Since September, the Caravaggio show at Musée Jacquemart André has been continually full and one way not to queue was to go at the last minute after 5 pm. For the last three days of the exhibition 26 to 28 January, the museum will be open till 10 pm. It is the occasion to see the museum at night and … Read More
Ferdinand Desnos catches the light at Hotel Drouot
Hôtel Drouot, the auction house, is slowly becoming hip under the influence of its dashing President Alexandre Giquello. And the event, last week, was an exhibition curated by Natacha Carron Vullierme, of 80 paintings by Ferdinand Desnos. A witty naïf painter raised in the countryside near Tours, he only attracted a few collectors in his lifetime (1901-1958). Most of their children … Read More
“Peindre la nuit”, at Metz Pompidou center
“Peindre la nuit”, “Painting the night” is a fabulous title and for the last two months I have been dreaming about seeing this exhibition. Many, many years ago, the Metropolitan museum had shown night paintings by Caspar David Friedrich. It was a revelation to me. I had never realized how disturbing a painting at moonlight could be. This show at … Read More
Fernand Khnopff, old and new dreams from Belgium
I did not quite understand why I had left the “Khnopff, Maître de l’énigme” exhibition at Petit Palais slightly sad and depressed? So I went back thinking that maybe, that morning, I was tired and unfocused. And what I found on my second visit of this mysterious turn-of-the century Belgian painter, is that the lighting of the exhibition and the … Read More
Alberto Giacometti is surprising at Musée Maillol
When I went to Musée Maillol, to see the Giacometti show, I thought I would know every single statue and be slightly bored. Well not at all, because the first two rooms have such wonderful early sculptures that it is worth going just for them and the very last painted plaster which is huge and very surprising. The few Rodin … Read More
Leonardo da Vinci, five hundred years later in the Loire valley
1519 is the year when Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, at château du Clos Lucé near Amboise. He had been called to the court of France at 65 and had brought paintings, writings, drawings and projects for new inventions. It is the year when Château de Chambord was built and the year Catherine de Medicis was born in … Read More
At Musée Cognacq Jay, 18 th century excellence
The corporation of ” Marchand Mercier” was created in 1137 in Paris with five other associations which represented the industrial aristocracy of the city. They were allowed to import, collect, design, and sell luxury furniture or objects made in France by an International array of artists. The shops were located mostly around the Place des Victoires, the Palais Royal and … Read More
Jean-Jacques Lequeu, a doomed XVIII th century architect
Petit Palais has accustomed us to big surprises but this new show of drawings by Jean-Jacques Lequeu is so astonishing that it almost eclipses the main show of Khnopff on the first floor. 150 drawings chosen among the 800 that he bequeathed to the Bibliothèque Royale just before his death in 1826, are exhibited here with a variety of themes. … Read More