Fontaine des Quatre Parties du Monde

This world-famous monument/fountain is located in the south entrance to the Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was designed and sculpted by Jena-Baptise Carpeaux. The women in the fountain represent the four parts of the world and were initially criticized as "thin, unhealthy women with wasted flanks... furrowed thighs... twisting around in a bizarre circle without any grace." Ten years later, after Carpeaux's death, it was heralded as a masterpiece. 

The best part for me about strolling past these statues and through the Luxembourg Gardens is recalling Ernest Hemingway's musings on wandering through the gardens with his young son when Paris was the burgeoning writer's hometown and he was so poor he'd have to hunt for pigeons in the gardens with a slingshot between paychecks.

This photograph was captured with a Nikon D90.