Pochoirs

"Il faut inclure la signature dans la photo." (Be sure to include the signature in your picture.)

The voice startled me as I was crouched low, taking photographs of the street art in the rue Denoyez. I looked up to see a tall, thin man with graying hair tucked into a pony tail. He was standing in the doorway of a shop whose exterior was covered with art such as this:
"C'est un de mes pochoirs" he said. I'm Pedro, and this is my shop."

"Pochoir?" I didn't recognize the word in French. "Stencil" is the English word, he continued. And so we began a 15 minute conversation in English regarding the use of stencils as street art, poetry, and political statement. Pedro invited me into his shop/studio where the walls were covered with hundreds of images of musicians, poets, and historical figures ranging from Obama to Marilyn Monroe and Rosa Parks. I think that Pedro was delighted to practice his English and flattered that someone would be interested in his art. He wouldn't allow me to take any photos of him or the inside of his shop, but did allow me this photo of the process:
I left the shop with a new insights regarding street artists, their cans of spray paint, and their "pochoirs." So what can you do with stencils? Well, you can decorate your trash cans. . .

Happy Birthday Eric

Today is my son Eric's 34th birthday. Here is a picture of him from last summer.
I found this picture of myself and my sons taken in late 1978. That's Eric in the front pack on my chest and Philippe with his blond curls.
And here are the three of us at Philippe's wedding in 2008. They grow up so quickly!
If you'd like to see more photos of Eric, click here.

Noordwijk aan Zee

After a three museums in one day, (the Kröller-Müller, the Van Gogh in Amsterdam, and the Rijksmuseum) we'd had enough. We spent Friday along the coast of the North Sea. It was sunny and calm, but the water is much too cold for swimming. Here is the view from our hotel room in Noordwijk aan Zee.
Of course, we couldn't leave Holland without at least one photo of a windmill.

Kröller-Müller Museum

One of the highlights of our visit to Benelux was the Kröller-Müller Museum which is located inside the De Hoge Veluwe National Park near Otterlo, Netherlands. The museum owes its existence to Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939), the daughter of a German industrialist. Helene was fully aware that she lived in a period of great artistic innovation that witnessed movements such as Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism and De Stijl. In her lifetime she collected almost 11,500 art works - including significant works by Picasso, Seurat, Mondriaan, etc. Helene's favorite artist was Vincent van Gogh. She acquired 91 paintings and approximately 180 works on paper by Van Gogh, amassing the world's largest collection of his works (with the exception of the Van Gogh family collection which we visited in Amsterdam later in the day).

We began our visit by picking up a free bicycle at the park entrance and then pedaling the 2.5 km to the museum.

Once inside the museum, we were entranced by the collection of paintings and sculptures. Here are a few of the highlights.Giacometti's Walking Man

Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters (1885)

Van Gogh's Place du Forum (1888)

The museum also features a sculpture garden of 25 hectares (>60 acres).
There were plenty of school groups taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and national treasures.

Rainy Sunday in the Champs de Mars

Spring is just around the corner

A jonquil for Curie

A fundraiser for cancer research and some welcome color on a gray day.

Auvers sur l'Oise

We've been very interested in Vincent Van Gogh lately. Last month we visited the Orsay Museum which owns over 200 of Van Gogh's paintings. Last week we visited the town of Auvers sur l'Oise (less than 25 miles north of Paris) which is where Van Gogh spent the final two months of his life. Do you remember his famous painting of the Auvers church?


Van Gogh lived here in the Auberge Ravoux from his arrival on the 20th of May 1890.
He had a tiny room upstairs in the back of the Auberge. He died here on July 29, 1890 two days after shooting himself.
Vincent is buried in Auvers sur l'Oise. His younger brother Theo died six months later and was interred by his side
Next week we will be taking a trip to Belgium and Holland. We'll be visiting the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam and the Kröller-Müller museum in Otterlo. I think that should be enough of Van Gogh for awhile.