Had you ever heard of Antoine Caron (1521-1599)? I hadn’t, even though I saw some of his tapestries in Fontainebleau last year in the exhibition “L’art de le fête à la cour des Valois”. The masterpieces of the show were already three exceptional tapestries lent by the Uffizzi in Florence. In Ecouen’s Musée National de la Renaissance, the eight tapestries commissioned … Read More
In Sceaux the chateau and the park are a discovery
I had been trying to visit Château de Sceaux for many years but always ended up being there at the wrong time. It only opens at 1 pm while the park opens very early and is incredibly busy with joggers and retired couples who walk energetically with sticks. The occasion of the visit was a small exhibition of photographs (some … Read More
Rupert Shrive walks to Tours with his Balzac
Natasha Fraser Cavassoni was celebrating her birthday near the Buttes Chaumont and I was lucky to sit next to an eccentric English artist Rupert Shrive who was born in Norfolk but settled in Paris many years ago. He was commissioned to make a large head of Balzac for the Paris Balzac museum and decided to move it from his studio … Read More
Musée Bourdelle had a serious facelift and it’s successful
The garden was awakening and the first pink magnolias were in bloom to celebrate the 5 million € renovation of Musée Bourdelle, the house and studio where the turn-of-the century sculptor trained so many famous artists such as Giacometti and Germaine Richier. The architect Bertrand Naut has done an extraordinary job or consolidation of the foundations and restoration of the house … Read More
Chambord, Chenonceau, Cheverny, the Loire Valley is still fantastic.
An English friend wanted to visit the castles of the Loire Valley. And I had not been for so long that I decided to drive her to three major places, very near each other, and an easy journey from Paris. You can even do it in one day if you like. So we started with Chambord, in grey weather and … Read More
Portzamparc is celebrated as an artist at Académie des Beaux Arts
The occasion was the award ceremony for Christian de Portzamparc‘s lifetime achievement, the Grand Prix d’architecture de l’Académie des Beaux Arts, and to celebrate the immense talent of the first French Pritzker Prize winner. An exhibition of his watercolors and models is open at Pavillon Comtesse de Caen until January 25. We knew what a fabulous architect he was, we … Read More
Musée Bourdelle is reopening with Philippe Cognée, what a good surprise!
Musée Bourdelle, which is devoted to the turn of the century sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), has been under renovation for two years and it is now reopening on March 15 with a new director, Ophélie Ferlier-Bouat, and an exhibition by contemporary painter and sculptor Philippe Cognée. In the new wing designed by Christian de Portzamparc, “Le catalogue de Bâle”, a thousand works designed … Read More
“Insurgé.es” in Saint Denis take us back to 1870…
Saint Denis is the suburb of Paris which is becoming the most modernized because of all the construction works made for the 2024 Olympic Games. A giant swimming pool is being built next to Stade de France. After being the place where all French kings were buried (in the basilica), the city has been a communist bastion for many years … Read More