Montmartre

First, some memories...

Though horribly touristic, the old village of Montmartre is much dear to me as a big part of my childhood when it was less impacted by mass tourism.
Each day I could see theS acré-Coeur church rising above rue des Martyrs like a giant creamy Pavlova dessert.
As soon as the spring days were arriving, Montmartre was one of our favorite places where to go on Sundays. First, we were climbing the rue des Martyrs up to avenue Trudaine where we were reaching the Anvers public garden, and after having crossed the boulevard Rochechouart, we were entering in a different village than mine. We were climbing the rue de Steinkerque which at that time was crowded with colored stalls of fabric shops, now replaced by gift shops.
If I was walking with my mother, we were slowly climbing through the Sacré-Coeur garden with its strong box wood scents.
If I was walking with my great grandmother or my dear Suzanne, it was instead a cool and easy climb with the funicular.
Later as a teenager, with my friend Sylvie, we were going up once a week to attend Jacqueline Robinson modern dance school at avenue Junot.

Now, the stroll ...

We will start from boulevard de Clichy where we will pass-by a symbol of Paris: le Moulin Rouge.
Then, we will climb the rue Lepic, so lively with all the cafes, restaurants and shops which remind me the atmosphere around rue des Martyrs. We will see there the two Moulins de la Galette, the only survivors of many mills which were standing on this windy hill.
When at the top of the hill, we will walk in streets immortalized by many painters and artists from Montmartre. We will enjoy the view above Paris from the Sacré-Coeur square, the highest spot in Paris before walking down to boulevard Rochechouart.

The photos taken byAtget convey what was Montmartre in his time, a village with old rustic houses both close to and far from Paris. At this time, it was a wild and shaped place quite different from the place today, a little bit fake and like a museum piece for tourists.

Boulevard de Clichy

Let's get off from metro station Blanche to start our tour boulevard de Clichy.
Boulevard de Clichy and boulevard de Rochechouart (which is a little bit further towards rue des Martyrs) were built where Parisian walls existed in the past. Though the large central part of the boulevard has been accommodated with trees, benches and bike ways, these noisy lanes convey the crappy and shady atmosphere of the sex-shows and shops around Pigalle.
We will leave it just after le Moulin Rouge, an attraction for many tourists, either just taking a photo or attending the evening show.
Opened in 1889, le Moulin Rouge was decorated by Willette who was honored by having his name assigned to the Sacré-Coeur public garden until 2004 when his name was replaced by Louise Michel, a revolutionary figure.

World renowned Moulin Rouge has been immortalized by many paintings and movies. Everybody keeps in mind Toulouse-Lautrec paintings and Jean Renoir's movie showing French-Cancan dancers with evocative names: La Goulue (The Glutton), Valentin le désossé (Valentin the boneless), la môme Fromage (Kid Cheese), Grille d'Egout (Sewer Grate), Rayon d'Or (Golden Ray) …
Later, famous music-hall artists like Mistinguett, Joséphine Baker, Line Renaud performed as well on Moulin-Rouge stage

On our way down the boulevard that we will leave on the left rue Coustou, there are many sex-shops hidden behind heavy curtains. Sometime the sex-business is replaced by other business like this supermarket Monoprix, which is standing where in the past were two cabarets destroyed in 1950: Heaven and Hell.
In Heaven, the Customers were welcomed by monks and angels, then seated in the banquet room to drink a sacred cup of bier or cherry brandy. Then, at the first floor, they were enjoying a “divine” hot show.
In Hell, the next red tavern, the customers were swallowed through a giant devil mouth. Seated in a cave, they were drinking a beer or other “poison and magical drinks”, then taken to Devil's room to enjoy demoniac shows …

Now let’s see a real mill, le Moulin de la Galette! To go there, let’s turn left in rue Coustou and then rue Lepic.

Rue Lepic

Le Blute-Fin
Le moulin de la Galette

We walk by the Café des 2 Moulins – 2 windmills, where several scenes of the famous movie Amélie were shot. The name of the café is referring to the two mills of Montmartre: le Blute-fin (Fine sieve) and le Radet which both got successively the name of Moulin de la Galette.You will find them at the top of the long rue Lepic which has many shops and artistic references. If you prefer, you can take a shortcut via rue Tholozé when you arrive rue des Abbesses. RueTholozé,you will pass by an other movie reference; Not only Amélie Poulain as she goes every Friday night to Studio 28 and also because the film makers Jean Cocteau and Abel Gance were the godfathers of this lovely movie theater.

At the top of the hill over the end of rueTholozé,you will see the windmill named le Blute-Fin, built in 1622. Later in the 1870s it was used as a ball room; this is this old windmill that Renoir represented in his famous painting Bal du Moulin de la Galette that you can see at Orsay museum.
A little bit further, at the corner of the streets Lepic and Girardon, you can see the other windmill, Le Radet, built in 1717. During the week, it was used as a windmill and on Sunday it was a ball room where flat brown cakes (galette) were sold, hence its name Moulin de la Galette.

Rue Norvins

Now we take Rue Girardon to  Rue Norvins on the right.
Let's go around the vast building where the writer Céline lived from 1941 to 1944. Let's go up the Norvins street.
On our left, at the place named after the writer Marcel Aymé, we can see a nice statue of his character, the man who could walk through the walls.
A little bit further, at the level of the folie Sandrin, we can see the dome of the Sacré-Coeur behind the buildings.

Le Sacré-Coeur

For lovers visiting Paris, Sacré-Coeur looks like the Taj-Mahal.
For Catholics, it is an important pilgrimage place.
Either way, it is the Paris second most visited church after Notre-Dame cathedral.
Officially, the construction of the basilica is linked with a national vow made in December 1870 after the defeat against Prussia to have Paris be delivered from the Prussians army.

More contested is the choice of the hill of Montmartre as the location for the basilica, as for many it would have been linked with the will to establish a “moral order” after the Paris Commune events which were precisely initiated at Montmartre, March, 18, 1871. A revolt started there when the French army came to get the cannons back. Rapidly the revolt was spread in Paris to other popular districts. The Chief executive Thiers and his government who left Paris and set in Versailles was joined back by Parisians from wealthy districts. The political turmoil was being increasing and finally after the Commune was proclaimed, get organized. On its side, the army led by Thiers went into action and May, 21, the army entered Paris. This began the “bloody week”, which terminated the Commune in a terrible oppression. During this week, many Parisian buildings were burned out and destroyed like the town Hall and the Tuileries Palace.
On May 1873, Mac-Mahon's government enforced public morality and with this background of “moral order” the National Assembly passed a law July, 23, 1873 to build a basilica devoted to the Sacred Heart on the hill of Montmartre.

The writer Emile Zola reacted to the moral order and the national vow in 1893 in his book Paris. Guillaume Clement, one of the characters of the novel, is expressing his discontent:
"Ah! they chose a good site for it, and how stupid it was to let them do so! I know of nothing more nonsensical; Paris crowned and dominated by that temple of idolatry! How impudent it is, what a buffet for the cause of reason after so many centuries of science, labour, and battle!"

Now let's take ruedesSauleson our left.

Corner rue de l'Abreuvoir and rue des Saules

In his memoir titled Montmartre à vingt ans (that I would translate into a twenty year old in Montmartre), the writer Francis Carco was describing his friendships with the young painters and poets with whom he was sharing the same fraternal misery.
Quite often, their group was meeting at the cabaret Lapin Agile and as soon as the weather was permitting there were gathering on the small inn terrace around a large table under the shade of a locust tree.
In this book, Francis Carco is telling how the Catalan painter, Ramon Pichot was able to buy this small house sitting at the corner of rue de l'Abreuvoirand rue des Saules:

: “ With his long and lean figure like a genuine Quichotte, Pichot showed up wearing white espadrilles: In an antique shop, he found a painting by Zurbaran and sold it at a very high price. Without being that much surprised by his luck, he bought a small house at the corner with rue de l'Abreuvoir and painted its humble facade with a bright candy pink paint. “

Still today, much to our delight, we can enjoy this candy pink house which inspired Utrillo in 1909.

Rue de l'abreuvoir

Rue de l’abreuvoir
Atget 1899
(BNF)

A French writer, Pierre Mac Orlan, who had a passion for cinema and photography, lived rue de l'Abreuvoir. I cannot help, but think, to this writer who wrote the following in 1930 about Atget:

"Once by chance I met le père Atget.He was at that moment selling some pictures of boutiques and prostitutes to serve as documents for artists. This old man of the theatre was impenetrable. In the first place because no one or either him sought to understand the profound value of his work. Atget was a man of the street, an artisan poet of the Paris cross roads. He did not announce his work by a song, but one saw his upright silhouette, a little stooped, carrying a camera on tripod, there between the greengrocer, the chair caner and the goat herd and his Pan pipe. The models were welcoming him with friendship. He was working and was enjoying the sight of his work with a tenderness which could be compared with Douanier Rousseau's, allowing that, however, Atget was a man of education, which means fully aware of resources of the instruments and technique he was using (…). For most of us, Atget's Paris is now a memory with already a mysterious sensitivity. He is worth all the books written on this matter. Probably, he will allow others to be written."(Atget's seven albums – Molly Nesbit).

At the end of rue de l’Abreuvoir, we arrive on the small Dalida square, where a bronze bust of the singer is attracting the hands of passers-by, either convinced to get from it some magical power or otherwise getting the illusion to caress the tits of a star …

Let's stop on this square, in front of Chateau des Brouillards (Castel of Mists). In the past, there were mists formed by steams coming out of the surrounding springs at the contact of fresh air. This suggested to the writer Mac-Orlan the title of his novel “Quai des Brumes” (Port of Shadows) located in Montmartre, notably at the cabaret Lapin Agile. The novel was later adapted by the filmmaker Marcel Carné who transposed the Montmartre setting to the port city of Le Havre.

Now let's walk down the stairs of rue Girardon which leads to the Constantin-Pecqueur square.

From Constantin Pecqueur square, we will turn on our right in rue Saint-Vincent.

Rue des Saules - Cabaret du Lapin Agile

When walking up rue Saint-Vincent, you will see the cabaret du Lapin Agile in front of you at the corner with rue des Saules.
You cannot miss this country house with the green fence. In 1880, the caricaturist André Gill painted its sign board which shows a cheerful rabbit jumping out of a pan. From initially le Lapin à Gill (Gill's rabbit), the name of the cabaret attended by all the bohemian artists of that time became le Lapin Agile (the agile rabbit).
Initially, it was a small bar which successively got two suggestive names: Au rendez-vous des Voleurs (the thieves den),  then Cabaret des Assassins (the murderers cabaret). It became better known when it was bought by the singer Aristide Bruant who put in charge Frédé, a cabaret artist too. Until the first World War, this place became the favorite spot of all the local painters and poets, like the artists living and painting at the Bateau-Lavoir: Picasso, Juan Gris, Braque, Max Jacob, …

However,lets' not imagine a sweet country place; at this time, Montmartre was an underworld of ruffians and gangs. Frédé's son was shot dead behind the bar, reminding the first spooky name of the cabaret. Hence, in his memoir book, the writer Mac-Orlan gives a long list of murdered cabaret regulars.

Rue Saint-Vincent

The large garden around Aristide Bruant's house, behind the high wall on Atget's photo was later replaced by the vineyard. From the portrait painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, we can easily imagine him walking in this street, his large boots treading the cobblestones and standing in front the Lapin Agile, wrapped up in his large black cloak and his red scarf, with his large wide brim hat.

Today the vineyard of Montmartre has replaced his garden. Next the vineyard there is the garden Saint-Vincent, more a wild place than a city garden, with a pond home to toads, tall and wild grass and  understory vegetation. May be on misty winter evenings, it is visited by the ghosts celebrated in Bruant’s songs, like some bohemian artists, or poor boys and girls:

She already worked to live
and on frosted nights
in the dark and freezing cold
her little scarf on her shoulders
she returned home by Saules street
Saint-Vincent street
Saint-Vincent street – Aristide Bruant - (translation Zathan)

Rue des Saules

Rue des Saules
Atget – 1899
(BNF)

In front of us at the corner of rue des Saules with rue Saint-Vincent, the vineyard of Clos Montmartre, created in 1933 is sloping down between the Musée de Montmartre and le Lapin Agile, where, in the past there was the large garden of the house where Aristide Bruant lived, at N°10-12, rue des Saules.

Of course, this North facing slope was not selected for its exposure to the sun, but is rather resulting from an action against a real property project. Under the influence of Francisque Poulbot with support of the Republic of Montmartre, it was decided to plant vines in order to perpetuate the old wine growing tradition.

The last time I was walking there, three employees of the city department in charge of the gardens in Paris were pruning the vine, put under the control of an oenologist and a wine grower. When it is time to harvest the grapes of Gamay and Pinot noir, they are taken into the basement of the 18th district city hall where the wine pressing and bottling are done.

Now let's take rueCortot on our left.

Rue Cortot

On the left in the the old house  there is the Musée Montmartre about which I have read many lukewarm reviews.
For me, even though the paintings do not reach the quality that you can get in other famous Parisian museums and even though some rooms may have a limited interest to distinguished learned people, I find it rather attractive in the way it tells about the life in the old Montmartreand its artists.
You will find some pictures about the Paris Commune in 1871, great photos, an old bistro from rue de l'Abreuvoir, the Chat Noir Theatre shadows, the studio apartment where the painter Suzanne Valadon lived with her son Maurice Utrillo. Many other artists like Renoir, Raoul Dufy lived in this old house. You will also enjoy the peaceful and charming garden above the vineyard.

The musician Erik Satie lived for eight years, between 1890 and 1898 in this house on the left, where he composed several pieces of music, like the Gnossiennes.
Very likely because of his short and stormy passion with her neighbor Suzanne Valadon,he wrote Vexations, an incredible piece: a repetitive theme to be played 840 times in succession which according to the speed at which the pianist is playing can last between fourteen and twenty-four hours!

At the end of the street the strange crenellated building is in fact a water tower, the second one built in Montmartre in 1921; the first one was built in 1835 rue Norvins is today the Commandery of Clos Montmartre. Its architecture, like the water reservoir built in 1887, goes well with the architecture of the basilica. The power station on Saint-Pierre square at the foot of the stairs leading to the Sacré-Coeur, is supplying the water reservoir with a capacity of eleven thousand cubic meters.

It is nice to take a break at the small public garden around the water tower where you will mainly meet employees of the Paris Water department in charge of the control and maintenance of the water tower. The public garden is in honor to Claude Charpentier who played a key role in the protection of Parisian historic districts as part of Malraux law. In 1978, he led the restoration of the Bateau-Lavoir after its destruction by a fire in 1970.