November 13: Touche Mon Coeur – Touch My Heart
November 13th is World Kindness Day (La Journée de la Gentillesse) – a day to promote kindness and celebrate compassion in the world. It’s not an official holiday but it’s worth noting and embracing. So today, we get inspiration from the talented French photographer Robert Doisneau who captured the world and people’s spirits in such a powerful and beautiful way. His quote, as are his photographs, is full of hope. Check below for one of Robert Doisneau’s quotes as well as a video with a collection of his most and less famous “slices of life” photographs. The photos are rolling as an accordion version of Édith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose” and “Sous Le Ciel de Paris” (Under Paris Skies) are playing – lovely!
Quote du Jour: Robert Doisneau
Art of the Home Uplifting Quote du Jour
- English — “The world that I was trying to show was a world where I would have felt at peace, where people would be pleasant, and where I would find the kindness I wished to receive. My photographs were proof that such world could exist.”
– Robert Doisneau (1912-1994), French Photographer - French – “Le monde que j’essayais de montrer était un monde où je me serais senti bien, où les gens seraient aimables, où je trouverais la tendresse que je souhaite recevoir. Mes photos etaient la preuve que ce monde peut exister.”
– Robert Doisneau (1912-1994), Photographe Français
Robert Doisneau, His Photographs, and Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose”
The video below shows some of Robert Doisneau’s most beautiful “slices of life” pictures. Famous ones including “Le Baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville” (The Kiss by City Hall) but also less famous photos — each one of them showing so much humanity. As his pictures roll, an accordion musical version of Edith Piaf’s “la Vie en Rose” and “Sous Le Ciel de Paris” (Under The Sky of Paris) is playing — you’ll feel you are right there in the streets of Paris, enjoy! But as much as you may feel you are right there in Paris, these pictures are much more that a slice of Parisian life, they show so much humanity and that is an international treasure from every country in the world.
Background on World Kindness Day (Journée de la Gentillesse)
World Kindness Day was officially decreed in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement. The date was chosen because it corresponds to the 35th anniversary of the Small Kindness Movement of Japan which initiated this worldwide movement. It was also the date of the first World Kindness Movement conference which took place in Tokyo on November 13th, 1998. Almost 20 countries are part of this movement, including the United States and France. So let’s embrace World Kindness Day — on November 13th and every day, what a great idea!