Swirling Stairs

This is the exit stairway  from the second floor of the large Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris, which we visited this afternoon.  She was one of most successful and fashionable portrait painters of her time, living from 1755 to 1842. 

A favorite of Marie-Antoinette and the French royal family before the French Revolution, Vigée Le Brun came under bitter attack as it progressed, and had to leave Paris in1789 for a dozen years, traveling from Italy to Germany and finally Russia. Her success only grew as she moved from city to city, and she returned to Paris in 1812 to great acclaim. The show is comprehensive and thorough, but ultimately monotonous, as her style barely evolved. But we were glad to arrive for its last few days.  Its next stop is the Met in New York, where we will have a chance to see it again