The colors of Sèvres

Annabelle d’Huart, porcelain necklace, from her collection of “Choses de flots et de mer” inspired by islands and underwater life

It is always a little adventure to go to Musée de la Céramique de Sèvres just on the other side of the Seine from Boulogne. The 18 th century museum is a paradise for china, ceramics and plates of all kinds and to enliven the public’s appetite, the director of collections and curator of the show, Christine Germain-Donnat, has organised an exhibition based on color : « The Experience of color » includes contemporary artists who worked at Sèvres and paintings from the Pompidou center which is celebrating its 40 years. Read More

Many newcomers at Journée des Plantes in Chantilly

Lidia Verzotti from Zanelli Mauro in Brescia Italy, came for the first time and won the Prix de Courson for the beauty of her booth

It was an extraordinary edition of the Journées des plantes de Chantilly with 26° centrigrade all week end and the most beautiful newcomers to this 32 year old garden festival started at Château de Courson by Hélène and Patrice Fustier.Read More

Andres Serrano, a treasure hunt at Petit Palais

White Nigger, (the Interpretation of dreams), 2001

After Kehinde Wiley last October, Petit Palais is now exhibiting controversial American photographer Andres Serrano as a teaser for a treasure hunt on the two floors of its permanent collections. The access is free for all and it is quite fun to rediscover the Greek statues or Luca della Robbia glazed terra-cotta through Serrano’s violent photographs. If you decide to attend FIAC (October 19 to 22) , it is just across the street and definitely a fun adventure.Read More

Gauguin as you have never seen him

Paul Gauguin, Vase with Leda and the swan, winter 1887-1888 © Collection particulière

It is a bewildering show that Grand Palais is offering us again, with « Paul Gauguin, the Alchemist. » which has just arrived in Paris from the Art Institute in Chicago. We know him as a painter of « vahinés », in Tahiti, and as a fervent painter of Britain and Pont Aven’s young peasants. But his passion for ceramics, furniture and decorative arts in general is less well known. Just as his Maison du Jouir, Hiva Oa, which he built at the end of his life in the Marquesas Islands.Read More

Maurice Rapin, rediscovered

Maurice Rapin, “L’Ecole du sourire”, (school of smile) 1977-78

Born in 1927 in his grandfather’s foundry in Paris, Maurice Rapin became a mathematician and a painter at the same time. He taught at a lycée in Versailles and came home to his studio nearby in Chaville. His artistic life was discreet and he always resented exhibiting his work. This is why seventeen years after his death, Sabine Bayasli, is partiuclarly proud to exhibit a collection of his works in her two galleries Detais of rue Notre Dame de Lorrette.Read More

Medieval glass at Musée de Cluny

The chess players from l’hôtel de la Bessée, Villefranche-sur-Saône, XVth century © RMN-Grand Palais (musée de Cluny–musée national du Moyen-Âge) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi

Musée de Cluny is such a discreet place that I had to rely on Australian friends to find out about one of the most magical exhibitions of the moment : ” Inventiveness in glass in the Middle Ages “. It covers all aspects of glass from stained windows in Saint Denis Cathedral to spectacles, house windows and drinking glasses. It shows what a science it is to make glass and no wonder Saint Gobain is the sponsor of the show.Read More

Boros, old fabrics from Japan turned into abstract art

This old Boro, made of mended cloth and stitches is an abstract work of art

It is an extraordinary space for art that Italian artist Beatrice Caracciolo has opened on rue Jules Chaplain, taking great care in the architecture of the gallery. In the heart of Montparnasse and next door to a lovely Arts et Essais cinema, she exhibits artists that she loves. A show of Boro fabrics from Japan has just opened and it promises to be one of the most beautiful exhibitions of the month.Read More

Peter Paul Rubens in majesty

Portrait of Eleonora de Gonzague, future Empress at 2, 1600-01, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien

There is a true sense of excitement when one enters the first room of the magnificent Rubens exhibition at Palais du Luxembourg in which two paintings featuring Queen Marie de Medicis visiting Rubens’ studio and a large Gobelins tapestry are hanging : all are 19 th century works and they tell us how important the Flemish painter remained in art history two centuries after his death. Read More