Bouquinistes de Notre Dame 

Edouard Cortes painted 'Bouquinistes de Notre Dame' using oil on canvas. It captures a quintessential Parisian scene. Cortes, born in France in 1882, painted this scene when the open-air book market known as 'bouquinistes' was already an entrenched cultural institution along the Seine. Here, against the backdrop of the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, we see Parisians browsing books and prints from these unique vendors. These book stalls have been a part of Parisian life since the 16th century but have become a symbol of French intellectual and artistic life, and have helped define Paris as a center of culture. The bouquinistes offered access to literature and art that had been marginalized by the official institutions of publishing and art. Historians examine these stalls as public spaces, where the circulation of ideas and the democratization of art occurred. They were a counterpoint to the elite art market and state-sponsored academies.