MAD in Paris

What would you get if you crossed the  V & A with the Design Museum? It would be MAD; the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Surprisingly I had never been until this week. Of course it is closed on Mondays and someone needs to write a guide book for visitors to Paris. It could be called Tell Me on a Monday. MAD is in the NW wing of the Louvre and almost as popular as the museum so booking is essential. Top tip: arrive fifteen minutes after the entry time on your ticket and walk in, punctuality guarantees joining a long queue.

“The museum’s holdings range back to 13th-century Europe. Today’s collection is primarily composed of French furniture, tableware, carpets such as those from Aubusson, porcelain such as that by the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, and many glass pieces by René Lalique, Émile Gallé and many others. It includes numerous works in the Art Nouveau and Art Déco styles and modern examples by designers like Eileen Gray and Charlotte Perriand. Pieces by Camille Fauré can also be found in the permanent collection.

The period rooms are of interest to the public, with examples including part of Jeanne Lanvin’s house (decorated by Albert-Armand Rateau [1884–1938] in the early 1920s) at 16 rue Barbet-de-Jouy in Paris. Others are graphic artist Eugène Grasset’s dining room of 1880, and the 1752 Gold Cabinet of Avignon. There is also the 1875 bedroom of courtesan Lucie Émilie Delabigne, purportedly the inspiration for the main character in Émile Zola’s novel Nana (1880).” (Wikipedia)

Of course I didn’t see everything but I did see my kettle and some carriages from the Orient Express.