With today being our last one in Marseilles and our last day together as a group for some time I was starting to realise that Annie & Carol's and my paces were different. They loved to do one or two things, not plan too much, move slowly, take in a few details around them (taps, handles, dogs) and punctuate each hour or two with stops for coffee, cake, lunch, beer and contemplation. I knew that I had a shortlist of sites to visit and an ICOM pass enabling me free entry to most so I left early. First stop, a 30 minute walk later was Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille or in English: Museum of fine arts (not quite as Romantic when translated is it?).
Regardless of what was inside the museum, the entrance was impressive. Both Musée des Beaux-Arts and the adjacent Museum of Natural History are located within a wing of the grand Palais Longchamp, so there are plenty of photo opportunities outside.
The 19th century Musée des Beaux-Arts houses exquisite fine art pieces from the 16th-19th centuries and is the oldest museum in Marseille. After managing to communicate with the staff with my nonexistent French and their nonexistent English, I was still able to use my ICOM pass to gain free entry and got to enjoy viewing the old masters - as long as I viewed the rooms in the right order as I was disciplined for walking into the right hand side before the left on one floor; chronology must be important to the staff. Even though Marseilles is the second largest city in France, that doesn't mean more people speak English. In fact, after procuring from me my nationality (a requirement for museum staff upon presentation of the ICOM pass), one of the staff looked a bit confused and after a mumble to her colleague, asked tentatively if I would like an English brochure/ guide. They must have wondered what language 'Orstrahlians' speak.
As I knew entry would be free, I thought I may as well whiz through the Muséum d’histoire Naturelle de Marseille (Museum of Natural History), just across the grand fountain away.There's something so charming about seeing all those taxidermied animals, frozen in a mis-en-scene and it's a bonus when you visit one of these museums that hasn't been taken over with modern infrastructure. The first floor was like this; no giant painted dioramas like the New York one but still with plenty of old style charm. The top floor by comparison was given over to digital displays but of course all text and dialogue was in French with no English whatsoever. The staff generously tried to encourage me to interact with it a bit more and I managed to gesture that I couldn't understand it, which was fine by me. One of the digital displays included animated animal portraits; one included a wallaby - speaking in French of course! I'll never know to this day what he was saying.
A bit more walking and a train (or was it a bus) later, I arrived at the much anticipated Musée d'Art Contemporain (Museum of contemporary art). Yes!! I immediately felt at home with Louise Bourgois sculptures in the garden stimulating you as you walk along to the doorway.
Their major temporary exhibition "What Love ?!" was over many rooms and carried the usual warning: 'This exhibition includes images, some of which may offend the sensitivity of the public and especially the young audience. These works will therefore not be accessible to unaccompanied minors' and in fact attendance in general was poor which is a shame for such as great museum. I love the exhibition intro: 'Envisioned as two interlacing journeys, the exhibition invites visitors to choose their point of entry and, eventually, to separate from the person they may have come with… As the singer Ian Curtis declared in 1980, “Love will tear us apart…”' What a refreshing contrast to the more chronological expectation from most museums. And the artist list invites a broad interpretation of what love might be: Gilbert & George, Marina Abramovic and Ulay,Nan Goldin and Felix Gonzalez Torres and more. I could have stayed longer, but having travelled some distance, I needed to visit as least one more site that was on this side of the city.
One of the best known examples of 20th century architecture was less than a 30 minute walk away. And so I got to experience one of the most famous examples of Brutalism: Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation, and how appropriate that it is in France as the term Brutalism means concrete in French. The 18 storey building is actually inhabited by tenants so you are only allowed to visit three floors including the top floor which was more than I expected. How wonderful it was to be inside the building looking at the original architecture built between 1947 and 1952.
After I had exhausted all photo opportunities I realised I still had time to visit one more museum; with google maps at hand, I walked, got lost and walked again to Musée de la Faïence de Marseille (Museum of Decorative arts), which, like so many European museums, was in a Palace or Chateau, this one being Château Borély, which is at the end of a long avenue in the 120 hectares (300 acres) Campagne Pastré park, owned by the city of Marseille. It was a worthwhile visit despite exhausting most of my aesthetic appreciation muscles at the other sites. I really loved the fashion displays, with items curated thematically in colours.
Last night in France, a lot packed in and Marseilles well enjoyed; Vienna the next stop!
Adapted from http://www.mytripjournal.com May 23, 2018