Paris--A City Of Impressionists' Art & Dreams Transformed

"A migrant sleeps inside the makeshift camp in the 19th district of Paris, France, 03 November 2016."
www.neweurope.eu

Above is a photograph from the article entitled Migrants, refugees camp in central Paris  dated November 4, 2016, published by New Europe. [1]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir who painted Bal du moulin de la Galette  in 1876, [2] and Le Déjeuner des canotiers  circa 1881, [3] Gustave Caillebotte who painted Rue de Paris, temps de pluie  in 1877, [4] and Claude Monet who painted Rue Saint-Denis, fête du 30 juin 1878  in 1878 [5] (see below) could not have imagined the different cheerful hues of blue, green and orange tents that would dot the sophisticated Parisian cityscape in 2016 would be less cheerful than almost a century and a half ago.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir  Bal du moulin de la Galette
(1786)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir  Le déjeuner des canotiers
(1880-1881)

Gustave Caillebotte Rue de Paris, temps de pluie
(1877)

Claude Monet Rue Saint-Denis, fête du 30 juin 1878
(1878)

Quoted below is part of the article [6]:

According to Reuters, many of the migrants camped out along Stalingrad’s boulevards are Africans fleeing war and poverty. Some arrived in Paris from Calais, other spent time in other European countries and deciding their best chances of a better future lay in France. 

In a separate report, NBC News online noted that tents have appeared on boulevards and squares across the French capital, including areas frequented by tourists such Place de la Republique and the banks of the River Seine. 

There are also around 900 migrants are being housed at a disused high school in the area, according to a non-profit support group, Bureau d’Accueil et d’Accompagnement des Migrants (BAAM).

 A local store owner told Le Figaro newspaper that residents were no longer buying groceries locally because the area had become “unhealthy” and said his business could become unviable.

City officials say the numbers sleeping in the area have swollen by about a third since the October 25 demolition of Calais’ camp, where more than 6,500 refugees were camped in the hope of sneaking aboard trucks and trains travelling through the tunnel under the English Channel to Britain.

What is surprising is that the tents were not permitted in the spacious plaza in front of the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris [7] (see below) even though the Catholic church is supposed to embrace poverty.  Even Socialist Party President François Hollande, a Catholic turned agnostic turned atheist [8] who in 2015 said that "his country would accept 30,000 Syrian refugees over next two years" [9] had "vowed to clear out the Paris camp, saying France can no longer accept such migrant settlements. But it's unclear whether the government can prevent new camps from surfacing in Paris or Calais, especially as Europe's migrant crisis persists." [10]

Notre Dame de Paris
aviewoncities.com

While poor and homeless migrants were being swept off the streets of Paris (see below) [11], why were the sisters and brothers of Missionaries of Charity whose founder Teresa of Kolkata was recently canonized a saint so invisible and so silent where they were needed when "[h]undreds of Missionaries of Charity sisters attended the [canonization] event" at the Vatican on September 4, 2016, [12]?  Is there no one at "Missionaires de la charité, Rue Folie-Méricourt 62, F-75011 Paris, France?" [13]

"Migrants collect clothes as they move through a migrant makeshift camp, in Paris, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Police and city officials are clearing out hundreds of migrants camped out on sidewalks in northern Paris in a camp that recently grew into a new challenge for the French government."
nbclosangeles.com

If only hypocrisy can come in unique colors than can be put onto an artist's palate and transferred to a canvas by a master painter of dreams and impressions, then the image can be framed and displayed next to the photograph of certain canonized saints to remind their admirers of Heaven's non-negotiable, unequivocal and inalterable Truths.


[1] https://www.neweurope.eu/article/migrants-refugees-camp-central-paris/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_du_moulin_de_la_Galette
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luncheon_of_the_Boating_Party; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_D%C3%A9jeuner_des_canotiers
[4] https://learnodo-newtonic.com/10-most-famous-impressionist-paintings
[5] http://mbarouen.fr/en/oeuvres/rue-saint-denis-celebration-of-30th-june-1878
[6] https://www.neweurope.eu/article/migrants-refugees-camp-central-paris/
[7] http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/notredame.htm
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Hollande
[9] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/18/france-says-it-will-take-30000-syrian-refugees-while-u-s-republicans-would-turn-them-away/
[10] http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/After-Calais-French-Authorities-Clear-Migrant-Camps-in-Paris--399963101.html
[11] Ibid.
[12] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37269512
[13] http://www.corpuschristimovement.com/french/contacts/actives.html