The most perfect urban space.
The Tuileries Gardens front the Louvre Museum and since my first visit to Paris in September, 1974 I can only think of this magical place as the most perfect urban environment in the western world.
By the time of my visit you could say I had been preparing for this moment for a decade, a decade which saw me discover French culture, Henri Cartier-Bresson, French art and fashion. Add the fact that I had read Proust’s 12 tome volume of manners and society not once but twice and the equally important fact that my three years with the Leica M3 now saw it as an invisible extension of my eye, then I was well and truly ready to capture this special setting. For sheer beauty and gentleness I have yet to improve on these.
Patisserie.
A lemonade on a warm day.
A perfect place to catch up on the news.
Sculptures abound.
The children in the First Arondissement are well dressed.
A setting for contemplation ….
…. companionship ….
…. and reflection.
The Orangerie houses Monet’s water lillies. I was
so shattered by the work and its presentation in an oval
room that I quite forgot to take pictures!
Perfection. No other park compares.
A literary nation, the French own more books per person than any other.
This man was renting sail boats for children to play with
on the big pond. It’s dusk and he is taking his charges home.
Leica M3, 35mm Summaron and 90mm Elmar, TriX, negatives ‘scanned’ with a Nikon D800.