Tuesday 14 October 2008

Beauté le jour 5






With the sole exception of la Tour Montparnasse, every single, solitary, sight, smell and sound in Paris oozes with beauty.
But beauty is a subjective concept. When you arrive somewhere, you are automatically programmed to expect it.
The brain commences to build on the beauty of the previous sight, and the feeling is one of overwhelming awe.

So it was with "Les Deux Plateaux", known also as the "Colonnes de Buren", "Buren's Columns", in the cour d'honneur of the lovely Palais-Royal.

The phallic forecourt was novel and forceful.
There were large examples of them and smaller ones, to suit all tastes with not a flaccid example to be seen.
But Daniel Buren's expression, was lacking the beauty that I sought.

If beauty is a subjective concept, then one would be free to add the value of one's own thought processes.
Masculine art fails miserably without the injection of its antithesis.

There was an obvious and simple solution.
With the laughter and the pleasure of the lunch we had just shared, we stormed into the cour d'honneur and set about adding the loveliest form of beauty.
We couldn't fail, we had the tricolore - bleu, blanc, rouge, with us, but we also had a secret weapon.
This is how I will always remember the cour d'honneur of the lovely Palais-Royal.

Thank you Guille, you made my day - and my favourite photo. This is how I will remember Paris.
And thank you Michael for shooting it.

12 comments:

Nathalie H.D. said...

Yes yes yes, completely agree with your approach to the place.

That last shot is so full of joy and grace!!!

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Wow! What fun! This is delightful to see, Monsieur. You had a great time, all of you. How lovely to see my little friend Guille, my Paris correspondent; how pretty and full of veuve. I really giggled at these pics. It's also great to see Eric laughing his head off. What a great day!

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Mme you look glam and gorgeous!

dive said...

Ah, la belle Guille!
You lucky, lucky man, Monsieur!

guille said...

Dear Ian,
I'm really and deeply touched. I spent a wonderful and lovely day with you. And we had so much fun!
The way you described this day is so nice to read...Your imagination has no limit. I'm glad to have been part of your trip in France, really.

The last picture is PRICELESS! We're all laughing out loud. Since my face was as red as my shoes, yes, we had the Bleu/Blanc/Rouge flag ( you can't imagine how hard it was to stay in this position!). I had never seen these photos before today, that's a real surprise! (Feel free to send me some of them Mr Benaut).
Michael, thanks a lot for shooting us!

And no, that smile is not fake, it was stuck on my face all day long! Grâce à vous tous!

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Maybe you should crop it down, Guille, and use it for your profile pic! It's soooo good.

Maria said...

Paris...ah...Paris!

Volmon said...

Wonderful photos, M. Benaut! Thank you for sharing them with us.

M.Benaut said...

Siete molto benvenuti, Lucio.

I am so glad you enjoyed them.

Petrea Burchard said...

Delight! You are all having so much fun. These photo photos are all wonderful, and the last one is a treasure. I love seeing the three of you laugh this hard.

Eric said...

I too, love the photo at the bottom, it's really full of joy.

PS: I did not know Adelaide looked that much like Paris ;)

Thib said...

Great pictures ! good friends, lots of fun; That was obviously a gread day !
i love the last one!