Paris at Night

パリ夜街
巴黎夜晚的街頭
巴黎夜晚的街头
파리 야경

Night has fallen in Montparnasse. This is the crossing where boulevard Pasteur meets rue Falguière. The place where Shimizu and his family lived when they moved from New York to Paris in 1924 was just a few minutes’ walk from here. They probably saw this streetcorner every day.

The music has reached its climax at this very moment in the restaurant. You can see the pianist and the accordion player giving an impassioned performance through the window. There are people’s heads visible high up above the curtain. Is this because they are all standing up and dancing? Outside the shop, a sailor is approaching a girl, a drunken man is squatting down, and a dog and a cat are chasing each other. A variety of dramas unfold at night. Shimizu’s storytelling was open-minded from when he was in New York. A priest dressed in black is portrayed at the center. He seems to be walking away with a detached air, showing no interest in the bustle. However, if you look carefully, you will notice a bright red sock showing under his black attire.