Château de la Malmaison is the small but very refined house where Joséphine Bonaparte retired when the emperor divorced her in 1809. She had acquired the house in 1799 and redecorated it with the help of architects Percier and Fontaine. It is full of charm, drama and its impeccable decor illustrates a little bit of the huge luxury with which … Read More
A private photo collection at Caillebotte’s house in Yerres
La Maison Caillebotte was inaugurated in Yerres, 20 kms South East of Paris in June 2017. It used to be the famous painter’s house and Valérie Dupont-Aignan, a lawyer by training, has patiently redecorated it for the municipality. The result is superb and in the modern galleries, a collection of photographs belonging to Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla is shown until … Read More
Musée de Montmartre and Artists’ studios
There is nothing more pleasant than going up and down the hill of Montmartre in search of its historical painters and studios. Musée de Montmartre which is now run by a dynamic young lady, Fanny de Lépinau (who spent ten years at Musée du quai Branly), is trying to surf on the wave of mass tourism around the place du … Read More
Sicily, an enchanted island, again and again…
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