In celebration of the easing of lockdown, the Royal Collection Trust has been reopening its royal residences to the public. Although thousands of people visit the Buckingham Palace State Rooms and gardens every non-pandemic year, lingering and picnicking are a no-no. This year it’s different. There may be no royal garden parties, but the garden at Buckingham Palace is open to … Read More
Rodin and Picasso probably never met but …
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) probably never met or just briefly at the Bateau Lavoir in 1906, but two brilliant curators, Véronique Mattiussi at Musée Rodin and Virginie Perdrisot-Cassan at Musée Picasso, have decided to show them together with many common themes and shapes. The result is two beautiful shows which you should see in one go, if … Read More
The Pinault Collection is open and it is beautiful.
While waiting on line at 11 am with a group of Americans, I had the feeling that Paris was back on its feet. Foreign visitors are coming and English is being spoken on the street. You have to book online to visit Collection Pinault at Bourse de Commerce or you can pick up tickets across the street at an automatic teller, … Read More
Hotel de la Marine opens at last on place de la Concorde…
There was already Hotel de Crillon and Automobile Club, now we have Hotel de La Marine to balance them, all magnificent buildings designed in 1755 by Ange-Jacques Gabriel and fully restored today, with a unique view of what used to be place Louis XV and is now place de la Concorde. And this might seem natural, but if Olivier de Rohan and … Read More
El Anatsui, a good reason to visit the Conciergerie
The majestic XIV th century fireplaces of la Conciergerie, the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept prisoner during the Revolution, could not have been better adapted to show El Anatsui‘s metallic sculptures. The Ghanean artist who is present in all contemporary art fairs, uses discarded bottle tops and aluminum objects to create vast shiny curtains. I have always been fascinated … Read More
Musée Carnavalet has great surprises after a four year renovation.
Musée Carnavalet has been closed for four years but it was worth waiting and spending 58 million € under the supervision of Chatillon architects. Nathalie Crinière was in charge of the museography. Valérie Guillaume, its director since 2013, introduced our visit with a very politically correct speech on the importance of caring to young visitors and on the increase of exhibition … Read More
In Rambouillet, antiques make a come back with Gabriel Wick
Château de Rambouillet is not the most interesting building in the world but this new exhibition, “Vivre à l’Antique“, curated by Gabriel Wick and Renaud Serrette, makes us discover fantastic wood panelings and la Laiterie, a building conceived by Louis XVI with painter Hubert Robert to lure Marie Antoinette into this hunting lodge which the king loved particularly of its … Read More
In Deauville, a spectacular new cultural space
I happened to be in Deauville, the Normandy seaside resort which could be compared to Easthampton, for a golf tournament, when I heard that Les Franciscaines, a new cultural space set in an old Franciscan convent was opening the very same day. What a wonderful coincidence. This turn of the century resort which is now very, very busy with weekenders … Read More