Heaven in Paris

A few days ago I had a 24 hour layover in Paris. 

First I went to the M.E.P., Maison Europeenne de la Photographie.

There I saw a Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition named “a vue d’oeil”.

I liked best the decisive instant pictures. The lower quality of the materials used in the era could be seen in the prints. Then I went on to see ‘Etats de grace’ from Gérard Uféras. Really amazing pictures and prints. I suggest you check out his work.

But I truly found myself in photographer’s heaven when I discovered their library. They have over 25,000 photography books and hundreds of films, you don’t need an appointment and you can come in whenever you feel like to read their books. Amazing! So if you are ever in Paris, check out the M.E.P.!

The rest of the day we spent in the Louvre, such a big place. Just crazy how many tourists go straight for the Mona Lisa, really had to think of Martin Parr when I walked in that room.

Personally I went to see the Dutch and Flemish painters, I didn’t like so much the biblical studies but you could see a lot of ‘documentary’ paintings displaying daily life giving a lot of infromation about how people lived back then. Also amazing was to discover how some painters used the light with a much different style, for example Rembrandt was a good example. All in all a wonderful day!