SHARING WITH ME

It’s virtually a year since I went to the Marmottan to see « We Have come a long way, have we not? » THE INVENTION OF PRIVACY I was certainly not taking chances of going back to the same museum on a Sunday. The exhibition that I wanted to see has raving critics. It was a springtime day - a holiday weekend - who knows I might be lucky. Off I went to see « Art and the Child » The Museum  A rare selection of paintings which retraces the evolution of the importance of the child in the 15th century to the 20th century and considers the influence of childhood drawings on the avant garde of the last century. The show follows a chronological and thematic order, starting with pictures of the child Christ. It continues with images of children as kings, in royal portraits in which youth became a guarantee of the survival of great family names. Very historical and problem for most, a good way of giving a history lesson. It touched me to see so many grandmoth...

It’s rare if ever that I go to a museum on a Sunday. To make it really different, a Sunday holiday of a long weekend. These last weeks though have been rather closed in and as the day turned out to be quite beautiful. Off I went expecting to face the crowds. 

The Marmottan museum (which we have visited together on several occasions) is on the other side of Paris and takes me around 45 minutes to get there by public transport.  The metro was crowded and people looked hot and flustered. It was not a good sign. A very good introduction to the exhibition I was going to see. « The Invention of Privacy » the toilette. One of the things that really struck me when I arrived in Paris as a teenager, were the bodily smells. People did not shower, wash or bathe as we did in Australia. It’s difficult to believe that over the years when I was working, I needed to point out to certain members of my staff that it would be a good idea if they used a deodorant……I’m not joking as oth...