I am not such a great fan of prehistory but so many finds have been made recently that I was curious to see what Centre Pompidou was going to show under the title, “Prehistory, a modern enigma“. Artists have played, along with scientists, a great role in our perception of the understanding of our origins. In the mid 19th century, … Read More
Michèle Belaiche, a true discovery
I had never heard of Michèle Belaiche before her exhibition at Galerie du Passage. And as soon as I met her, I realized we had so many friends in common that we should have met many times before… She spent her life surrounded by decorators and architects, travelled the world with Jacques Grange, with whom she worked for twenty years, and … Read More
Black Model at Orsay
We are in 1800 in France, the Revolution is over and slavery has been abolished since 1794. Black people can become visible again and Parisian artists have their say in putting them in the light of society. This is what the exhibition at Musée d’Orsay, “The Black Model, from Géricault to Matisse” is trying to tell us with magnificent paintings … Read More
Jean Francis Auburtin and Claude Monet meet again in Giverny
You probably have never heard of Jean Francis Auburtin and neither had I until I was lured to the Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny by an old friend who lives nearby. The Museum opened ten years ago, succeeding the very pretty American Museum built by the Terra Foundation in 1992, and it is now run by Musée d’Orsay. It is … Read More
Forgotten Hittite kingdoms at the Louvre
It is very humbling to enter an exhibition at the Louvre and realize that you don’t know anything about the topic and have to look up most words in the dictionary. This is what happened to me last week at the opening of “Royaumes oubliés, de l’Empire Hittite aux Araméens“. I looked around to see if I was the only … Read More
The moon and other dreams at Grand Palais
The first time I went to see the exhibition “La Lune” at Grand Palais I was slightly irritated. Irritated at the excuse of celebrating the 50 th anniversary of the first step on the moon on July 21, 1969. Frustrated by the small size of the exhibition which leaves you hungry for more. Unhappy about the staging which is very … Read More
Picasso and the war, at the Invalides
Pablo Picasso was always involved politically in his times and the exhibition at Musée de l’Armée in the Invalides is both original and instructive in how artists can change people’s mentalities. “Picasso et la Guerre” starts with drawings of medieval soldiers drawn by Picasso in 1895, when he was 14. It is an ink on paper representing with a precise … Read More
Last chance to see the Caravaggio for sale
Kamel Mennour is not only a successful art dealer, he also is very inventive and showing “Judith and Holofernes” by Caravaggio in his small gallery of 6 rue du Pont de Lodi with “Pyramidal” by Daniel Buren is a true find. One goes downstairs, entering a dark tomblike room, and the two works of art face each other in a … Read More