Artists’ Open House in Belleville

‘Portes Ouvertes’ or Open House sponsored by artists in various neighborhoods allows visitors as well as Paris residents an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the artist’s world.

From May 11to 14th, 250 artists will be opening their studios to visitors from 3 pm to 9 pm. in the Belleville district of Paris. The studios are interspersed among several arrondissements including the 20th, 19th, 10th and 11th arrondissements. The theme for the open house will be recyclable materials. In addition to art, be sure to check out the music on Friday night and the fashion show on the 12th 10 pm, Place Maurice Chevalier in the 20th. Check parisinfo.com for English info.

Although I haven’t yet attended the Belleville Portes Ouvertes, I have gone to the 14th arrondissement Portes Ouvertes which is usually held in June. There’s always too many studios to visit and too little time - i’m sure this holds true for the Belleville open house as well.

To be honest - even though i used to au pair in Belleville neighborhood (and lived there briefly for one summer) it’s on my list of places with which i’d like to become better acquainted. You may want to check out MA Shumin’s post on www.paris.org.

She’s an ex-Montparno and she made some very valid comments about how some districts of Paris get an undeservedly bad rep. To begin with, the Belleville area has the hilly Parc Buttes Chaumont with its twisty-turny paths creeping up to rocky promontories. Very Romantic 19th century. You expect girls wearing ribbons and filmy muslin dresses running barefoot through the dell - but you won’t!

I have walked through other portions of Belleville which I find to be less inspiring, simply because a number of sections were ‘modernized’ in the past thirty years, but that’s also true for Montparnasse. Going to a ‘Portes Ouvertes’ is not only a good chance to what’s brewing in Paris’s northeast hotbed of the avant garde - but also to become more familiar with Belleville.
Ever since the movie The Triplets of Belleville appeared, I can’t separate the image of three old women, frogs and bicycles whenever I pronounce the world (even though that was supposed to be a completely different place called Belleville).