Photo of the Week – August 1, 2014

The day after my arrival in Paris for the fist time, as a 20 year old art student, I found myself in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, wandering around l’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where I would study for the semester. The majestic space, which was founded in 1648 as l’Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, was shockingly different from the New York art school I’d come from. Each time I visit, the beauty of the school’s central building, le Palais des Etudes, and it’s glassed-in courtyard (seen in this photograph), never cease to amaze me. This courtyard was once filled with real-size copies of the Parthenon’s columns that could be studied. Photo by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra CC BY 2.0], via Flickr