“L’Esprit Picasso”… à Montmartre

Picasso…

Pablo Picasso…

A painter…

A force of nature…

A typical Spaniard – young, good looking, thin, dark, moody, with hypnotic black eyes.

Charismatic… magnetic…

He enchants… fascinates…

His work is amazing… exciting… challenging… extraordinary…

I adore his… talent…

I adore his… work…

Picasso lived in Montmartre, on rue Ravignan, with the beautiful Fernande, his partner at the time.

I desperately needed to find and experience “l’esprit Picasso” in Montmartre…

Breathlessly… climbing up from Pigalle, up the hill on rue Germain Pilon to the charming Place des Abbesses, we continued up rue Ravignan… long, steep, and narrow… with wonderful quaint shops on both sides of the street…

Panting… further up rue Ravignan, we came upon the most enchanting square, Place Emile Goudeau, with the most romantic trees scattered around the slightly sloping flat square, with green benches to sit on… while marveling at the beautiful sight of the rooftops of Paris.

A charming hotel resides on the shoulder of this delightful area…

A dreamlike ethereal “place”…

I fell in love.

“En plus“, on the upper left side of this utterly breathtaking square was… a plaque…

It was the location of Picasso’s old atelier… in an artist’s compound… famous in art history… called “Le Bateau-Lavoir“, where at the start of the 20th century, a group of oustanding artists lived and rented the dirty, creaky, and swaying artistic studios there… hence the name “washing-boats”.

It was right here in his atelier… that Picasso first discussed Cubism, and painted one of his most famous works… “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon“.

Picasso… the magnificent…

Picasso… the great…

He and his lovely Fernande would regularly meet with his friends… fellow artists… writers… and intellectuals… at the little café at the base of the square.

Georges Braque…

André Derain…

Gertrude Stein…

Guillaume Apollinaire…

Max Jacob…

And occassinally with Henri Matisse and his wife…

Among many others…

Sitting in the same café… sipping my expresso… I visualised them all… sitting around a convivial table… drinking… eating… and chattering away the day.

Arguing… debating… laughing… and gossiping… about the latest happenings…

Reluctantly leaving this… what is for me… a most beautiful, mesmeric, area in Paris – one that I will be visiting… over… and over… and over… again…  It was, for me…

A memorable moment…

In time…

A mythical experience…

Pablo…

Pablo Picasso…

A “giant” of a man…

A genius…

Remarkable…

A phenomenon…

I will constantly return to re-live the experience of…

“L’esprit Picasso“…

“Je reviendrai…

Toujours“…

a.