A very personal and subjective view of Paris life for all of you who are curious of what's going on in France

Virginie, 1883, Joensuu Museum of Art, collection Area Cederberg

It’s not easy to follow into Christophe Leribault’s steps at Petit Palais and Annick Lemoine was very graceful in acknowledging the remarkable work he has accomplished in his almost ten years there, as director. The new show “Albert Edelfelt, Lumières de Finlande” (Lights from Finland) is the last of the Nordic series which included, Sweden with the exceptional Anders Zorn and Denmark. It traces the career of this painter, Albert Edelfelt (1854-1905), who led the way to Paris for his compatriots, and was a great friend of France as well as a constant promoter of the independence of his country from its powerful Russian neighbor. His lively portrait of scientist Louis Pasteur, just after he discovered the vaccine against rabies, features in all French school books. I particularly liked the tenderness he includes in his portraits of women and children as well as his delicate snowy landscapes. Read More

Hercules, study 32, 2010, photo Luc Bertrand/ADAGP 2022, in front of Hotel Grsoslot

There was a perfect harmony between the beautiful spring weather with a magnolia tree literally blooming under our eyes during lunch time, Markus Lüpertz‘ amazing invasion of the city of Orléans with eleven sculptures throughout the town center and 56 paintings and drawings in the Musée des Beaux Arts, and curator Olivia Voisin‘s charming and brilliant tour of the exhibition, “Markus Lüpertz, Le Faiseur de Dieux” (the maker of gods). With its 117 000 inhabitants and its cult to Joan of Arc, who freed Orléans from the English in 1429 during the 100 Year War, the charming town is located on the river Loire and is now populated with many former Parisians. They have no idea that their Museum has one of the richest collection in France with 16 th-18 th century paintings and the German 80 year old artist was happy to help them remember. His elegance, with a little ring in his right ear, a sculpted stick which he needs to walk since a car accident hurt his knee, and varnished shoes, was mesmerizing. But Der Krieger, the warrior, speaks very frankly.Read More

Pwo Mask, Tshokwe, collected y G. Le Paige, jesuit missionary before 1948, musée Royal de l’Afrique centrale Tervuren

The African Museum of Tervuren in Brussels has a remarkable collection of Congo art due to the long colonisation of the country by Belgium and we are lucky at the moment to have 160 works rarely shown before, exhibited at Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac and curated by Julien Volper. “La part de l’Ombre” (Out of the Shadows) includes statues, masks and everyday objects from Southwest Congo made between 1875 and 1950 in the land of twelve different people with 28 million inhabitants, where Kinshasa is located. Masks were used by sculptors to compete artistically and were worn only by men for dances and ceremonies. A section is devoted to the mukanda initiation rite of young boys entering adulthood.Read More

Guercino, Venus nursing Cupid, 1610-1620, is one of the 5000 drawings of Foundation Cini, © Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Hôtel de Caumont, in Aix en Provence, is a beautiful small XVIII th century hôtel particulier in the center of town, near place des Quatre Dauphins and cour Mirabeau and, since 2015, it houses exquisite exhibitions: “Treasures of Venice, the Cini collection” is on until March 27. It is always a joy to visit the town off season, when the crowds of the Opera festival are not invading the space. And I was mesmerized by the quality of the Vittorio Cini collection, lent this winter to celebrate the 70 years of the Cini Foundation in Venice and created by the Ferrara born entrepreneur, in memory of his son, Giorgio, who died in a plane crash. It is a rare collection of 4 000 Renaissance paintings, books, sculptures and drawings which you can see in Venice at the Palazzo in Dorsoduro and on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore where the research center is based.Read More