When we bade adieu to Alsace this morning and headed off for Lorraine we weren’t counting on snow! Thankfully, it didn’t stick to the roads and it did pretty-up the drive to Nancy. We had spent the night here in twenty-eleven but hadn’t even known about Villa Majorelle, the first Art Nouveau building in France—we weren’t even familiar with Antonio Gaudi or Victor Horta back then. Today we were satisfied just to walk around the outside and take in all its flowing lines, ornate ironwork and stained-glass. even the chimneys reminded us of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia.
We also skipped Nancy’s Musée des Beaux Artes on our last visit and just took a walk around the Palace Stanislas where it is house. A special exhibit of Daum crystal had caught Connie’s eye. Established around 1900 at the beginning of Art Nouveau period by Nancy’s Daum family, père et fils, Daum became one of France’s premier glass works. We would have needed Fiona Bruce (“Antiques Roadshow”) to put all of the pieces we saw into context. But for me, just admiring the shapes and colors and delicacy was enough. And even without Fiona’s help we were able identify one piece made by our favorite, Dale Chihuly.
We checked out some of the other art on display. Most wasn’t our style but we could easily spot works by Modigliani, Manet, Picasso and, of course, Monet. Another piece that caught my eye was by Louis Majorelle, he of the Art Nouveau Villa. It really is a small world.
