Paris || Art Ateliers || 59 RIVOLI

 In Paris, there's this magical and inspiring place where artists can express themselves and can share their creations with the people. On one fine Tuesday afternoon, we went to this magical place...called 59 RIVOLI.

The 59 RIVOLI ateliers were my absolute favourites from the whole Paris trip. First, we went to rue de Rivoli for some shopping, but we stopped when we saw this funny and decorated entrance (picture on the left). We didn't know what it meant and I became really curious and really wanted to know what was inside. So we went in and oh boy, that was one of the best decisions I took that week! Inside, there were little ateliers where artists were working on their creations. We were given the opportunity to get a little peek in their ateliers to see how they were working. We talked with some artists and they were all very humble and kind. Most of them approved us taking photographs, so I'm going to share a lot of them with you guys!

You might think: what's so special about this place? Well, please let me explain. The WHOLE building was painted from the inside as well! So not only the canvasses of the artists were showing masterpieces, even the stairs, the walls, the doors and the floors did. Everywhere you looked, little babies were showing up and colorful portraits were looking down at you. Didn't matter if you entered an atelier or if you were walking the stairs, drawings and doodle were EVERYWHERE.

(Excuse me for the blurry photographs, I was so excited, I bounced from place to place and didn't even took some time to take a steady photograph...)

It felt like you were walking through an old art home, filled with dreams and thoughts from explorers who came there before you did. I wished we had stayed there longer, so I could take a good look at all these beautiful creations.                         It was a home port for creative souls, who needed to express themselves or just wanted to get as many inspiration as they could get. We even talked with a Dutch man who was staying there. He was an artist himself, but didn't own an atelier in this building. He told us he had lived in Utrecht for some time and walked from Utrecht to Paris in only 23 days. Now he was giving a friend of him a hand, because she was moving her atelier so somewhere else. He looked like a homeless person, but he was so kind and funny and even showed us some art he made himself (picture on the right). I was impressed by his appearance. Not in a bad way, but I was impressed about his whole 'aura'. This man looked like he didn't even need food or a home to be happy, if he could just draw and be content about himself.

While walking through this giant treasury, I couldn't stop thinking of the trend Escapism. This was a home port for people who needed to escape from the society in which they where growing up. In this building, it felt like there didn't excist any other world than the world created in it. It was like everything was happy and fortunate and you didn't had to worry about jobs or money. And then it hit me! This...this was a home port for broken souls. People, broken from stress, crisis and other issues could just come in and forget about all their shit. For the little hour we spent there, I felt like I could take the world. Everything in there was amazing and inspiring and I wasn't even aware of a whole other world which was happening outside.

But when we passed by one atelier, I understood it completely. This was a room, not filled with drawings, paintings or little sculptures. No, it was filled with junk. All kind of junk; old coins, empty soda cans, tyres, old clothes, you name it, placed in this room by an artist or travelers who passed by this room.

This little piece completed my puzzle. This was not only about Escapism, this was about Stress Society as well. Secretly, this whole art home was created for people who didn't know what to do anymore. They could get shelter at this home. In this little room, filled from top to bottom, I understood it. This room symbolized the society as it is today. It's a mess. We don't know what's valuable anymore or what isn't, so we decide to just keep it all. We want to hold on to things that aren't important anymore and we can't decide what to do with situations we aren't comfortable with. It made me sad for a moment, but when I realised that this could give shelter to some people, then I guess there are other solutions for other problems.

If you're ever going to Paris, please visit 59 RIVOLI. It will open a whole new world for you and it's so inspiring you can't get to sleep that same night (true story).

Please visit their Facebook page for more inspiration.

(Source: Photographs taken by me)