Today we walked across the Seine to the Musse d’Orsay and saw the magnificent collection of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, including a number of painting I had never seen. The Renoirs I can do without. But there were some Cezannes and Monets that blew me away. I spent some time watching people looking at a Monet water lilies. A bit creeped out by the gathering around a bronze Degas girl. A special exhibit at the Musee d’Orsay featured depictions of black models across the centuries, pieces researched (e.g. the names of previously unknown models) from the museum’s collection. Glenn Ligon then created a piece that responds to this show. Then we walked through the gardens near the Louvre (saving the Louvre itself for tomorrow), and wondered at a bug hotel. Walked down the Champ Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe and then back across the river to the Eiffel Tower. Then a long walk back home, across the river once more. My step counter has me at 33,000 steps for the day, which includes an early morning run. The walk described above was 10 miles. Sore feet.
Al Filreis is Kelly Professor, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House, Director of the Center
for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Co-Director of PennSound, and Publisher of Jacket2—all at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his books are Secretaries of the Moon,
Wallace Stevens & the Actual World, Modernism from Left to Right, and Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60. He is currently writing a book on the art & avant-garde of 1960. He has taught a massive open online course, "
Founder/Faculty Director, 