Beyond its formal entrance, most of the museum is in an ancient cloister
The Museum of Art and History of Saint-Denis is a bit hard to describe: It's in an ancient convent once headed by a sister of the King of France, and that story is prominent. It's in a city long known as the 'capital' of Paris's 'Red Belt' of communist-voting towns, and that's reflected. And, of course, there's a bit of local pride reflected in paintings of the town by more or less famous artists.
The exhibits start with a selection of the city's archaeological and medieval artifacts, in rooms whose beams identify them as artifacts themselves.
The town itself is just north of the ring highway that surrounds Paris. It's easy to reach on the Metro, and is only a short ride or walk from the Gothic cathedral that is the burial place of France's royalty and the colorful and active market that reflects Saint-Denis's heavily-immigrant population.
The museum also focuses on surrealist poet Paul Elouard. Interestingly, one of the few aspects of Saint-Denis's life and history that is not especially visible in the museum is the late 20th-century arrival of immigrants, mainly from Africa.
The art collection is focused on images of Saint-Denis, or by artists connected with the city. Among those represented are Corot, Caillebotte and Monet, as well as earlier artists such as Giuseppe Canella and Gabriel Prieur and more recent pieces such as the 1952 painting just above.
Among the religious displays are objects connected with Louise de France, a daughter of Louis XV who became a Carmelite sister at Saint-Denis and later its head; she's known for spending endless hours on her father's visits trying "to bring the King back to God." In her last days, in 1785, a new chapel was built; in the 19th century it was converted to a courthouse; that's the museum entrance marked 'Justice de Paix.'
Another room is devoted to the work of Francis Jourdain, a painter and designer not from Saint-Denis but tuned to left politics. His writings attacked luxury and ostentatious living, while his designs, intended for working families, emphasized simplicity and functionality.
Before World War II, he was Secretary General of the World Committee Against War and Fascism, along with prominent artists and writers including Andre Malraux, John Dos Passos and Heinrich Mann.
For me, my favorite part of the museum is the extensive section that covers the last years of the Second Empire, the regime of Napoleon III. Cartoons above lampoon his increasing arrogance and the corruption of his regime, mocking prominent figures of the time.
After Napoleon's and France's defeat in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, France was proclaimed a republic and many saw it as an opportunity to sweep away the remnants of the former regime—but many of them still held offices in the new government.
In Paris, where the local National Guard had defended the city, and where many of the militiamen and local citizens had become radical and wanted more change. In March, they proclaimed a radical citizen government, the Paris Commune, which ran the city for two months, making many progressive changes before being violently suppressed.
Fighting at the barricades in Paris, May 1871, and execution of thousands of Communards during 'Bloody Week,' commemorated in the painting below.
While France has long since been able to juggle admiration for Louis XIV and the Ancien Regime with loyalty to the Revolution and love for Napoleon, it seems still not able to easily address the Commune. Saint-Denis is the only museum I've visited that takes a neutral or positive view toward it.
And, it has two pictures that amuse me every time I see them. Gustave Courbet, a painter who was never loathe to publicize himself, was an art official of the Commune, and supervised the removal of Napoleon's statue from the column in the Place Vendome. A satirical cartoonist then placed Courbet on the column.
After the Commune, Courbet was jailed, fined and ultimately ordered to pay 300,000 francs to rebuild the monument. He left France and spent his last years in Switzerland.
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