Rodin Museum (Musée Rodin), Paris.
Dates: TBA
Join Amy Osaki in France to revel in human creativity. This newly designed trip explores art in museums in Paris and in the caves of the Dordogne region. Examine how Homo sapiens explored line, shape, color and texture over a period of tens of thousands of years. Begin in Paris where Amy studied at the Louvre and the Sorbonne as an undergraduate student from 1981 to 1982. From our base in the historic center of the “City of Light” treat yourself to two new museums: the Cartier Foundation designed by Jean Nouvel and the Louis Vuitton Foundation designed by Frank Gehry. Both museums feature architecture and art exhibitions that are truly thought-provoking. Continue to two newly re-opened museums—the Musee d’Art Modern Paris and the Musee de l’Homme. Here you will see Matisse’s The Dance from 1931-33 and the 24,000-year-old Venus of Lespugue. Artists have been drawn to Paris for centuries including Auguste Rodin in the 19th century and Isamu Noguchi in the 20th century. Immerse yourself in Rodin’s lifelong exploration of the human form in the drawings, clay figures, and completed sculptures at the Rodin Museums in both Paris and Meudon both of which served as his former homes. Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi arrived in Paris in 1927 on a Guggenheim Fellowship and worked in the studio of Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi. Visit the garden Noguchi designed for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris as well as the collection of Japanese art assembled by French collector Emile Guimet first exhibited in Paris in 1889. At the National Archaeological Museum examine one of the best collections of Paleolithic art in the world before moving on to witness cave art in France’s Dordogne region. Five caves along the Vezere River—all part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site—are our itinerary: Rouffignac, Lascaux, Combarelles, Font de Gaume and Cap Blanc. In addition we’ll visit the cave of Peche Merle on the Lot River. Each cave is unique! You’ll have time to compare the locations, techniques and materials that were used to create the art for a deep experience with this original art in its original location. Conclude your art feast in Toulouse and reflect on our species’ fascination with creating art.
Humans, it seems, carry in their mental world…imaginative forms that find common expression – those universals of the inner life…the urge to create fineness and beauty far in excess of earthly necessity.
–JACQUETTA HAWKES
The Fondation Cartier for Contemporary Art designed by Jean Nouvel (Photo credit)
Day 1 – Paris: Fondation Cartier and Fondation Louis Vuitton
Overnight in Paris
Dinner included
Begin our Paris art feast with visits to the Fondation Cartier and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, two of the city’s newest museums. Both were featured on Conde Nast Traveler’s list of the top 12 Museums of Paris in June 2019. Delight in contemporary art at the Fondation Cartier which opened in 1994. The building was designed by Jean Nouvel who also designed the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the National Museum of Qatar (2019). After lunch savor the Fondation Louis Vuitton, designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 2014. Both museums delight with their architecture and their exhibitions. Enjoy a welcome dinner this evening.
Day 2 – Paris: Modern Art Museum Paris, Museum of Man
Overnight in Paris
Breakfast included
Today we revel in two museums that recently reopened after extensive renovations. Begin at the Musee de l’Art Moderne Paris (MAMParis – Modern Art Museum Paris) which reopened in October 2019 after a 10 million euro redesign by h20 architects. Originally constructed in 1937, the MAMParis is an Art Deco masterpiece with a renovated light-filled entrance hall, amazing murals by Matisse and Dufy, and works by Picasso, Derain, Rouault, De Chirico, Vlaminck, Appel and more. Continue to the Musee de l’Homme (Museum of Man) for a reminder that our species has been creating art in France for at least 30,000 years! In the newly remodeled museum, explore our Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis ancestors and view their art including the Venus of Lespugue, an ivory masterpiece. Afterwards, savor the spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower from the terrace adjacent to the museums. Across the Seine and adjacent to the Eiffel Tower is the Jean Nouvel designed Musee Quai Branly.
Isamu Noguchi’s Garden of Peace at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris (Photo credit)
Day 3 – Japan in Paris: Musee Guimet and the Noguchi garden at UNESCO
Overnight in Paris
Breakfast included
In 1876, Emile Guimet journeyed from Paris to Philadelphia and continued westward across the USA and Pacific Ocean to reach east Asia. Here, he spent time studying in Japan, China, and India before returning to France. In 1889 he opened a museum in Paris. The Japanese collection at the Musee Guimet includes 11,000 objects which date from the third century BC to the mid-19th century. Examine sculpture, ceramics, prints, and screens and marvel at the craftsmanship displayed in stone, clay, paper, and lacquer. After lunch, experience the Paris Headquarters of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). The “UNESCO House” was designed by the Hungarian-born modernist architect Marcel Breuer along with two other architects. Here, you’ll also find a garden designed by Isamu Noguchi (using stones imported from Japan) and a meditation space designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Throughout the facility, art by Miro, Picasso, Giacometti, Calder and others is on display. Inaugurated in 1958, the UNESCO building is an “universal museum that echoes the diversity of artistic creation throughout the world.”
Detail from Jeune femme aux fleurs dans les cheveux by Auguste Rodin.
Day 4 – Paris: Auguste Rodin and the National Archaeology Museum at St Germain en Laye
Overnight in in Paris
Breakfast & lunch included
Paris has been home to artists for centuries. Today, visit two homes of the artist Auguste Rodin. Begin at the Rodin Museum housed in an 18th century mansion set amidst a walled garden. It was opened as a museum in 1919. After lunch, journey southwest of Paris to Rodin’s home at Meudon, also a museum. Enjoy the particular thrill of seeing an artist’s work displayed where the artist lived, and explore the techniques Rodin used to create his sculptures. Continue to the National Archaeological Museum at St Germain en Laye. Ponder the early art of humans, created 20,000 years ago. The museum’s Paleolithic art collections are among the best in the world.
Day 5 – Paris to the Dordogne
Overnight in Montignac
Breakfast, lunch & dinner included
After breakfast, transfer to the train station and board a high speed train (TGV) to Bordeaux. After a two-hour journey, arrive in Bordeaux and travel to the Dordogne region stopping en route for lunch. Settle in for three nights in the village of Montignac. Regional food specialties here include duck (confit de canard and foie gras), cheese (especially cabecou, a pure goat’s milk cheese), stews (daube de mouton, a rich mutton stew flavored with olives, wine and garlic), and of course wines (Cahors, Bergerac, and Bordeaux). Vive la France!
Dolmen at Rouffignac (Photo credit)
Day 6 – Rouffignac, Lascaux IV and II
Overnight in Montignac
Breakfast & dinner included
For over 30,000 years, artists have created masterpieces in the caves of southwest France. In the Dordogne region, you’ll visit five sites which were proclaimed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites in 1979 due to their significance to all humanity. This morning, journey over a kilometer underground by electric train in the cave of Rouffignac to see paintings from more than 13,000 years ago. You will see mammoths painted and drawn in finger lines on the cave walls. Notice the use of a natural chert nodule to represent the eye of one of the mammoths. You’ll see woolly rhinos facing each other in a charcoal-drawn frieze. But the crowning glory is the Grand Plafond (“big ceiling”) with its swirling composition of mammoths, ibex, and horses. In the afternoon visit the International Center for Cave Art at Lascaux, a complex which includes “Lascaux II” and “Lascaux IV” which are meticulous recreations of the original Lascaux Cave. (The original cave remains closed to visitors for its protection.) During your visit to Lascaux, be sure to notice the bulls and the horses on the ceiling racing out of your field of view. Discuss the masterworks of the day over dinner this evening with your fellow trip participants.
Rock art in the cave of Font de Gaume (Photo credit)
Day 7 – Combarelles, Font de Gaume, L’Abri du Cap Blanc
Overnight in Montignac
Breakfast included
Today visit three more World Heritage sites: Combarelles, Font de Gaume, and Cap Blanc. Combarelles lies back-to-back with the cave of Font de Gaume in the same limestone ridge just outside the picturesque village of Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac. Together, Font de Gaume and Combarelles contain some of the most intriguing upper Paleolithic art in the region including nearly 600 engravings and numerous drawings. Combarelles has hundreds of carvings: Horses, bison, aurochs, deer, mammoth, bears, and lions. At Combarelles, the incised designs are sometimes difficult to see, but the fabulous images of animals are the rewards of your scrutiny. Font de Gaume cave is situated on the left bank of the stream called La Beune. Since its discovery in 1901, more than 200 animal figures and signs have been cataloged including polychrome images of bison and reindeer, as well as horses and mammoths. Font de Gaume’s images are now somewhat faded, the result of the cave having been open to the outside environment for thousands of years and exacerbated by poorly controlled visitation in the early 20th century. This afternoon visit the site of Cap Blanc where we’ll see bas-relief horse statues carved in the soft chalk of the rock shelter walls. The Abbé Breuil called Cap Blanc the “Sistine Chapel of the Causses plateau.”
The village of Les Eyzies de Tayac (Photo credit)
Day 8 – Pech Merle
Overnight in Toulouse
Breakfast, lunch & dinner included
After breakfast, we travel south from the Dordogne toward the city of Toulouse. On the way, we’ll follow the course of the Lot River upstream where after a picnic lunch we’ll encounter the painted cave of Pech Merle—the most spectacular painted cave routinely open to the public and perhaps the most beautiful cave you will explore on this trip. In addition to the beautiful limestone formations within the cave, you’ll discover prehistoric hand prints and images of mammoths, aurochs, and horses decorating the walls and ceilings of the grotto. The famous panels include the Frieze Noir and the Panel of the Horses which has been dated to 24,640 ± 390 years ago. After visiting the cave, continue to Toulouse for dinner and overnight.
Day 9 – Departure Day
Breakfast included
Depart Toulouse on your own.
Village of Montignac in the Dordogne region of France (Photo credit)
Other Details about this Trip
Trip Dates: TBA
Trip Leader: Amy Boyce Osaki
Price: TBA
Single Room for entire trip: TBA
Meeting Point: The trip begins at the hotel in Paris.
Departure Point: The trip concludes after dinner in Toulouse. However, your overnight lodging in Toulouse this evening and breakfast the following morning are included in the trip price.
Lodging: Eight nights lodging in three-star hotels in Paris, Montignac, and Toulouse. All rooms with private bath. Please note that your lodging in Paris on the night before the trip begins is not included in the trip price, but we will be happy to book accommodations for you on that evening.
Meals: Eight breakfasts, three lunches, and four dinners are included.
Also included in the trip price: Access to museums and archaeological sites, admission to all sites (including a Carte Musee in Paris), all ground transportation, expert insights into the art and culture of France provided by your trip leader and local experts.
Not included in the trip price: Airfare, excess baggage charges, personal insurance, meals not mentioned in the itinerary, and all items of a personal nature such as drinks, laundry, telephone, and internet access. Lodging in Paris on the evening prior to the start of the trip is not included in the tour price.
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Photos on this page are as credited. The two photos of the Rodin Museum are by Amy Osaki (© All Rights Reserved).
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