néerlandais: "Rembrandt et les Femmes" (through February 4) and "Rembrandt: Bouquet Final" (through March 11).

At the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, you could see about 150 pieces from its collection also includes many of the same images, this exhibition has the advantage of presenting many (up to 11) stages of a number of the etchings, allowing the viewer to follow the artist's thinking as he modulated the image to change expression, mood or lighting.

More about the 4 exhibits places:

Musée du Louvre: Hall Napoléon. Métro: Palais Royal. Tel.: 01 40 20 53 17. General admission: €8.50. Open Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed Tuesday. Through January 8. www.louvre.fr

Petit Palais/Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris : Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris. Métro: Champs-Elysées Clemenceau. Tel.: 01 53 43 40 00. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m., until 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Closed Monday and public holidays. Admission: €9. Through January 14. www.petitpalais.paris.fr

Institut Néerlandais: 121, rue de Lille, 75007 Paris. Métro: Assemblée-Nationale. Tel.: 01 53 59 12 40. Open Tuesday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Closed Monday. Admission: €6. Through December 3. www.institutneerlandais.com

Bibliothèque Nationale de France: 58, rue de Richelieu, 75002 Paris. Métro: Bourse. Tel.: 01 53 79 59 59. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, noon-7 p.m. Closed Monday and public holidays. Admission: €7. Through January 7. www.bnf.fr/

posted by Paris for Vacation @ 10:44 AM