Paris, city of love. I had a strong feeling it is called that because you fall in love with its surroundings, you fall in love with the aesthetic, the "joie de vivre".
In my short visit to Paris this fall, I wanted to take a real feel of what the city has to offer while enjoying the touristic side of it, too. So I took the metro (which was an actual experience for someone who loves the famous ceramic metro tiles) from the 9th arrondissement where I was staying - Opéra (Garnier) to Place Georges Pompidou.
Centre Pompidou, located near the famous quarter Le Marais - arr. 4, is this immense art hub, the first modern and contemporary art center in Europe, from what I understand.
At the base of this opulent building, through some stairs down, you will find a not-so-hidden Parisian gem: Constantin Brancusi's workshop/atelier.
The first thing I could feel when entering Atelier Brancusi's is RAW. You could feel the rawness, the authenticity, and quite a strange feeling that the artist just left the studio and he will be back at any moment. The entire space is surrounded by these huge glass windows. Through them, you are left mesmerized and in awe, left with a soothing breath of inspiration.
I was really proud to be there, knowing that this man got to Paris walking and hitch-hiking his way and he made the impossible possible, by doing what he loved his whole life.
His work will live forever and continue to inspire generations for hundreds of years. His work is like a metamorphosis that doesn't ask the time or space, it just is and will live on beautifully, as intended to.
On the Pompidou website, I read this interesting note and I thought it is very significant to understand my earlier point of view - as if he never left. Here it is:
"At the end of his life, Brancusi stopped creating sculptures and focused solely on their relationship within the studio. This proximity became so fundamental that the artist no longer wanted to exhibit, and when he sold a work, he replaced it with a plaster copy so as not to destroy the unity of the group."
Photos: from the author’s personal archive.
Alexandra Badea
is an entrepreneur and online communications specialist currently living in Bucharest, Romania.