True Colors

A Best of France selection.

If, after marveling at the wealth of 19th-century paintings at the Musée d’Orsay, you’d like to prolong the experience, take a short walk down the quai to Sennelier, where many of those artists bought their supplies. Not much has changed since Cézanne, Pissarro and Bonnard last stopped in. A long wooden counter holds glass cases with paintbrushes of every size. Floor-to-ceiling cabinets are crammed with every type of pigment: watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, tubes of oil paint and gouache, powdered colors to mix yourself. Rolls of canvas lean against the walls and flat drawers hold papers of every weight, texture, size and color. On one wall hang palettes of varying sizes; in another corner, a long beige artist’s smock. The narrow staircase winds up to several small rooms that stock more creative necessities; the stairwell itself is lined with faded old photographs: a 19th-century workman grinding colors, an early view of the shop looking remarkably the same.

A 19th-century workman grinding colors

Dominique Sennelier himself might be behind the counter, helping customers, switching easily from French to English or counting the tubes of paint a young art student has heaped onto the wooden counter. His grandfather, Gustave Sennelier, founded the business in 1887, choosing this location on the Quai Voltaire, half a block from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and facing the Louvre. Knowledgeable about chemistry, Sennelier used mineral pigments that opened up new color palettes to artists; his fabrication methods also improved consistency and gave artists more flexibility in blending tones. With fourth-generation Sophie Sennelier now assisting her father, the family firm continues to innovate today; its colors are still prized and two more Paris shops have opened, offering artists everything they need to turn their visions into potential masterpieces.

3 quai Voltaire, 7th. website

Other locations:  4 bis rue de la Grande Chaumière, 6th; 6 rue Hallé, 14th.

View Larger Map

Originally published in the December 2008 issue of France Today; updated in February 2011