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Thursday, October 18, 2007
I saw this Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) painting in Pratique des arts, a French art journal - a retrospective was on in Lausanne, Switzerland. He's one of my all-time favorite still life painters. Hmmm..too tempting to resist.
I hopped on an early TGV Lyria train from Gare de Lyon yesterday...
And 4 hours later I was ready to devour Fantin-Latour at the Fondation L'Hermitage.
Can you guess why...
it was instant love for me?
This is one of Fantin-Latour's supreme still lifes painted as a gift to his future fiance, Victoria Dubourg. They met while both were copying paintings at the Louvre in the 1860s...romantic, non? This still life is so delicate, so balanced, so airy. Utter perfection and so worth the trip to Lausanne. I did not attempt to steal a photo anywhere in this museum! The Swiss police would have been after me armed with their Swiss Army knives and their Swiss Military watches in TWO SECONDS! NO WAY!
The museum is set on a hill above Lausanne so I took the scenic walk down through a woodsie park. The weather could not have been more perfect.
The footpath gets rather steep at times...
I stopped at a sweet little vegan cafe, La Cafetiere Verte,
for a dish of curry to keep me going.
The footpath ends in the "old" town...
I took a wrong turn and discovered...
All these old tradional signs grouped together!
This one made me think of Jeanette, Mistress of Long Ears Manor - a rabbit fancier par excellance!
I spotted some Swiss paper cutouts of chalets and farm scenes enroute back to the train station... 
And of course the classic Swiss Military watch!
One Swiss souvenir I forgot to buy before taking the train back to Paris...For your eyes only :)
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