Day 6, Friday, September 5, 2025
It always takes me awhile to feel comfortable drawing when we are on holidays, and as I hadn’t done any drawing for almost a month before we left, I really had a hard time getting started. While we were sitting in Notre Dame during Vespers yesterday I finally took the plunge. 
Then riding home the metro I did these quick sketches.
Friday we managed to start our day at noon. Soon we were at the Eiffel Tower. Somehow it doesn’t seem right to be in Paris and not visit this iconic landmark, even though we have visited it several times already including climbing to the second level. We will try and book a visit on our return to Paris at the end of our trip to go all the way to the very top level! These tickets book up weeks ahead.
Two years ago we picnicked on the grass near here, but there were not nearly as many people as there are today.
We found a bench in the shade away from the crowds to eat our lunch and watched as seven military personnel complete with machine guns approach on the path in front of us. I held up my phone to take photo and the leader signalled towards me with his finger…then one of the men following him came over to tell us that we were not allowed to take photos. I wonder if they do not want photos of their faces published anywhere…so after they passed and we were walking behind them I snapped this one. France is on high alert right now, but these are the first fully armed military we have seen this trip.
One more view of the Eiffel Tower, looking towards the bridge across Seine behind it. There are people everywhere, enjoying the sunshine. The first time we visited we could walk right under the four massive legs but now this area is all closed off behind glass panels and everyone who wants to get close has to go through a security checkpoint which includes bag checks and full body scan, just like at the airports.
It is a 45 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower to the Bourdelle Museum. On the way we pass the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. You can still see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
Just a bit further we pass this hotel that has trees and shrubs growing all over it. I wonder what happens when they outgrow their planters?
There are all sorts of interesting building in Paris. As we near the museum we pass this car park, completely panelled in brilliant colours.
The museum dedicated to Antoine Bourdelle is free. We first find the cafe and have some tea and cookies. It felt good to just sit and relax for a while. Bourdelle was a student of Rodin and after Rodin’s death Bourdelle dominated the field of monumental sculpture. We see many examples of these monumental sculptures. The museum is at the site of Bourdelles original studio. As he became successful he added more rooms and gardens until it appeared much as it does today. 
One of the studios has this huge study for a hand.
Bourdelle was 50 years old when he finally became successful thanks to his Hercules the Archer statue. It represents the Greek hero wielding his bow to shoot down the Stymphalian birds. Copies of this sculpture were created in three versions and are in numerous museums in France and abroad. 
There is a room full of magnificent sculptures…
and there are more sculptures in the gardens and courtyards. Can you see Sue? (short for souris which means mouse in French). Since this little green mouse stowed away in our luggage she insists on coming along with us on our travels.
Sue is very curious and likes to check thing out for herself.
There are two of these huge horse sculptures at the museum. 
Bob sits in one of the gardens to read for a bit and I sketch one of the sculptures close by named Penelope, a larger than life size bronze of one of the wives of Odysseus, who waited faithfully for her husband to return. Bourdelle used the features of two women who loved him, he generous curves of his first wife, Stéphanie Van Parys, and the posture of his student, Cléopâtre Sevastos, the muse who would become his second wife. 
After our visit to the museum. I went to a Drink and Draw session nearby and Bob headed for home. Here are the drawings from my first life drawing session this trip.
2 minute poses and one 5 minute pose…
two more 5 minute poses…
two 5 minute and one 10 minute pose…
and a 15, a 10 and a 25 minute pose. 
Ada is our model tonight, and I am sure that I recognize her from a previous life drawing session in Paris. She thinks that she recognizes me too! but we are unable to figure out where I might have drawn her before. I will have to check my other holiday sketchbooks when I get home. I take the metro and get home at 10:00. Bob meets me at our metro stop and carries my art stuff home for me…I am pooped…it was a ten hour 15,000 steps day!
Bob did a bit of exploring today but it was a cool day and he didn’t take very many photos. The Pont Alexandre III is considered the most beautiful bridge in Paris. The glass domed building is the Grand Palais. It was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition and houses many of Paris’s large scale exhibitions and events. I haven’t been inside yet, and I don’t suppose we will have time this trip…another trip to Paris is definitely in order!
Success, we got our tickets! Here is the inside of the Opera House. 
A view of the stage, orchestra pit and some of the seating.
This is where we will be standing, at the very back right up under the ceiling!
The ballet is Peter Gynt. This is 
It was a long time to stand but there was a railing to lean on and the ballet was interesting so the time went by fairly quickly. When I draw I tend to lose track of the time anyway. 
At the first intermission a lot of people standing in the two rows in front of us left. We were able to move to the front of the standing section and had a clear view of the stage, instead of looking between the shoulders of the people in front of us.
Bob’s assessment at the end of the evening was “Well, it only took 2 1/2 hours for them (the two lead characters) to die!” When we went to an opera in Barcelona he commented “It took 3 hours for her (the heroine) to die!
By the time we get down to the main lobby there is just time for a quick photo of the grand entrance staircase…
and one of us, reflected in a mirror. Everyone is chased out of the building fairly quickly after the performance. 
There are lots of lights on the street outside the Opera House where we catch the metro home.
‘Mother and Child’ is a well known painting. I do love how expressive Schiele’s hands are.
Schiele’s 1912 ‘Self Portrait with Chinese Lanterns’ was painted as a companion piece for the ‘Portrait of Wally Neuzil’ who was his muse and partner from 1911 to 1915. Both these paintings have a gentleness and sensitivity not found in all his work. I like these very much.
Quite different from this self portrait completed the same year. Schiele was born in 1890 and died in 1918. He was only 28 years old when he died, yet he created over 3,000 works on paper and around 300 paintings! I wonder what he would have accomplished if he had lived longer. He died during the Spanish Flu Epidemic, just three days after his six month pregnant wife Edith.
‘Reclining Woman’ was bigger than I expected. Originally the woman’s genitals were exposed but Schiele added the white cloth covering in order to be able to show the work at an exhibition in Vienna in 1918.
There are several landscapes, and most of them are quite large.
‘The Small Town IV’…
and ‘House With Shingled Roof’ were two that I particularly liked. Although Schiele only painted for such a short time, his work laid the foundations for the Viennese Expressionist movement as well as inspiring other future movements, such as Abstract Impressionism.
‘The Blind Man’ was first exhibited in 1898.
‘Death and Life’ won the Gold Medal at the 1911 International Art Exhibition in Rome. This painting and ‘The Kiss’, that I saw at the Belvedere, are two of Klimt’s most well known paintings. I feel very fortunate to have seen both of them in person, as well as all the other amazing works of art I have seen on this trip.
As we are leaving the Leopold I notice this painting, which makes both of us laugh! It is by Albert Birkle and is titled ‘Man with Fur Cap’, or ‘My Brother the Animal’!
Near the metro station Bob notices this crane which has just been erected. Neither of us have seen one with so many arms before.
When I saw this building our first day in Vienna I thought it was the Hundertwasser House but it wasn’t. Turns out that it was designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser! It is the Spittelau Incinerator which is used to handle Vienna’s garbage. The environmentally friendly plant produces enough energy to heat more than 60,000 households in Vienna in a year.
I have one more life drawing session tonight at Kaffeebar Quentin. I have attended many life drawing sessions in bars or pubs and the model is always at least partially clothed, so I was quite surprised when our model is completely nude. We are in the back of the bar, but the model is still in full view of all the other patrons as well as anyone who happens to look in the windows. Wish I had a scanner, as it would improve the quality of these photos, but I don’t think I can haul one around on holidays! These are all 5 minute poses.
Two ten minute and one twenty minute drawing…
and we finished the evening with a twenty-five minute pose. The people at this session were very friendly and I had met some of them at the other two sessions this week. I will miss Vienna, they have so many life drawing opportunities. There is a session almost every day of the week, and lots of them have interesting themes. 
No photos are allowed and I was very good and didn’t try to sneak any! It would have been so nice to have a few photos though. These two photos were taken from posters advertising the performances. The stallions are gorgeous! 
I did a bit of sketching during the training and that was OK but it was hard to draw and watch what was going on a the same time. After a bit I decided to just enjoy watching the training session and forget about drawing.
Next stop is the State Hall of the National Library. It is so amazing! It is hard to describe such a magnificent place. The pictures probably do a better job, so here they are. This is our view when we enter the library. We both just stop and stare! This library is nearly 60 metres long and 20 metres high and contains over 200,000 books!
One of the first things we see are these ‘secret’ doors the open into rooms with even more books.
The cases Bob is standing by held illuminated manuscripts. I would have loved to be able to climb one of these ladders and pull a book or two off the shelves.
These are from 1400 and 1260!
The globes have been in this spot since the mid 1700’s.
This statue is in the central oval of the library beneath a painted domed ceiling.
We sit for a while just absorbing the atmosphere.
Looking towards the entrance from where I was sitting…
and towards the back of the library.
The second level is just as ornately decorated as the first. I wish we could have gone there as well, but it was not to be.
One last photo before we leave. Here is 
When we leave the library we pass the Lipizzaner stables.
I zoom in on these two beauties.
We stop at the Minoritenkirche because Bob says it has a mosaic life size replica of The Last Supper.
It appears to be painted on tiled panels rather than being a mosaic made with many small tiles.
We didn’t get to see The Last Supper when we were in Italy. We didn’t know we had to get tickets far in advance, so I guess this is the next best thing.
where there are lots of people sitting enjoying the sunshine.
I was surprised there were so many yellow roses in bloom so late in the year. Do you notice all the little white signs in the background? This is a memorial garden and each rose is planted in memory of a person who has passed away.
It is a beautiful sunny afternoon. Warm for November, but we still need our coats.
We stop at the Naschmarkt for something to eat. This roast pig is for sale by the piece, starting at the back end. Interesting but we decide on something a bit less exotic.
A ten and twenty minute pose.
I think I liked these two 5 minute drawings the best. It was a good night. 
Before we see the Dürer exhibit we visit the other parts of the museum. There are 20 decorated and restored Habsburg State Rooms with precious wall coverings, chandeliers, fireplaces and stoves, inlaid floors, 
The chandeliers in this room were very beautiful.
The most interesting thing in these rooms was the art exhibit on the walls. We have a print of this Hieronymus Bosch drawing at home. Unfortunately the drawings and prints are facsimiles. Very good ones, but facsimiles non-the-less. This is necessary as works on paper are fragile and can not be displayed for long periods of time. 
Now on to the main event!
I took so many photos but have chosen just a few of my favourite ones for today’s post. Here is ‘Three Studies of Dürer’s Left Hand’ 1493/94. I like drawing hands and feet and there is much to learn from Dürer.
This page of studies was so interesting. 
Here is another drawing I have seen so often in books.
‘The Woman’s Bath’ is a pen and ink drawing…
and this ‘Illustration for the Apocalypse’ is a woodcut. Dürer was a master of all mediums.
Dürer’s watercolours are exquisite. This painting is simply titled ‘Iris’.
A watercolour study of a ‘Blue Rolle’r from 1500.
We enter another room and there on the far wall are three famous works. Dürer’s ‘Young Hare’ is only exhibited once every five years for a period of no more than three months. It is just luck that it is on exhibit while we are here. This is another print that we have at home. Bob wishes it was the original!!
‘The Great Piece of Turf’ was painted on the largest piece of paper available at the time to portray the plants life sized.
‘The Wing of a Blue Roller’ is quite amazing. This work is watercolour and body colour on parchment with fine gold lines on the breast plumage to enhance the iridescence of the feathers. There is no one telling visitors to keep a certain distance from the works, so my nose gets up very close!
I liked the study of a bull’s nose too…
and this ‘Columbine”…
and this page of studies. 
OK. I love pretty much everything I see here! This head of an angel and head of twelve year old Jesus are studies for a larger painting …
as is this hand study. It is fascinating to see the studies and then the finished painting.
‘The Praying Hands’ is a well known Dürer image.
I really didn’t know much about Dürer’s oil paintings. I particularly loved this one. The Madonna’s face is so beautiful.
Dürer drawing and woodcut of a rhino were made without his ever having seen a rhinoceros! He drew from a written description of the animal and his imagination.
I have always loved this ‘Portrait of a 93 Year Old Man’. I didn’t know it was done with a brush! 
As we are leaving the museum I see this Modigliani painting ‘Prostitute’. I have always liked Modigliani’s work but haven’t really see very many in person. 
One last photo at the Albertina. Seems I want to sprout wings this trip!
We spent four hours here today and I could easily have spent much more time here but this will have to do. I bought the catalogue for the exhibit. It is huge, and weighs 6.6 pounds! Good thing we are near the end of our trip!
and the beautiful Marble Hall.
I particularly wanted to see Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, but was pleased to find his Judith painting here as well.
The Kiss is one of Klimt’s most well known paintings. It is a large painting, 183 x183 cm.
It is nice to be able to see the painting details up close.
I am also surprised by how many Egon Schiele paintings are on display. It is quite special to be able to see the original paintings of some of my favourite works by these two painters. I didn’t realize that these paintings were so large. Looking at reproductions in books can be deceiving. The Embrace and…. 
the Family are both much bigger than I imagined…
as are these paintings.
Schiele’s Self Portrait is the smallest painting, about 41 x 33 cm.
I didn’t know Jacques-Louis David’s painting of Napoleon was here either. I am so glad I was able to visit this museum. This painting is enormous, 272 × 232 cm!
This painting shows the Vienna Naschmarkt in 1894. It has changed a bit over the years!
We meet up in the gardens outside the Belvedere and then walk towards St. Charles Church. 
There are so many interesting buildings along the way.
We had a huge surprise when we entered St. Charles Church. Two enormous floating mirrored balls that reflected the church…
and us. We are almost in the centre of the reflection but we are very tiny. “Aerocene” is a contemporary art installation by Tomas Saraceno, an Argentinian artist who lives and works in Berlin. The floating reflective balls are 10 and 7 metres in diameter.
Then we notice the scaffolding that goes high up into the dome, and that is where we are going to go! We thought the elevator ride we got a ticket for would be inside a bell tower. Nope! We ride to the top of this scaffolding and then climb a bit further, onto that platform you see leading into one of the round windows in the dome!
Looking down from the top of this ‘elevator’ we notice a workman adjusting lights high up in the dome, yet still far below us!
We have a great view of the dome paintings. It is interesting the way the gold highlights look up this close…
and we have a great view of the other dome paintings. We are crazy high up!
Bob walks back down to this viewing platform so I can get a photo. Notice how he is suspended…nothing below him!
This photo shows the platform that Bob was standing on in the last photo.
We spent quite a lot of time way up there in the dome, and it is getting dark when we get outside. If you look closely you can see some people standing in the round window on the dome. That is the window we were standing in! What an amazing experience. There was restoration work carried out in the dome and the elevator is being kept for a while. The fee to ride up into the dome is a way to make more money for further restorations.
Walking back towards the metro we pass the Opera House…
and take photos of these performers from Tibet. They have a performance later tonight and were taking publicity photos outside the Opera House.
While the men posed, some of the women were busy applying their makeup. 
This is a a huge paper art installation we pass in a walkway near the metro.
A close-up shows lots and lots of writing, musical notations and random marks.
We get home, have dinner, then I head off to a drop-in drawing session with a Meetup group at a pub called Monami.
I had coloured some of the pages in my sketchbook at home before the session. Interesting to draw on but they don’t photograph very well. 
We were pretty much rubbing elbows as we drew and my views weren’t always great but it was lots of fun.
I finished the session with a 20 minute leg study. I felt quite comfortable going out in the evening by myself. The metro is easy to navigate and there were lots of people about.
Here is our model, Bettina, she is very pregnant. How wonderful! It has been ages since I have had the chance to draw a pregnant model so this was an unexpected bonus.
The drawing on the left is mine.
I did a couple sketches to warm up.
Then spent about two hours working on this drawing.
Bob came to pick me up after the session and on the metro ride home I did a bit more sketching.
This was interesting, the older man with the facial hair was sitting right across the aisle from me and he was only on the metro for one stop so I sketched quickly hoped he didn’t notice that I was sneaking peeks at him. The young man with glasses did notice I was drawing him and he smiled at me, I smiled back and he tried not to smile as I continued sketching. As he got up to leave I showed him the sketch and he said something in German, then he smiled and said ciao, so I think he liked it.
These workers are laying paving bricks for a huge plaza. We have not seen poured cement sidewalks or plazas here, they are all made with paving stones. It seems very labour intensive.
The Gemäldegalerie is our first stop today. This museum is near the Berlin Zoo and has one of the world’s leading collections of European paintings from the 13th to the 18th century. The quality of the artwork here is amazing. This is the first painting we see, part of an altar from 1437 telling the story of Jesus on the left, and Mary on the right. The white ‘baseboard’ in the photo comes almost mid-thigh on me, to give you an idea of the scale of the works.
The corner of one painting from 1444 shows two pregnant women, notice the babies depicted on their stomachs. I had never seen this symbolism before.
We both liked the Fountain of Youth by Lucas Cranach, 1546. This is not the style of his work that I am familiar with…
this is! I have always wondered at this artist’s creativity.
Wow!! This painting by Rogier van Der Weyen from 1440 is my absolute favourite of everything we have seen so far this trip. I absolutely love it and wish that the photo was able to convey the impact it has in person. I would have bought a print but it was almost $100 and I worried about getting it home safely. This is a painting I could live with forever.
I am fond of Frans Hals portraits and there was a whole room of them.
This artist must like them too. What a tough way to work though, on a little stool, holding such a large drawing board. I assume the museum does not allow easels.
I am excited to see this Vermeer from across the room, but then..
I notice The Girl with the Pearl Earring. I had no idea the this painting was in this museum. What a lovely surprise.
Anna Dorothea Therbusch, 1721-1782, is one of the few women artists who actually made a living as an artist. This is a self portrait.
There are Caravaggio’s here…
including this Botticellis Venus.
And there are Rembrandts, including these two famous self portraits.
I finally get to see these two tondos in person, the one on the left by Raffael (34″ diameter) and the one on the right by Botticelli (54″ diameter). I particularly like the Botticelli, his Madonnas are always so beautiful.
This was fun! I am so glad we visited the Gemäldegalerie, it was quite amazing.
After a picnic lunch we check out the Kunstgwerbe Museum nearby. I would love to have this beautiful geometry set from the 16th century.
This museum has lots of porcelain, furniture and church treasures, but we walk by all these. It is just too much to absorb.
A few items did catch our eye though. This is an elaborate portable kitchen from 1807, maybe used for camping? All the info is in German, so not sure.
These glazed porcelain figurines were part of a group of 15 that were awarded a gold medal at the 1900 International Exhibition in Paris. 
There was also an exhibit on Afro Hair, with some very different displays.
And finally, an interesting walk through women fashions through the ages.
Whew! and we aren’t finished yet. We catch a bus back across town to visit the oldest church in Berlin but the interior has been updated so much. It wasn’t what we were expecting, but still interesting. For some reason there was a rooster crowing inside the church? No idea what that was about.
We split up, Bob heads to the Bode Museum and I catch the metro to go life drawing. I pass this post with just a few posters wrapped around it on my way to drawing.
trudymason.com 