My holidays in Sicily did not start well. If you have read “A Summer’s lease“, the hilarious John Mortimer novel on an English family who rents a house in Tuscany and never gets water because the owner has not paid the bill, you will understand what we went through. I was getting ready to make a wonderful potato purée in … Read More
At Chantilly, plants always reign
What I love about the Journées des Plantes de Chantilly (formerly Courson) is that authenticity and creativity always win. And for the third time a charming lady from Les Jardins d’Ecoute s’il pleut (gardens of listen if it rains!) near La Rochelle, won a prize for its very robust and yet thinly sculpted Arachniodes standishii, a very special fern. A … Read More
Happy Premier Mai
I am so happy to wish you a beautiful May 1st with this huge bunch of muguet (lily of the valley) which I picked especially for you yesterday. This year the lily of the valley came later but bloomed in one week with the hot weather and now the rain. Everyone in France is celebrating our “labor” day and I … Read More
Japonism and Impressionisms in etchings and peonies
When I went to Giverny on my yearly Spring visit, I had the surprise of seeing new tall peonies given by the director of the Yuushien Japanese garden of Shimane province. A ceremony celebrating 160 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries took place in Monet’s garden with Hugues Gall and Ambassador Masato Klitera planting the flowers the same … Read More
The Qajar dynasty in Iran, more than just warriors
The new exhibition at Louvre Lens, “The Rose Empire” is devoted to the Qajar dynasty, who reigned over Persia from 1786 to 1925, when Reza Khan Pahlavi took over. Four hundred pieces came from 35 French institutions and private collections and twelve countries to describe the world of this family, whose descendants now mostly live in Europe and the United … Read More
Juliette Polac celebrates spring with jewelry
“L’ivresse du Printemps” is a pretty title for a jewelry exhibition and when I met Juliette Polac, the talented designer who has been showing at Naïla de Montbrison‘s gallery forever, I immediately felt happy. She and her daughter Angela Fabre, an actress, discovered the show with me on the morning of the opening. And they were very excited and charming.
Of the influence of computers on art by EDF
The new exhibition at Fondation EDF‘s space on rue Récamier, is devoted to how the internet revolution influenced artists. Half of it is to me too technical to be interesting but the other half is fascinating with music and movement entering the world of art.
Hubert Robert is back at la Roche Guyon
There is magic in art history and when American garden historian Gabriel Wick started working on La Roche Guyon‘s English gardens, he probably did not know he would later expose XVIII th century painter Hubert Robert’s genius at painting and conceiving parks and gardens. The exhibition « Hubert Robert et la Fabrique des jardins » takes place at château de La Roche Guyon … Read More