I returned to the cemetary in search of Kandinsky’s grave (see my previous post) and, like last Saturday, I was the only person there. It was blazing hot. SO HOT that after half an hour I had to leave. But not without taking a few more photos. In the end, I never did find Kandinsky’s final resting place.
I find this man’s optimism, as expressed through his work, supremely uplifting.
Wassily Kandinsky, who was born in Moscow in December 1866 and died in France in December 1944, was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. Credited with painting the first purely abstract works, he went on to become the master of abstract expressionism. His work is hung in museums and public art galleries worldwide.
In 1896 Kandinsky settled in Munich and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. He returned to Moscow in 1914, after the outbreak of World War I. Kandinsky was unsympathetic to the official theories on art in Communist Moscow, and returned to Germany in 1921. There, he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until the Nazis closed it in 1933. He then moved to France where he lived for the rest of his life, becoming a French citizen in 1939 and producing some of his most prominent art. He died in 1944.
The optimism just shines through his work here, not to mention his spirit of playfulness and freedom, liberated from the traditional constraints of the past. (This painting is titled Several Circles (1926) and can be found in New York City’s Guggenheim Museum).
Below are random photos of the cemetary – these yellow flowers are ceramic.
I can’t think of a more touching tribute of a husband’s love for his wife. Evelyne died at the age of 56. Emiliano, ten years her senior, will be buried beside her when he dies. To my adored wife, love is stronger than death, I will love you for eternity.
What is CT, I wonder. Some sort of sect or secret society?
And this is about as colourful as it gets here in autumn, at least in Paris and the outlying burbs. I miss the dramatic autumn colours of Canada.
Juliet in Paris
you have a wonderful eye and write very well indeed. thank you for your posts . please keep up the good work
Thanks, Russell. We’re enjoying beautiful weather here; don’t know how long it will last.
Hello, Juliet! Thank you for nice blog and great photos. I found your blog during google search for info how to find the tomb of Kandinsky. As you have not found it yet, I am sending you one link (http://kajipon.sakura.ne.jp/haka/h-f-gaka2.htm) where are photos of it and I hope that one photo could help to find it – there is a reference no. of the row – no. 53. In case you find it, please post with confirmation as I am going to visit Paris this summer and would like to visit Kandinky’s rest place as well.
Kind regards from Vilnius, Tomas
Dear Tomas,
Well, that Japanese link that you sent was very helpful because I can see that the cemetary where Kandinsky is resting is not where I thought it was, but rather in neighbouring Courbevoie behind La Défense (I can see it in the Japanese photo).
So what you have to do is take the metro line number 1 to the end of the line (La Défense station) and then somehow make your way to the OLD Courbevoie cemetary.
This is very helpful. Thank you so much for the link and your comments.
Hope you enjoy your visit to Paris this summer! If I can help with any other info about Paris, don’t hesitate to contact me. I hope during your visit that you’re planning to visit also the famous and beautiful cemetary Montparnasse in the 14th arrondissement. Père Lachaise is also nice.
Best regards,
Juliet
Dear Juliet,
Thank you for your reply. Just to double check – do photos from another link (http://ibmi.mf.uni-lj.si/janez/index.php/sl/grobovi) confirm japanese photos location?
Kind regards,
Tomas
P.S. Photos are at the very end of this new link
Gee Tomas,
This is indeed interesting. I must have gone to the Neuilly cemetary (the one that’s posted on my blog) at least 3 times and I walked all over looking for Kandinsky. And every time I went, it was very very hot. But I never found it.
But you have confirmed that what they call the New Communal Cemetary is not in Neuilly sur Seine, but in Courbevoie which is, as I mentioned earlier, behind La Défense.
Location Information
Neuilly-sur-Seine New Communal Cemetery is at Courbevoie, 4 kilometres north-west of the Porte Maillot.
It is tucked into the 90°corner between the Boulevard Aimee Cesairc and the much smaller Rue de Vimy, where you can park to get in to the back entrance to the Cemy. Coming from the centre of Paris, one drives in the direction of La Defense and picks up the signs to Puteaux when you get to La Defense. These take you in an arc around La Defense, and once you have the huge arch behind you and going straight, you are probably in the Boulevard Aimee Cesaire with the signs to the Cerny coming up and pointing right into the Rue de Vimy.
Thanks for this info!
Juliet