Cafe de Flore - Paris Blvd. St. Germain.

by Cyril Jayant

Title

Cafe de Flore - Paris Blvd. St. Germain.

Artist

Cyril Jayant

Medium

Pyrography - Canvas Prints.

Description

“Café de Flore was the essence of all that was desirable on the Rive Gauche of Paris. It stood on the corner of Saint Germain life, an irresistible mix of café society, literary, artistic, wanton, fashionable ambitions,” wrote Alicia Drake in the opening of The Beautiful Fall, a tell-all of the fashion scene in 1970s Paris. “It was a mirrored place of entrances and encounters.”

A historic marvel, Café de Flore has housed the likes of Picasso, Sartre and Camus in its time and still retains its original Art Deco dating back to World War II

By the ‘30s, high-profile writers, artists, filmmakers, actors, and philosophers all flocked to the Flore, including Albert Camus, Léon-Paul Fargue, Yves Tangut, Raymond Queneau, and Pablo Picasso, who would sit for hours on end, pen their novels, draw inspiration, mingle with one another, contemplate, and observe. During World War II, the café was untouched by German occupation, providing an escape and a sense of freedom during a tumultuous time.

After the war, Arthur Koestler, Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, Lawrence Durell, Simone de Beauvoir, and Juliette Gréco were regulars, and eventually, the fashion set found itself right at home at the Flore, the most famous being Karl Lagerfeld. In the ‘60s, the German designer spent his days between the Café de Flore, the Brasserie Lipp, and a swimming pool called Piscine Deligny. Every morning, he walked the five-minute distance between his apartment and the Flore, sat alone at a table on the ground floor, flipped through an issue of Vogue, and “from his corner table he watched all the comings and goings, the new faces and transforming attitudes,” Drake wrote. “He saw it all and he noted every nuance, every change in gesture.”

Today, the iconic café continues to buzz with activity and energy: hurried waiters, the constant stream of tourists and locals, the unrelenting hum of conversation. And while it’s not cheap to order a shot of espresso, a flute of champagne, a cup of hot chocolate, or even a croissant at the Flore, it’s relatively known that what you’re paying for is the experience—
Fine art photography of the Cafe de Flore in vintage look by Cyril Jayant Photography.

The prices may be steep but Café de Flore is the place to see, and be seen.
<> 172, BOULEVARD SAINT-GERMAIN
75006 Paris

Uploaded

September 2nd, 2015

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