Cafes
were seen as much more than meeting-places to the
Bohemians;
they were places where...
- ideas could be explored
and shared
- Bohemians could gather
to watch the bourgeoisie
- much of Bohemian identity
was formed
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Terrace
of a Cafe on Montmartre, painted
by Vincent Van Gogh in October, 1886, shows
a typical cafe where Bohemians would come to
share ideas. During the heyday of Bohemia, most
cafes were in the heart of Paris, but later
in the 19th century, many Bohemians moved to
Montemartre, and their cafes moved with them.
picture
courtesy of vangoghgallery.com
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Sharing and Exploring
Ideas: The Cafe Momus
Mention
Bohemia to any Frenchman during the mid-ninteenth century
and they would think of the cafes that Murger and his
friends frequented. Around tables in these cafes, Bohemians
met to socialize and share ideas.
Henry
Murger discovered the Cafe Momus, on the Right Bank
near the church of Saint-Germaine-l'Auxerrois, in the
years preceding 1848. This cafe soon became a popular
meeting-place of such important Bohemians as Gustave
Courbet and Alexandre Privat d'Anglemont. The Cafe Momus
was such an important location for the Bohemians that
it was featured in Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme.
Forming
a Bohemian Identity: The
Brasserie des Martyrs
Murger
also visited the Chez Dinochau and Brasserie des Martyrs
on the Right Bank. The
Brasserie des Martyrs, a noisy, smoke-filled cafe in
the rue des Martyrs. The Brasserie was a cafe for writers
and painters like Murger, Baudelaire and Courbet. The
Brasserie des Martyrs was famous for providing a genuine
Bohemian atmosphere. Together Murger, Courbet and Baudelaire,
who had met in the 1840s in cafes like the Momus, represented
three styles of Bohemian life.
When these different types of Bohemianism came together
in the cafes to drink
coffee, lively discussion almost always followed.
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