Montparnasse – A walking tour following the bohemian side of Paris

Montparnasse (in French, Montparnasse) is named after Mount Parnassus, where, according to Greek mythology, the Muses were found. Indeed, during the 20th century, this rather dull and poor neighborhood became the center of French bohemia, where painters, photographers, poets, and politicians gathered and inspired each other.

For a long time now I have wanted to write a walking tour of the Montparnasse neighborhood for you that would help you see where that artistic explosion took place in the first half of the 20th century. However, each time I had another project that made me postpone writing this itinerary. Once it was a project The recommended hotels In Paris and once upon a time these were the pages ofAttractions Or eRestaurants.

However, very recently, Dr. Orna Lieberman Simply a great article about Amedeo Modigliani and Chaim SoutineWhen I read it, I realized that this was it, this project could not be delayed any longer. I put various projects of mine on hold and decided that I would not continue with anything until I finished this itinerary.

So I kept my promise, and here is an itinerary entirely dedicated to the international bohemia that lived in Montparnasse.

Montparnasse itinerary map

La Rotonde Cafe

We will start our tour outside the Vavin metro (line 4). We are at the intersection of the boulevards Montparnasse and Raspaille. Right next to the metro exit you will see the Café La Rotonde, which was established in 1910. It is one of the most famous cafes of Paris And there were bohemians from almost every possible nationality living here. Who didn't live here? The American Henry Miller, who wrote "The Cancer Circle," Pablo Picasso The Spanish and even the Russian Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In short, one of the most cosmopolitan places in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century.

Balzac's statue

After drinking a little coffee at “La Rotonde,” you are invited to cross Boulevard Respaly towards the statue of Balzac.

This statue, created by Auguste Rodin in 1891, was rejected by the French Writers' Association, which commissioned it. They claimed that the figure in the robe (Balzac used to wear a monk's robe when he wrote) was not human. It took people nearly 50 years to understand Rodin's genius, and it was only in 1939 that the statue of Balzac was placed in its current location. Today, this statue is considered one of Rodin's greatest works.

If you would like to learn more about the story of Balzac's statue, I highly recommend reading Dr. Orna Lieberman's article. The Gold and the Clay: The Life Story of Camille Claudel.

Return to Boulevard Montparnasse and go west.

Le Select Cafe

Café Select, located at 99 Boulevard du Montparnasse, opened in 1925 and is named after the Select family to which it belonged. It was one of the first cafes to stay open all night and became especially popular with what Hemingway called “ladies of both sexes.”

Henry Miller, who sat at “La Rotunda,” also loved this cafe and spent quite a bit of time there. Also, if you had come here in the 20s, you would have met Luis Buñuel, one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century.

From this cafe, walk down Boulevard Montparnasse until you reach number 102.

Café la Coupole

This café opened in 1927 and was a complex that combined a café, restaurant and a dance club in the basement. The communist poet Louis Aragaon was a resident here and met his wife Elsa Triolet here in 1928.

In 1929, the famous photographer Man Ray met Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel here, who invited him to watch their film Le chien Andalou. The result was the beginning of the end of the Surrealist movement in literature and its transformation into a movement in cinema and the visual arts.

La Coppola was the favorite cafe not only of the Surrealists but also of Picasso, Jean Cocteau, the painter Moshe Kiesling and Alberto Giacometti (the great Renaissance painter according to Diair Lapid...).

After you've finished admiring the restaurant's interior design (and perhaps having lunch), you're welcome to continue along Boulevard Montparnasse towards number 108.

Café le Dôme

The Café Le Dome opened in 1898 and is one of the oldest cafés in Montparnasse. Lenin and Trotsky used to sit here and plan the revolution, and alongside them sat Henry Miller, Man Ray and the brilliant playwright Samuel Beckett (“Waiting for Godot”). Hemingway also loved to sit here and you can read about this café in his book “A Traveling Feast.”

Over the years, the café has become an expensive restaurant specializing in seafood. You are welcome to sample a cold seafood platter there or continue towards Delambre Street.

Delamber Street from Tsugawaro Fujita to Benny Amdorsky

I don't know of another street in the Montparnasse neighborhood or in Paris in general where almost every house has had a celebrity living or working there. Rue d'Alembert is one such street. When you walk down it, you'll discover that almost every house has a sign showing that some artist lived/wrote/painted/ate/drank/loved here. So let's start walking down the street and I'll try to point out the most important buildings.

Number 5 Tesuguaro Fujita's studio

Here, between 1917 and 1926, stood the studio of Tsuguharu Fujita, the Japanese painter who came to Paris and worked there for most of his life. In his studio, he hosted the artists Amedeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine and Fernand Léger. One of his famous models was Alice Perrin, nicknamed “Kiki of Montparnasse” and who became the lover of the photographer Man Ray.

Number 9 Isadora Duncan's house

Isadora Duncan was one of the most famous dancers in Paris, and during her career she traveled as far as the USSR. When she lived on Rue d’Alembert, she was already well past her prime and in dire financial straits. According to her, “The situation is so bad that I have no idea where the next bottle of champagne will come from…”

When she lived here she gave private lessons to Fujita and died dramatically when her scarf got caught in a car wheel while driving through the city. Nice.

Number 10 Once Hemingway's Bar and Today an Italian Restaurant

Today, the restaurant Auberge de Venise is located here, and if you make a reservation, Through this link, you can get up to 50% off the menu. Previously, the bar Le Dingo was located here, whose name comes from the word Dingue, which in French slang means: crazy.

In 1925, Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald met here for the first time, leading to a years-long acquaintance. The result was that Hemingway wrote the introduction to his book This Must Be the Place: Memoirs of Montparnasse, which became a must-read for anyone interested in the life of Montparnasse's English-speaking bohemian life.

Whether you decide to eat there or not, I highly recommend going into the restaurant and looking at the pictures of all the bohemians who used to sit here. You are guaranteed a nostalgic feast.

Number 11Bis Sartre and Beauvoir's bar

Here stands the Rosebud Bar, where philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir used to meet during the time they lived on the street in two different hotels.

Number 13 Man Ray's Photography Studio

The hotel stands here today. Villa Modigliani However, his parking lot housed Man Ray's first photography studio when he arrived in Paris in 1927.

Number 15 Grand Hotel des Écoles

The day stands here. Hotel Lenox Solid and friendly. However, it used to be a cheap hotel called the Grand Hotel des Écoles, where the poet Tristan Tsara, one of the founders of the Dada movement, lived. Henry Miller lived here alone in 1925 and with his wife between 1928-1930.

Number 35 The Celebrity Hotel of Montparnasse

Hotel Delambre It is undoubtedly one of the most famous hotels in the area thanks to the fact that several famous people have lived there (and thanks to the fact that it is actually not a bad hotel at all).

The first to live here was the painter Paul Gauguin, who moved there in 1891. Later, between 1920 and 1921, André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, lived here after he decided to give up his medical studies and become a poet. To Breton, Montparnasse was an area de triviale and he eventually decided to move to Montmartre, just as all the other artists were doing the opposite route.

The next artist to stay at this hotel, this time in 1927, was Francis Bacon. And finally, it is impossible to know this hotel without mentioning the name of the Israeli singer Benny Amdorsky. Benny came here with his friend Israel Gurion during the 50s and fell in love with the place. Since then, every chance he had, he has chosen to live here. In his poem “Longing for Paris,” he talks about a small hotel in Montparnasse, “I always live there,” and he is referring to this hotel.

After you've finished humming the song, you're welcome to move to Boulevard Edgar Quinet, where on Wednesday and Saturday mornings you can find a colorful street market.

Le Sphinx – the famous brothel of Montparnasse

Here at number 31, the brothel Le Sphinx opened in 1931, which quickly became one of the most luxurious and luxurious brothels in Paris (so luxurious that it was the first building in Paris to have air conditioning). Henry Miller wrote the advertising texts and received the “services of the place” plus a bonus for every new client he brought.

It may seem strange to you, but in those days brothels were an integral part of Parisian life, and on the opening day the mayor of the 14th arrondissement and his wife even graced the place with their presence. And for those who took care of the workers, you will surely be happy to know that they received full social benefits, including a 3-week annual vacation on the French Riviera…

Like all the brothels of Paris, this place was closed in 1946 following a law passed by the National Assembly. Around the 70s, the building was demolished and replaced by an ugly building reminiscent of Holon in its worst days. All you have to do is move to number 14 on the same street.

Le Monocle – Paris' famous lesbian bar

In the basement of building number 14 on Boulevard Edgar Quinet, there was a very famous lesbian bar called the Monocle (a mirror that was inserted into the eye for those who did not want to wear glasses). Only women in elegant masculine attire of a jacket and bow tie were allowed to enter.

After you've finished imagining what it would have looked like there in the evening, you're welcome to cross the street.

Montparnasse Cemetery

Here you will find the entrance to the Montparnasse Cemetery, where many of the members of the interwar Bohemians (and many other famous people) are buried. This cemetery contains so many interesting graves that it would take a separate article to exhaust it. But in the meantime, you are welcome to visit Sartre and Beauvoir or Man Ray’s grave, on whose tombstone is written the immortal phrase “Unconcerned but not Indifferent.”

If you would like to read more about this cemetery and take a tour, you are welcome to read the article. Montparnasse Cemetery – the resting place of intellectuals and artists.

Exit the cemetery towards Boulevard Edgar Quinet and walk towards Boulevard Raspail.

Hotel l'Aiglon The hotel of Buñuel and Sartre

Today Hotel l'Aiglon It is a luxurious four-star hotel that is definitely recommended to stay in. In the 60s, Luis Buñuel lived there and during his stay at the hotel he created some of his famous films such as “Diary of a Chambermaid” or Belle du Jour. From the window of his room you could see the Montparnasse cemetery. Buñuel loved this view that calmed him, but the women he brought to his room, especially Catherine Deneuve, liked it less.

In June 1961, following an assassination attempt on his life, Jean-Paul Sartre moved here and brought his mother with him, whom he placed next to Buñuel's room.

Cross Boulevard Raspail, turn right and then left onto Rue Campagne-Première.

Campagne-Première – Artists' Street

This street was home to quite a few artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to its proximity to their studios on Rue Montparnasse on the one hand and its proximity to the famous cafes on the other. There are several buildings here that are worth looking at.

31bis – Man Ray's Studio

This unique building, built in 1911, was moved into by photographer Man Ray in 1926 and became his main apartment and studio. Note the beautiful ceramics by Alexandre Bigot. He lived here until 1929 with his model and lover Alice Perrin (Kiki de Montparnasse).

Number 29 – Istria Hotel

It stands here to this day. Istria Hotel An inexpensive hotel that once housed Marcel Duchamp, who installed a toilet in the museum and called it a work of art. The painter Moshe Kiesling, the photographer Man Ray, and his lover Kiki de Montparnasse also lived here.

Hell's Passage (Passage d'Enfer)

This is a small passage that leads from the street to Boulevard Respai. This is where the poet lived in 1871. Arthur Rimbaud In the room that the poet rented for him Paul VerlaineAlso note that from here you can see other sides of the special building that served as Man Ray's studio, which I mentioned earlier.

Number 9 la Cité des Artistes

When the Great Exhibition of 1889 (the one during which the Eiffel Tower) was completed, a developer took some of the remaining buildings and built small studio rooms for artists. Among the artists who worked here were Modigliani, the American artist James McNeil Whistler, and Giorgio di Chirico.

Go to the end of the street and turn right onto Boulevard Montparnasse and cross the street.

The Closerie de Lilas

I decided to end the route at one of Montparnasse's oldest and most famous cafes, located at 171 Boulevard Montparnasse.

Opened in 1847, originally a stop for carriages heading south, La Closerie de Lilas became a favorite café during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Emile Zola, Paul Cezanne, Modigliani, Guillaume Apollinaire, Picasso and others.

However, the place was brought to its greatest fame by Ernest Hemingway, who turned the place into his headquarters. There he wrote some of his most famous books, including “The Sun Always Rises.” You are welcome to sit at one of the tables and order yourself a drink. If you still have some energy left, you are also welcome to Luxembourg Gardens Itinerary Which starts not far from here.

Want to enjoy Montparnasse even more?

• You are welcome to retrace your steps and climb onto Montparnasse Tower (It's so high that you won't have a problem finding it.) From the tower you can see all the places you've visited plus a spectacular view of Paris.
• If you are looking for more travel routes, you are welcome to visit the article. Attractions in the 14th arrondissement.
• If you are feeling hungry, you are welcome to check out theRecommended restaurants in the 14th arrondissement.
• If you would like to live in the Montparnasse district, you are welcome to check out the pages Recommended hotels in the 14st district וRecommended vacation apartments in the 14th arrondissement.

A few words about Liran Hotmacher

Liran is an Israeli photographer living in Paris and is responsible for some of the photos you saw in this article. Discover more of Liran's Parisian photos athis website.