Visit to the Market and the Musée des Beaux-Arts

Saturday March 11 was a cloudy, cold day with a bit of rain.  High of only 9C.  We decided to head to the Marché Saint-Antoine which we had visited earlier in the week.  It is only a 10 minute walk from our apartment and is spread out along the Quai St.-Antoine on the Saône River.  What a difference between the Tuesday market and the Saturday market.  There were well over 100 vendors on Saturday, in stands along the Quai for about one km.  Lots of vendors come from the Rhône Valley and there were fish, meat and cheese vendors along with lots of fruit and vegetable folks.  Even a few roast chicken vendors, sausage vendors and gourmet food stands. 

On the Quai

We walked along the Quai, where there are great views of both the river and some of the buildings in the city centre.

Looking from the Quai back to St. Nizier Church

Start of the market-- lots of greens

Flowers on Saturday

Many cheese vendors from the countryside

Veg

One of the roast chicken vendors- sausages and potatoes too

Cheese galore

A few fish vendors-- we bought some fish here, as the quality was excellent 

A look back down the Quai -- we walked to the end of the vendors and then headed back to the start

One of the biggest outdoor markets we have been to

Sausages with every flavour imaginable

We bought a fennel and a noisette (hazelnut) sausage.  We like these thinly cut up
with some cheese and baguette for lunches.

Small bread store near our apartment- excellent baguettes

Café Fleuriste and a violin store a minute from our apartment

We had a light lunch and then headed out to the Musée des Beaux-Arts which is located on a very large square called Place des Terreaux.  The Museum is on one side of the square, and the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) is on the adjacent side. There are cafés and shops on the other sides of the square.  There is also the immense Fontaine Bartholdi.

The centrepiece of Presqu'ile's central square is a 19th century fountain made of 21 tonnes of lead and sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904)  (designer of the Statue of Liberty).  The four houses pulling the chariot symbolize rivers galloping seawards.  The Hôtel de Ville was built in 1655, and given its present ornate facade in 1702.  

Musée on the right; City Hall with the dome

City Hall and the Fountain

Larger view of the outside of the Musée

Bartholdi Fountain

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (Lyon Museum of Fine Arts) is the largest Fine Arts museum in France after the Louvre, with 70 rooms covering 7,000 square metres.   It is housed in the Palais Saint Pierre, a former Benedictine convent from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Entering the galleries from the courtyard of the museum

While there are collections from ancient Egyptian antiquities to the 20th century, we decided to focus on  the 19th and 20th century galleries, although we walked through the Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Flanders galleries from the 16-17th centuries.   I'm only going to post a handful of the photos I took, which particularly caught my eye.  They are not in chronological order, as the layout of the museum was a bit confusing and we sometimes had to double back to get to some of the galleries.   The titles were in both French and English, although any detailed notes were just in French.  I will put the English titles with the pictures.

Henri Fantin-Latour (Grenoble, 1836- Buré (Orne), 1904, Reading, 1877

Paul Borel, (Lyon, 1828-1913), Adèle Mouton, the Artist's Wife, in Blue Dress, around 1858

Honoré Daumier (Marseille, 1808-Valmondois, 1879), Two Lawyers, 1858-1862

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (Lyon, 1824- Paris, 1898),
Marie Cantacusène, the Artist's Wife, 1883

Lucien Simon (Paris, 1861-1945), Self-Portrait, 1908

Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (Paris, 1852-Quincey (Haute-Saône) 1929,
A Wedding at a Photographer's Studio, 1879

Claude Monet (Paris, 1840- Giverny, 1926), The Entrance of Grande Rue in Argenteuil, Winter, 1875

Paul Cèzanne, (Aix-en-Provence, 1839-1906), Poplars, 1879-1880

Auguste Rodin (Paris, 1840-Meudon, 1917), The Age of Bronze, 1875-1877

August Renoir (Limoges, 1841- Cagnes-sur-Mer, 1919), Young Girl with Blue Ribbon, 1888

Hans Hartung (Leipzig 1904-Antibes, 1989), T. 1951-24, 1951

Joan Miro (Barcelona 1893- Palma de Mallorca 1983), Makémono, vers 1956

Joan Miró (Barcelona 1893-Palma de Mallorca, 1983), Character, 1949

Henri Matisse (Le Cadeau-Cambrésis 1869- Nice, 1954), Young Woman in White, Red Background (Reclining model, white dress), 1946

There was a small room dedicated to Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979).  The notes indicated that "as part of its actions for peace and support for Ukraine, the museum is proposing a display dedicated to Sonia Delaunay".   She was born in Ukraine.

Sonia DeLaunay, (Gradizhsk (ancien Empire russe, accueille Ukraine), 1885 -Paris, 1979) Colour Card for Simultaneous Fabric no. 194, 1927

Sonia Delaney, Simultaneous Fabric no.194, colour 1, November 7, 1927

Michel Dumas (Lyon, 1812-1885), Self-Portrait, vers 1838

Louis Janet (Lyon 1814-1892), Flowers of the Field, 1845

There was an entire room, le salon des fleurs, with paintings of flowers done between the 17-19th centuries.  The salon was created in 1811 and apparently inspired the Lyonnais silk designers.

Simon Saint-Jean (Lyon, 1808-Écully (Rhône), 1860, Young Girl Holding Flowers, 1837

Gerard Van Honthorst (Utrecht, 1592-1656), The Singers

Abraham van der Eyk (Leyde (Pays-Bas), 1684-1724, Allegory of the Quarrels between the Remonstants and the Counter-Remonstrants in 1618, 1721

Pierre Paul Rubens (Siegen (Allemagne), 1577- Anvers, (Belgique), 1640, Saint Dominic and Saint Francis Protecting the World from Christ's Wrath, vers 1618-1620

As we left the building, we noticed some posters on one of the walls, done in solidarity with the Iranian Women's struggle against oppression.

Powerful poster

We enjoyed the Museum's fine collections.  However, the galleries could use some updating.  There are holes about three metres from the ground and about four cm apart throughout a number of the older galleries. They are used to hold information cards for the paintings depending on their placement.  A bit distracting.

We walked down to Place Bellecour, trying to explore some new streets along the way.

Entrance to a book store

New Easter chocolate displays

When we reached Place Bellecour, we noticed that the demonstration called for earlier in the afternoon was still going on. There were a lot of health care workers as it was a demonstration specifically called to protect the health care system.

Place Bellecour is a great square for a demo - in front of the Louis XIV statue

Lots of different groups and slogans

Many different organizations

Health care issues were the theme of this demonstration.
"More than 1/3 of French people live in a medical desert"

We stopped at the Tourist Office and Alain had his picture taken with a statute of Paul Bocuse.

Two chefs

We meandered back to the apartment where Alain made a chicken dinner with green beans, onions and tomatoes, green salad, a glass of wine and tea with praline brioche for dessert.  A quieter day today, but it was a bit chilly and we wanted to stay warm.