The beautiful Art Nouveau Metropolitain sign indicating the entrance/exit of the metro station at Gare du Nord railway station in central Paris, France.
These signs, iconic of Paris, were designed by the Lyonnais architect Hector Guimard in the early 20th century. He had been was suggested for the job following a failed design contest to design the entrances. This specified that the entrances had to be “as elegant as possible but above all very light, prioritising iron, glass and ceramic”.
“… divine entrances to the Métro, by grace of which one can descend into the region of the subconscious of the living and monarchical aesthetic of tomorrow”.
Salvador Dali
Sadly (and quite unbelievably to me) Art Nouveau went out of fashion until the 1970s, and there was some criticism that the shade of green used was “German” (don’t ask, I don’t know!) and several of Guimard’s sinous designs were scrapped, being replaced by much more staid and ‘functional’ entrances.
Six of the remaining Guimard entrances were protected in 1965 and the remaining eighty which survived were protected in 1978.
This image is copyright © Liz Leyden, all rights strictly as agreed in writing with the author or her agent.
It is for sale as wall art or as various home or personal accessories at Pixels.com.
My original photo, on which this image is based, is available to purchase as a stock photo from GettyImages or from iStock.
An alternative photo of the Metro sign at Gare du Nord is also available as an RF stock photo on both iStock and GettyImages.
I also have two photos of the Metropolitain and Gare Du Nord signs, looking in the opposite direction and showing portions of the local area map, available to purchase as Rights Managed images on Alamy.
