Bartholdi

Montparnasse cemetery,  the final resting place of many artists and illustrious personalities.

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The grave featuring Mr and Mrs Pigeon lying on their bed

After WWI, just after the heyday of Montmartre (and before the Saint Germain des Prés one) and for a few decades, Montparnasse was the home and favorite haunt of many writers and artists : Picasso, Soutine,Man Ray,Sartre,Simone de Beauvoir, Hemingway, Foujita, Zadkine, Brancusi,Amadeo Modigliani, Samuel Beckett, Fitzgerald just to name a few27092017-IMG_9992

 

Artists came from all over the world and Montparnasse was the capital of the avant-garde, the heart of the artistic and intellectual Parisian life.

This neighborhood has changed but you can still go to the same iconic cafés, brasseries where all these artists and writers used to go, you’ll see beautiful building façades of the old time, the homes of some of these artists, the old art supplies shops and art academies, and you’ll feel the spirit of the Roaring 20s and of the following decades. Personally, this is my favorite Paris neighborhood (with Saint Germain des Prés)

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Montparnasse cemetery is the final resting place of many of these artists. Man Ray, Soutine, Zatkine, Brancusi, Brassaï, Bourdelle … It’s also the cemetery where you’ll see the graves of Jean Seberg, Serge Gainsbourg, Marguerite Duras, Susan Sontag, César (the sculptor), Brassaï, Baudelaire, Guy de Maupassant, Bartholdi, Camille Saint Saens, Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Constantin Brancusi Some of them were the illustrious residents of Montparnasse. Graves of writers, poets, artists, filmmakers, politicians, actors, publishers, patrons of industry…  Many graves of foreigners who have made France their home.

You’ll see unusual graves too, some with great funerary art (Niki de Saint Phalle, Tinguely, Cesar…)

Auguste Bartholdi's grave

Auguste Bartholdi’s grave

A huge but beautiful and peaceful : 

You can spend a few hours in Montparnasse cemetery, walking through the lanes. This place is worth a visit. It’s a huge cemetery (47 acres – 19 hectares, with about 40 000 graves, 750 trees and bushes), very peaceful with some fascinating graves. It’s divided into 2 cemeteries separated by a street  (rue Emile Richard) : on one side, the “grand cimetière” and on the other side,  the “Petit cimetière” . Btw : The main difference with Père Lachaise is that Montparnasse cemetery is flat. No slopes. Thus, you may find Montparnasse cemetery is less charming than the Père Lachaise, but It still a beautiful place with great funerary art work and great personalities’ graves

But the graves are tightly packed. Even though you’ll find a plan of the cemetery at the entrance to help you find the graves it’s quite difficult to get around and find some graves you want to see, .

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Don’t hesitate to contact me. I can accompany you and help you find the graves you’re interested in (This walk can be added or included in the Montparnasse of the Roaring 20’s’ walking tour). More details about Ann Jeanne Paris tours and  Some details about the booking and pricing 

My personal link with Montparnasse cemetery : This is the final resting place of my father. Also where my piano teacher, who taught me (private lessons) the piano since I was 8 to the age of 22, rest. So to me, this cemetery is not like the others… And … it’s nearby my home and in neighborhood I particularly love. 

Some History :  The cemetery opened in 1824. after the cemeteries closer to the center of Paris, Moulin de la Charitéwere banned owing to sanitary problems. In the early 19th century Montmartre, the Père Lachaise and the Montparnasse cemetery replaced some small ones.

Before being a cemetery, the land of Montparnasse cemetery belonged to a religious community. There was a monastery on the place and an old flour mill. It became national property at the French Revolution (from 1789). The Monastery was pulled down, but the windmill, “Le Moulin de la Charité” was kept.

Practical details : Montparnasse cemetery : 3 boulevard Edgard Quinet – Paris 14  Metro stop : Edgard Quinet or Raspail. Main entrance : Boulevard Edgar Quinet – Opening Hours : March to November : 8.30 to 6pm (Sunday : 9am) November to March : 8 to 5.30pm (Sunday : 9am)

Unusual Gravestones : 

Le Chat : A polychrome cat by Niki de Saint Phalle. A 1,50 m tall masaic representing a cat for the tomb of her friend RicardoLe Chat by Nikki de Saint Phalle

L’Oiseau : a birdman by Niki de Saint PhalleL'oiseau

The statue of the “Génie du Sommeil Eternel” (Eternal Sleep) by the sculptor Horace Daillion in the center of the cemetary14092017-IMG_9758

Le Baiser : by the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi

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Sculpture by Brancusi (“The Kiss”)

Pigeon Charles’s grave (1838 – 1915) : French inventor of a non-exploding gas lamp. Born in France in Normandy. A life size figures of Mr and Mrs Pigeon (fully clothed) lying in a bed. The bed forms the grave . 

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The grave features Mr and Mrs Pigeon long on their bed

Some of the illustrious personalities (buried in Montparnasse cemetery)

Baudelaire (1821 – 1867): French poet born in Paris where he lived most of his life.  buried with his mother and step-father. Also a cenothaph dedicated to the poet.

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Baudelaire’s grave

Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre :  leading figures of the Existentialist literary movement are buried together. Simone de Beauvoir (1907 – 1986) was a French writer, philosopher, and feminist. Best known for her work “The second Sex” (1949) which contained detailed analysis of women’s oppression. Jean Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980) was French writer, philosopher and critic. Best known for his writing : “Being and Nothingness”. He believed in the fundamental freedom of human beings and reflected ont the unbearable nature of that freedom. Major works : Nausea, Being and Nothingness (1943), the Words (1964)

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Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir’s grave

Susan Sontag (1933 – 2004) : American author born in Manhattan. One of her more famous books was “Illness as Metaphor” (1978)08092017-IMG_9722

 

Chaïm Soutine (1893 – 1943) : Painter, born in Lithuania. He moved to Paris in 1911 and settled in Montparnasse district; He became famous after years of poverty in 1823 when Paul Barnes, a wealthy American cnollector bought 60 of his paintings at once. . He became known for his portraits of working-class people, still lifes and landscapes. As a Jew, at the start of WWII, he fled the Nazi occupation of France

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Chaïm Soutine

Zadkine Ossip (1890 – 1967): Russian-born sculptor. There is a Museum dedicated to Zadkine’s work of art located in Montparnasse. This was the house and workshop where Ossip Zadkine major figure in the School of Paris, lived and worked from 1928 to 1967.  Zadkine Museum: 100 bis rue d’Assas – Paris 6

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Man Ray (1890 – 1976) : Artist born in USA especially known as a photographer. He is acknowledged as one of the masters of the 20th century. He moved to Paris in 1921. He immortalized in many famous photographs the model Kiki de Montparnasse with who. In 1940 Ray fled the Nazi invasion and went to California. He returned to Paris in 1951

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Man Ray

Marguerite Duras (1914 – 1996) :  French writer and film director, best known for her novel “The lover” (Prix Goncourt – 1984), which was made into a movie.

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Marguerite Duras

Guy de Maupassant (1850 – 1893) :  French writer. He is considered one of the world’s great short-story writers. He wrote novels too. One of the best known : “Bel Ami”21092017-IMG_9922

Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989): Irish Author, Playwright. novelist who spent most of his life in Paris (Paris 14), from 1937 and wrote in French after 1945 His best known work is the play “Waiting for Godot”08092017-IMG_9724

Ionesco Eugène (1912 – 1994) : French playwright. Known for his contribution to the theater of the absiurd. Two of his plays are  shown at the Theatre de la Huchette in Paris since 1957 without any interruption !. (“The Bald Soprano” and “The lesson”)

Antoine Bourdelle : (1861 – 1929) : French sculptor. One of the Pioneers of 20th century monumental sculpture. His home and studio where Antoine Bourdelle has been working from 1885 to 1929 is located 19 rue Antoine Bourdelle – Paris 15, and can be visited. 27092017-IMG_0017

Constantin Brancusi : (1876 – 1957) : Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. He is considered as a pioneer of modernism and one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century, 14092017-IMG_9780

Brassaï (1899 – 1984) : Hungarian photojournalist, portraitist. He moved to Paris in 1918 and fell in love with the city. Hi is renowned for his photographic chronicles of the night.08092017-IMG_9720

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834 – 1904) : French sculptor most renowned for the Statue of Liberty. He designed his own grave.27092017-IMG_9994

César Baldaccini (1921 – 1998) : French sculptor, better known simply as César. He was at the forefront of the  Nouveau Réalisme movement with his radical compressions (compacted automobiles, discarded metal, or rubbish), expansions (polyurethane foam sculptures), and fantastic representations of animals and insects.14092017-IMG_9762

Camille Saint Saëns, (1835 – 1921) : composer, leading representative of French Romantic music. His most popular piece is “The Carnival of the Animals” (1886)

Jacques demy, Eric Rohmer, Claude Sautet, filmmakers

Serge gainsbourg (1928 – 1991) : Songwriter, singer and film maker : one of the most visited graves in Montparnasse. His grave is often covered with different objects which are references to some of his songs : a cabbage (for his LP called “L’homme à la tête de chou”, a metro ticket for his song called “Le Poinçonneur des Lilas”, or cigarettes’ buts because he was smoking a lot and also wrote a song called “Dieu est un fumeur de Havane”.14092017-IMG_9756

Jean Seberg, (1938 – 1979) :  American actress who played in “Breathless” (1959) (director Jean-Luc Godard). 27092017-IMG_0005

(MORE PHOTOS OF MONTPARNASSE CEMETERY AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE )

 

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Even with the help of a map, it’s quite difficult to find the graves you’re looking for. Don’t hesitate to contact me : A visit of Montparnasse cemetery can be included (or added) in the Montparnasse walking tour (= “The Roaring 20’s ) Share my Paris, the Paris I love. I welcome you, I accompany you and we walk at your pace. Half a day or a whole day with a native including a break in a very Parisian cafe. It’s a cross cultural experience in Paris and a way to see Paris in a Parisian perspective.

Ann Jeanne in Paris’ private tours are designed for one or two persons. A friendly and personal experience of Paris. I was born and raised in Paris. Paris is city where I live.

 

More details about Ann Jeanne Paris tours Don’t hesitate to contact me

And  : Some details about the booking and pricing 

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More photos of Montparnasse Cemetery

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Practical details : Montparnasse cemetery : 3 boulevard Edgard Quinet – Paris 14  Metro stop : Edgard Quinet or Raspail. Main entrance : Boulevard Edgar Quinet – Opening Hours : March to November : 8.30 to 6pm (Sunday : 9am) November to March : 8 to 5.30pm (Sunday : 9am) profil-paris-avec-oiseaux

La Closerie nowadays

“La Closerie des Lilas” means “Small enclosed lilac garden”. It’s a place, with an enormous charm, calm and elegant, which makes Paris magic. It’s one of the mythical brasseries of Montparnasse neighborhood.  The ambiance of old-world Paris.

WHERE ?

La Closerie des Lilas

“La Closerie des Lilas” is located in Montparnasse neighborhood which was, between WWI and WWII, the heart of the artistic and intellectual Parisian life (after Montmartre and before Saint Germain des Prés heydays). On the corner of Boulevard Montparnasse and Boulevard Saint Michel. A bit off the beaten path. Most regulars are Parisians.

A ONE MINUTE VIDEO FILMED ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON :

A bit of History : 

You can’t forget the richness of its past… La Closerie des Lilas is over 100 years old. It has entertained visitors from all over the world. And many writers and artists met up at the Closerie des Lilas.

Here, you can feel the presence of Hemingway

The only decent café in our neighborhood was La Closerie des Lilas, and it was one of the best cafes in Paris. It was warm in the winter and the terrace was lovely in the spring and fall,” Hemingway – A Moveable feast

Also the hang-out for : Verlaine, Apollinaire, Beckett, Man Ray, Sartre, Baudelaire, Cezanne, Modigliani, Oscar Wilde, Emile Zola, André Gide to name a few.

A revered haunt for the Lost generation writers  : Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Hemingway who used to come here to write. La Closerie des Lilas was one of Hemingway’s favorite cafés, where he wrote parts of “The sun also rises here”, and where Scott Fitzgerald showed him “Gatsby” for the first time. Behind the bar, one can find a picture of young Hemingway in an army uniform form WWI.

THE SETTING

A warm and cosy ambiance.

A restaurant with a pleasant terrace, a quaint little tree-enclosed patio, a brasserie, and a bar.

The bar : a gorgeous setting, low-lighted, with furniture made in polished mahogany, red-leather confortable banquettes, A brass and chrome bar. There are one-by-three-inch brass nameplates on the corner of the tables with engraved names of literary figures who supposedly sat there. The bartenders are dressed in white jacket. They will serve you a customized cocktail. Live music most evenings and the sunday afternoon too make the place even more special…. and a wonderful Art Deco bathroom. Probably the most beautiful bathroom in Paris  … and a wonderful Art Deco bathroom. Probably the most beautiful bathroom in Paris.                                                        

Practical details :

  • La Closerie des Lilas – 171 boulevard Montparnasse, Paris 6 –  Hours: 12 noon – 1:00 a.m.  Web site : www.closeriedeslilas.fr    Tel. : + 33(0)1 40 51 34 50
  • Metro : Vavin (line 4) or Raspail (line 4 and 6) (Both metro stop at about 7 min walk) RER : Port Royal (just beside the Closerie des Lilas), Bus : 38 (a bus stop just nearby)

My advice :

  • a must-go on your visit to Paris,
  • Why not a drink (a cocktail, a coffee, a hot chocolate or whatever) in the gorgeous bar, where the bartender will serve you a customized cocktail if you wish to !
  • When you have a drink , you can have a pastry too. The “assiette gourmande” is delightful (An “assiette gourmande” is an assortment of a few very littles pastries). 
  • Or for a lunch or dinner either at the restaurant (but quite pricey, an upscale restaurant) or the brasserie.
  • After a lunch, you can either go for a walk in the Observatoire garden, (nearby –   ) then the Luxembourg garden (10 minutes walk from La Closerie), or go for a walk in the Montparnasse neighborhood (around Vavin) then to the Luxembourg garden (an entrance nearby Vavin street)
  • … And don’t miss the bathroom, which is really gorgeous ! Beautiful Art Deco style. 
  • The 4 other popular literary cafés/brasseries in Montparnasse neighborhood are : “Le Select’, “La Rotonde”, “Le Dome” and “La Coupole”

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Ernest-Hemingway-quote

01 - Photo Hemingway - a moveable feast

Ernest HEMINGWAY :

1918 – La Madeleine (Metro : Madeleine)

First place for Hemingway in Paris : in 1918, Hemingway, a U.S. Red Cross volunteer at the time, found himself in front of the damaged façade of the church.

Hemingway in Saint Germain des Prés :

  • In 1921, Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, arrived in Paris and stayed in the “Hôtel d’Angleterre” ( room 14 – 44 rue Jacob – Paris 6) – Metro Saint Germain des Prés), recommended by the American writer, Sherwood Anderson, who also gave him letters of introduction to Gerturde Stein, James Joyce, and to the publisher Sylvia Beach.
    Hemingway often enjoyed coming to “Le Pré aux Clercs”, a cafe located nearby the Hôtel d’Angleterre, (30, rue Bonaparte – Paris 6 – Opening hours : 7/7 8am – 2am)
  • Brasserie Lipp (151 boulevard Saint Germain – Paris 6 – Metro Mabillon)  Hemingway was very fond of this place.
  • Michaud (= now called : “Le Comptoir des Saints-Pères”) in Saint Germain des Prés (corner of rue Jacob and rue des   Saints-Pères) – A restaurant
  • Cafe de Flore, 172 boulevard Saint Germain Metro Saint Germain des Prés: After the war, Hemingway used to come to the Coupole regularly.
  • Les Deux Magots, 6 place Saint Germain des Prés – Metro Saint Germain des Prés : One of the oldest cafes in Paris. Among its regulars : Verlaine, Rimbaud, Stéphane Mallarmé, Picasso, Oscar Wilde, André Malraux and Antoine de Saint Exupéry.

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Hemingway in Montparnasse :

  • 1924 – Hemingway moves in a flat near the Luxembourg Gardens (113, rue Notre-Dame-des -Champs – Metro Vavin)
  • La Rotonde (105, boulevard Montparnasse – Paris 14 – Metro Vavin) : That’s where he sometimes meets Henry Miller, Scott Fitzgerald and George Gershwin
  • Les Blés d’Ange (boulangerie) – 151 boulevard du Montparnasse – Metro Vavin : That’s where Hemingway was buying his pastries. It was easy for him to get there as it was opposite his house by Notre Dame des Champs.
  • La Closerie des Lilas**   Article about the Luxembourg Gardens : coming next°°° (171, boulevard Montparnasse – RER : Port Royal or Metro : Vavin) He wrote that it was “one of the best cafes in Paris” and it became his “home cafe”. Others writers used to come at the Closerie des Lilas such as Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, Verlaine, Gide, Aragon, Fitzgerald, Sartre, Beckett. Earlier, other famous regulars used to come in this cafe such as : Zola, Gautier, Baudelaire, Honoré de Balzac… That’s where Hemingway wrote his short stories. That’s also where he used to come after splitting up with this first wife, Hadley.
  • Le Select°°°° (99 boulevard Montparnasse – Metro Vavin) – Ernest Hemingway often start his day with breakfast at the Select. He also set several scenes in his novel “The Sun also Rises” (1926) here
  • The Dôme ( 108, boulevard Montparnasse – Paris 14 – Metro Vavin) : Hemingway loved this cafe because often frequented by writers, painters, and artists’ models, such as Gauguin, Modigliani, Kandinsky, Picasso, Miller, Nin and Man Ray.
  • La Coupole, 102 boulevard Montparnasse Paris 14 – Metro Vavin
  • The Dingo Bar ( = today : “Auberge de Venise” – 10 rue Delambre – Paris 14 – Metro Vavin) : That’s where Hemingway met Scott Fitzgerald for the first time. Where Picasso, and Jean Cocteau used to go as well
  • Hotel Venitia (no longer exists. Now, t’s a travel bookshop) 159 boulevard Montparnasse – Paris 14– Metro Port Royal, Vavin or Raspail
  • Ernest-Hemingway-quote
  • Hemingway and the Luxembourg Gardens** and museum (Metro : Luxembourg or Vavin)

    • This was Hemingway’s favorite place to walk. That’s where he would  often meet Gertrude Stein (The American writer, poetess and feminist) who was walking her dog there.
    • He also enjoyed admiring the impressionist paintings in the Luxembourg museum.  In “A moveable feast” he wrote : “I was learning something from the paintings of Cezanne that made writing simple true sentences far from enough to make the stories have the dimensions that I was trying to put in them. I was learning very much from him…”

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Hemingway in the Latin quarter :

This neighborhood inspired ‘s greatest early works.

  • 1922-1923 : Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Hadley rented a very modest 2 rooms flat on the 3rd floor at 74, rue Cardinal Lemoine (Paris 5 – Metro Cardinal Lemoine). Hemingway described this place in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”.
  • Then he rented a studio, (39, rue Descartes – Paris 5 – Metro Cardinal Lemoine) in the attic in a four-story house. There was a small restaurant Chez Verlaine, on the ground floor.

About that time, Hemingway wrote : “I was always hungry with the walking and the cold and the working”.

  • Café des Amateurs (today “Café Delmas”, 2 place de la Contrescarpe – Paris 5 – Metro Cardinal Lemoine).  Hemingway wasn’t very fond of the place because regularly frequented by drunks from the neighboring houses, but started “A moveable feast” with the description of the Amateurs : “The Cafe des Amateurs was the cesspool of the rue Mouffetard, that wonderful narrow crowded market street which led into the Place Contrescarpe.”

(Nearby, the Rue Mouffetard”, one of the Paris’s oldest and liveliest streets, with a number of cafes, restaurants and a famous open market.)

  • Shakespeare and Company :  Sylvia Beach, the owner, gave him a borrowing card allowing him to take as many books as he wanted. In “A moveable Feast” Hemingway writes : “She had pretty legs and she was kind, cheerful and interested, and loved to make jokes and gossip. No one that I ever knew was nicer to me.”hemingway_bookshop devant Shakespeare

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Other Hemingway’s locations 

Hotel Ritz 15 place Vendôme – Paris 1 – Metro Tuileries : The bar at the Ritz was one of Hemingway’s favorite place. He spent  many evenings there with Scott Fitzgerald. To commemorate its guest, the bar was named after Hemingway.

69 rue Froidevaux – Paris 14 – Metro Gaité or Denfert Rochereau : The second apartment where he lived with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer.

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AND…… : Do you REMEMBER HEMINGWAY in “MIDNIGHT IN PARIS”  ?

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 Article about La Closerie des Lilas 

**   Article about the Luxembourg Gardens : coming next

°°°° Article about Le Select coming next