Arc de Triomphe from Place Charles de Gaulle, Paris

4 October 2017 · Paris

The Arc de Triomphe rises behind a screen of plane trees at Place Charles de Gaulle, their autumn foliage still holding green with the first hints of yellow. Tourist coaches crowd the foreground; the monument stands indifferent to them, as it has to everything since 1836. The overcast sky flattens the stone to a pale warm grey, pulling the arch and the trees into the same tonal register — monumental scale made almost domestic by the boulevard furniture around it.