Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Café Le Relais du métro, located at 3 boulevard de Grenelle in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, is an emblematic establishment of the early 20th century. Opened around 1900 under the original name unknown, it was renamed Le Grand Prix in 1997. Its interior decoration, classified as Monument Historique by decree of 23 May 1984, was originally distinguished by four painted canvases signed by E. Mérou. These works represented allegories of the seasons, dressed in the fashion of the Belle Époque (1900-1914), an artistic and dress style marked by bourgeois optimism and elegance.

Among these canvases, only Le Printemps remains visible today, with the other three panels (Summer, Autumn, Winter) being masked by rear fittings. The original front has disappeared, erasing part of the historical character of the façade. The café thus illustrates the transformations of Parisian sociability places, where Art Nouveau or neoclassical decorations have often given way to successive modernizations, while sometimes preserving protected heritage traces.

The artist E. Mérou, painter of allegories, remains little documented outside of this realization. His work is part of the tradition of advertising or ornamental decorations of Parisian cafes, a privileged meeting place at the turn of the century. These establishments played a central role in cultural and social life, welcoming both the workers and the bourgeois, in a neighbourhood like Grenelle then undergoing urban change. The partial classification of the decoration in 1984 underlines the importance attached to the preservation of historical commercial interiors, often neglected in favor of facades.

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