SCHOOL'S OUT

Fin des cours

To mark that today is the last day of classes for French school children we're posting a photo of one more example of the charming trompe l'oeil murals painted by students and professors of the École d'Art Mural de Versailles on utility boxes around Versailles. 

©2017 P.B. Lecron

IN ALL MANNER OF WAYS

More accolades for the Ecole d'Art Mural de Versailles. Another public utility box planted on city sidewalks has been transformed into an urban landmark in trompe l'œil, à l'Arcimboldo. This one is in the Montreuil neighborhood, formerly a village that bordered Versailles. Gieuseppe Arcimboldo, undeniably a forefather of surrealism,  was a 16th-century Italian mannerist. 

France's national school of horticulture, founded in 1874, has for its digs a choice plot of ground: le Potager du Roi, i.e., the nine-hectare (about 22 acres) King's Vegetable Garden on the domain of the Château de Versailles. 

Vocabulary

un trottoir:  a sidewalk

un potager:  a vegetable or kitchen garden

un hectare:  a measure equivalent to about two-and-one-half acres

©2013 P.B. Lecron

SNACK TIME

Another example of Versailles beautiful: unattractive utility boxes transformed into a decorative landmark near a kindergarten and a Montessori school. With encouragement from a poodle, children disguised as Pierrot have a snack. The mural is one of many realized around Versailles by its Ecole d'Art Mural.

Vocabulary
grignoter:  to snack
un goûter:  a snack
goûter:  to taste
l'heure de goûter:  snack time
un caniche:  a poodle


©2013 P.B. Lecron

VERSAILLES BEAUTIFUL

Bike lanes here have dramatically improved since Versailles' bicycling and dynamic mayor, François de Mazières took office in 2008. What you see along the bike paths has, too. Ugly utility boxes throughout the town are being systematically transformed, free of charge, into trompe l'oeil works of art by the Ecole d'Art Mural de Versailles in a beautification project partnered with the mayor's office. More photos to come...

Vocabulary

à titre grâcieux:  free of charge

embellir:  to make more attractive