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Art in Paris Fall and Winter 2021-2022 Culture Highlights 

Art in Paris Fall and Winter 2021-2022 Culture Highlights 

Something for everyone! Grand Palais, Napoléon, Julie Manet, Centre Pompidou, Georgia O’Keefe, Paris Philharmonic, Palais de Tokyo, Musée du Luxembourg, Cole Porter, Lido, and much more! From paintings and photography to music and magical objects, art in Paris is exploding now. Check out the list below of current and upcoming highlights.

Many cultural institutions in Paris are still developing, rearranging, and rescheduling events and exhibitions.  Some have schedules that can help with making a plan.  Or, you may find an event that you will plan a trip around.

  • Be sure to check the websites ahead of going.  Many places require reservations.
  • From Paris Museum Pass:  In accordance with government directives, online booking of a time slot is compulsory in most sites, for all visitors (paying, free, holders of a Paris Museum Pass), to limit the number of people present at the same time.
  • This means that you cannot show up and expect to gain access even with a Paris Museum Pass!
  • Arrive early for scheduled times because of additional precautions the venues may be taking.  Bring a face mask – a comfortable one. Many places require them for entry.
  • Do not bring suitcases or large bags, including large backpacks.

Also, many venues are requiring a “Health Pass” for entry:

  1. A certificate of vaccination older than 14 days, or
  2. A certificate of RT-PCR or antigenic test less than 48 hours old, or
  3. A certificate of recovery (positive test of + 15 days and – 6 months)

PLEASE CHECK WITH EACH INSTITUTION BEFORE GOING FOR CHANGES IN OPENING HOURS, REQUIREMENTS FOR VISITS, ETC….
**All information was current at the time the post was written.**

Grand Palais

The Grand Palais has a renovation underway.  Scheduling shows partial completion in time for the Olympics in 2024.  All remaining portions, including the galleries, are expected to be finished in 2025.

But, the Grand Palais is still mounting an exhibition!  Take the Métro out to Porte de Pantin, in the 19th, to see a magnificent exhibition. The name alone fills up two football fields!

Napoléon

Marking the bicentenary of his death, the Napoléon exhibition explores the unlikely story of a complex character who was at once admired and controversial, victorious and conquered, heroic and tragic. A dramatic story that continues to fascinate our contemporaries to this day. It will highlight his political and cultural legacies that have profoundly impacted certain countries, chief among them France, as well as the mistakes he made.  (From the official website.)

Napoleon Grand Palais

Napoléon
Through December 19, 2021
Grand Palais – Grande Halle de la Villette
211 avenue Jean Jaures
19th Arrondissement
Open everyday 10:00am to 7:00pm
Purchase reserved-time tickets in advance HERE.
Métro:  Porte de Pantin
Official website:  https://www.grandpalais.fr/en

Musée Marmottan Monet

It is always worth a trip to the Musée Marmottan Monet to admire the stunning house that the museum occupies as well as the collection of Monets.  But, even more, a reason to visit is an exhibition of Berthe Morisot’s daughter.

Julie Manet, the Impressionist Memory

As the only daughter of Berthe Morisot and Eugène Manet, Julie Manet was in a singular position to share her mother’s legacy with the world.  Also, Julie Manet was the niece of Édouard Manet.  She inherited plenty of genes that would contribute to her artistic sensibility.  Not much information on the exhibit so far, but this is an interesting and little-known subject worth investigating.

Julie Manet, the Impressionist Memory
October 19, 2021, through March 20, 2022
Musée Marmottan Monet
2 rue Louis-Boilly
16th Arrondissement
Open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 to 6:00 pm
Open late Thursdays until 9:00 pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
Métro: La Muette ou Ranelagh
RER:  Boulainvilliers
Official website:  https://www.marmottan.fr/en/

Centre Pompidou

A lot is going on at the Centre Pompidou.  It is definitely fulfilling its role to present “a centre for art and culture capable of housing both the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, with an international dimension, a large public library…, a centre for industrial creation and a centre for musical research and creation…, all together in one and the same building situated in the heart of the capital.”  (From the official website.)

Georgia O’Keefe

Georgia O’Keefe in the Pompidou Center could be super fun to see!

The first retrospective in France of a hundred paintings, drawings, and photographs of one of the greatest figures of North American art of the 20th century. Disappeared at the age of 98, Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 – 1986) will have gone through most of the aesthetic adventures of the previous century: from the modernism of the 20s to the abstract painting “hard edge” in the 60s, through the search for identity that marks the United States in the 30s.  (From the official website.)

Georgia O’Keeffe, “Inside Red Canna”, 1919 © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Adagp Paris 2021

Ettore Sottsass, Magic Objects

More than 400 works (drawings, paintings, design objects), 500 photographs, and 200 unpublished archival documents, from the 1940s to the 1980s: through this set and according to a chronological path, the exhibition highlights all the creative components of the Italian artist Ettore Sottsass (1917, Austria – 2007, Italy). It particularly highlights the emotional, ritual, symbolic, “magical” dimension of design that Sottsass has always claimed, quick to weave a new link between man and objects.  (From the official website.)

Ettore Sottsass, “Maquette spatiale”, 1947
© Adagp, Paris. Photo : Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Georges Meguerditchian/Dist. RMN-GP

 

Georgia O’Keefe
September 8, 2021, through December 6, 2021
Ettore Sottsass, Magic Objects
October 13, 2021, through January 4, 2022
Centre Pompidou
Place Georges-Pompidou
4th Arrondissement
Open Wednesday through Monday 11:00 am to 10:00 pm
Exhibitions open 11:00am to 9:00pm
Open late Thursdays until 11:00 pm
Closed Tuesdays and major holidays
Métro:  Rambuteau, Hôtel de Ville, or Châtelet
RER:  Châtelet Les Halles
Panoramic restaurant:  Restaurant Georges – prestige cocktails and dinner
Official website:  https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/

Paris Philharmonic

Installed in its new home, the Paris Philharmonic and the Paris Orchestra is in state-of-the-art digs.  Reasonably priced tickets for an evening with magnificent performers who are at their finest.  Various concerts of well-known works as well as new and rarely performed pieces that deserve attention.

A real treat would be the weekend of 19-21 November 2021.  Chucho Valdés is one of the key figures in the musical fusion between Cuba and Africa. With indefatigable fervor, at age 80, he continues to keep the flames of Afro-Cuban jazz burning bright. (From the official website.)

Check the calendar – there will be something you find interesting, plus you get to see the fabulous performance hall.

Philharmonie de Paris
221 avenue Jean-Jaurès
19th Arrondissement
Métro:  Porte de Pantin
Panoramic restaurant:  Le Balcon on the 6th Floor – closed Sundays
Official website:  https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/en

Musée Carnavalet

After 4 years of renovation, the permanent collection of the Museum of the History of Paris is open to welcome you.  Explore this marvelous collection with objects all the way back to the Mesolithic Era (9000-6000 B.C.).

Musée Carnavalet
Musée Histoire de Paris
23 rue de Sévigné
3rd Arrondissement
Open Tuesday through Sunday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
Métro: Saint-Paul, Bréguet Sabin, Pont-Marie, or Chemin Vert
Restaurant in the gardens
Official website:  https://www.carnavalet.paris.fr

Petit Palais

The Petit Palais is the Fine Arts Museum of the City of Paris.  The stunning building was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, like its neighbor the Grand Palais. It became a museum in 1902. Designed by Charles Girault, it is based on a trapezium shape and is made up of four wings around a semi-circular garden bordered by a richly decorated peristyle. The architect achieved a successful blend of traditional and modern architecture which is evident in the natural flow of visitors around the building and in the bold openings he created onto the Champs-Elysées gardens and inner courtyard garden.  (From the official website.)

Ilya Répine (1844-1930); Painting the Soul of Russia

The Petit Palais presents the first French retrospective dedicated to Ilya Repine, one of the greats of Russian art. Little known in France, Repine’s oeuvre is nevertheless considered a milestone in the history of Russian painting of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some one-hundred paintings, including very large-format works, will be on loan from, notably, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg, and the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland. The exhibition allows visitors to retrace the career of this illustrious Russian painter through his masterpieces.  From https://www.petitpalais.paris.fr/en

Ilya Répine, Leon Tolstoy Ploughing.

Ilya Répine (1844-1930); Painting the Soul of Russia
October 5, 2021, through January 23, 2022
Petit Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill
8th Arrondissement
Open Tuesday through Sunday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Open late for temporary exhibitions on Fridays until 9:00 pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
Métro: Champs-Élysées – Clemenceau or Franklin D. Roosevelt
RER: Invalides
Café inside with not-to-miss terrace on the interior garden
Official website: http://petitpalais.paris.fr/en

Palais de Tokyo

You may do a double-take when confirming the visiting hours of this fantastic art space.  A seemingly never-ending stream of contemporary exhibitions, some of which may bend your mind.  Take your pick from a variety of shows scheduled for winter.

Jonathan Jones, untitled (transcriptions of country)

“I’m curious about how we come to terms with objects that were collected and are now lost to the archive; how these objects can morph into new forms of dialogue, become tools of reciprocity and repatriation within the framework of decolonisation.” – Jonathan Jones.

Born in 1978 in Sydney (Australia) where he lives and works.  untitled (transcriptions of country), Jonathan Jones’ new project, looks into colonial transport, trade, and the acclimatization of Indigenous plants, animals, and objects, together with the colonization of local knowledge. Its source of information is the French expedition to the southern lands led by Captain Nicolas Baudin at the very beginning of the 19th century. Commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, this was one of the most extensive scientific expeditions ever undertaken in Australia, which brought back to France many artifacts and living elements.  (From the official website.)

Jonathan Jones, installation view

Exhibition by Maxwell Alexandre

Born into a Catholic family in Rocinha, one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest favelas, Maxwell Alexandre envisages painting as a “prophetic practice”. His immense and highly politicized compositions stage encounters between classic European painting, street art, and mural painting. All these elements are remixed with the syncopated rhythms of hip-hop to resonate with the contemporary tensions of Brazil.

A former professional rollerblader, Maxwell Alexandre graduated from PUC-RJ (The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro) in 2016. He organized his artistic baptism in 2018 with his first exhibition, which blended painting with performance and featured the rapper BK as priest and master of ceremonies. He also founded the “Church of the Kingdom of Art” (also known as “A Noiva” [“The Bride”]), which supports alternative Brazilian art practices.  (From the official website.)

Maxwell Alexandre

 

Jonathan Jones, untitled (transcriptions of country)
November 26, 2021, through February 20, 2022
Exhibition by Maxwell Alexandre
November 26, 2021, through March 20, 2022
Palais de Tokyo
13 avenue du Président Wilson
16th Arrondissement
Open Wednesday through Monday 10:00 am to 10:00 pm
Closed Tuesdays and major holidays
Métro:  Iéna and Alma Marceau
RER: line C / Pont de l’Alma station
Two restaurants:  Monsieur Blue and Bambini
Official website:  https://www.palaisdetokyo.com/fr

Théâtre du Châtelet

Sumptuous gold and red velvet temple to the arts!  Musical theater, dance, concerts, variety performances – it is all here.  The Théâtre du Châtelet has come roaring back to life. Here are three events that could be great to see.

Nov 15-21:  Voodoo Cello performed by Imany. The love marriage sorcerer of the low tones of Imany and eight cellos.  With Voodoo Cello, the singer Imany casts a spell on eight cellos to transform some of the greatest hits of pop history (from Ed Sheeran to Cat Stevens, Donna Summer, Hozier, t.A.t.u., Bob Marley, Elton John, Neil Diamond…). Without any artifice, she uses the combined magic of the strings and her voice to bewitch the audience and awaken their consciences around the power of the feminine.  (From the official website.)

Dec 11, 2021 – Jan 1, 2022:   Cole Porter in Paris. Cole in Paris is conceived as a picture book, a fresco of sound and vision that transports us into the Roaring Twenties, evoking the personal journey of the man and the artist as much as the new breath of life that irrigated Paris after the Great War.  (From the official website.)

Feb 6, 2022 – Tap Virtuoso.  Classical music meets American tap dance – Pianist François-René Duchâble and artist Aurélien Lehmann perform classical music masterpieces from Bach to Gershwin, in a show where piano and tap dance compete in mastery. A unique visual and musical performance that will make you (re)discover the history and evolution of “great music” to the rhythm of Tap Dance.  (From the official website.)

Théâtre du Châtelet
2 rue Edouard Colonne
1st Arrondissement
Métro:  Châtelet (exit Théâtre du Châtelet or Place du Châtelet)
RER:  Châtelet – Les Halles
Official website:  https://www.chatelet.com/en/home/

Lido de Paris

Paris Merveilles

THE show to see.  Such fun, marvelous as its name implies, a great evening for the whole family.  With seating for 1,100, you would think it would have plenty of room, but get your tickets well in advance!

Paris Merveilles
Lido de Paris
116 bis avenue des Champs-Élysées
8th Arrondissement
Showtimes:  9:00pm or 11:00pm
Can reserve dinner and a show, check the website for details and tickets.
Métro:  George V
Official website:  https://www.lido.fr/en

Musée du Luxembourg

Because it is open late on Monday, this is a prime time to plan something to do in the evening.

Vivian Maier

The career path that Vivian Maier (New York, 1926 – Chicago, 2009) took is unusual yet is that of one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. It was at the heart of American society, in New York from 1951, then in Chicago from 1956, that the children’s governess meticulously observed the urban fabric that already reflected the great social and political changes in its history. It was the time of the American dream and overexposed modernity, the behind-the-scenes of which constituted the very essence of Vivian Maier’s work.

The exhibition allows the public to see archives of the photographer that were discovered in 2007 and have not been seen before: vintage photographs that Vivian Maier printed, super 8 films never shown, audio recordings…. As such the exhibition allows the full extent of the eminent artist’s work to be appreciated, and for her work to be placed in the history of photography.  (From the official website.)

Vivian Maier
15 September 2021 – 16 January 2022
Musée du Luxembourg
19 rue de Vaugirard
6th Arrondissement
Open every day 10:30 am to 7:00pm
Open late on Mondays until 10:00pm
Métro:  Saint Sulpice, or Mabillon
RER:  Luxembourg (exit Jardin du Luxembourg)
Official website:  https://museeduluxembourg.fr/en

Palais Galliera

Museum of Fashion of the City of Paris. The Palais Galliera preserves some of the richest collections in the world. Estimated today at nearly 200,000 works (clothing, accessories, photographs, drawings…), these collections reflect the codes of clothing in France from the 18th century to the present day and are regularly the subject of numerous exhibitions in Paris, France, and foreign countries.

Vogue Paris 1920-2020

One hundred years of Vogue Paris, the oldest French fashion magazine still being published.  The exhibition highlights the talent of the great illustrators, and particularly photographers that Vogue Paris has encouraged. Hoyningen-Huene, Horst, Bourdin, Klein, Newton, Lindbergh, Testino, Inez & Vinoodh, are among those who produced their most beautiful spreads for Vogue Paris. In this chronological tour, a number of spotlight displays pay tribute to the magazine’s faithful collaborators. The exhibition highlights Vogue Paris’s special relationship with those great couturiers, who the magazine supported throughout their careers, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. Vogue woman is epitomized in the exhibition by Catherine Deneuve and Kate Moss, the two women who posed for the most front covers.

For Vogue Paris 1920-2020 around 400 items have been brought together, mainly from the magazine’s archives – photographs, illustrations, magazines, documents, and films – as well as more than fifteen haute couture and prêt-à-porter models.  (From the official website.)

Catherine Deneuve by David Bailey, Vogue 1966 © David Bailey

Vogue Paris 1920 -2020
October 2, 2021, until January 30, 2022
Palais Galliera
Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris
10 avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie
16th Arrondissement
Open Tuesday through Sunday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Late-night Tuesdays and Fridays until 9:00 pm
Closed Mondays
Métro:  Iéna or Alma-Marceau
Official website:  https://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

The Museum of Decorative Arts of the City of Paris began in 1882, in the wake of the Universal Exhibitions.  A group of collectors banded together with the idea of promoting the applied arts and developing links between industry and culture, design and production. For many years it was known as the Union centrale des Arts décoratifs (UCAD), but in January 2018 it changed its name to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.  It remains true to its original goal “to keep alive in France the culture of the arts which seek to make useful things beautiful” and to maintain close links with industry, forging numerous partnerships with firms operating in various fields.  (From the official website.)

Cartier and the Art of Islam.  Origins of Modern Design.

The exhibition explores the influences of Islam on modern design through drawings, objects, and stories.  Including the influence of India on Jacques Cartier’s after his travels to India to visit his princely clients, Maharajahs of India!

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs presents, from October 21, 2021 to February 20, 2022, “Cartier et les arts de l’Islam. Aux sources de la modernité”, co-produced by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris and the Dallas Museum of Art, with the exceptional collaboration of the Musée du Louvre and the support of the Maison Cartier. This exhibition shows the influences of the arts of Islam on the production of jewelry and precious objects of the House of High Jewelry, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day.

More than 500 pieces – jewelry and objects of the Maison Cartier, masterpieces of Islamic art, drawings, books, photographs, and archival documents – trace the origin of this interest in Oriental motifs. She returns in particular to the Parisian context of the time and the figures of Louis and Jacques Cartier, grandsons of the founder, who played a significant role in the birth of a new aesthetic imbued with modernity.  (From the official website.)

Cartier necklace was ordered in 1947.

Cartier and the Art of Islam.  Origins of Modern Design.
October 21, 2021, through February 20, 2022
Musée des Arts Décoratifs
107 rue de Rivoli
1st Arrondissement
Open Tuesday through Sunday 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
Métro : Palais-Royal, Pyramides or Tuileries
This museum is located inside the Louvre building, on the Rue de Rivoli side.  Look for the banners directing you to the entrance.
Restaurant
Official website:  https://madparis.fr

Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute)

The Arab World Institute Museum, which was entirely redesigned and reorganized in 2012, invites visitors to discover the Arab world from a different perspective and goes beyond stereotypes, by presenting all the diversity of its cultures, ethnicities, languages, and confessions, from its origins to the present day.  As visitors enter the Museum, an installation of sounds and images projected onto mirrors immerses them in the heart of plural and multiform Arab world. (From the official website.)

Insights into Lebanon; Modern and Contemporary Art from 1950 to Today

One year after the explosion of 4 August 2020 that devastated the port of Beirut, the Arab World Institute pays tribute to the vitality and resilience of the Lebanese art scene. With the exhibition LUMIÈRES DU LIBAN, Modern and Contemporary Art from 1950 to Today, the Arab World Institute celebrates the prodigious creativity of modern and contemporary artists from Lebanon and its diasporas, from the day after its independence in 1943 to the present day, with works by Shafiq Abboud, Etel Adnan, Saliba Douaihy, Paul Guiragossian, Hussein Madi, Assadour, Chaouki Choukini, Ayman Baalbaki, Zad Moultaka, Serwan Baran, Hala Matta, Hiba Kalache, Zena Assi, and Tagreed Darghouth.  (From the official website.)

Hussein Madi, Garden of Eden.

Insights into Lebanon; Modern and Contemporary Art from 1950 to Today
September 21, 2021, through January 2, 2022
Institut du Monde Arabe
1 rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard
5th Arrondissement
Open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
and Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday: 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
Métro: Jussieu or Cardinal Lemoine
Panoramic terrace restaurant, a café, and self-service kiosk
Official website:  https://www.imarabe.org/en

Musée National Picasso Paris & Musée Rodin

These TWO museums are hosting one show.  A great idea that also gives us a reason to visit two fabulous mansions that are now museums.  This mash-up is guaranteed to be fun.

PICASSO – RODIN

For the first time, the Musée Rodin and the Musée National Picasso-Paris join forces to present the exhibition event “Picasso-Rodin”. This exceptional partnership between two great monographic museums offers an unprecedented look at these genius artists who have paved the way for modernity in art. Their masterpieces are presented simultaneously in the two historical monuments that house these national museums. The exhibition invites a cross-rereading of the works of Rodin (1840-1917) and Picasso (1881-1973). These two great artists having permanently changed the artistic practices of their time for generations to come.  It is not a question of showing what Picasso borrowed from Rodin, but rather of examining the significant convergences that appear between Rodin’s work and several periods of Picasso’s production.

This cross-reading of their works is available in different chapters on both places, at the Rodin Museum on the one hand through the crisis of representation of the early twentieth century, and at the Picasso Museum, on the other hand, the creative processes of the artists. At different times and in different contexts, Rodin and Picasso participate in a decisive articulation of history and this is undoubtedly one of the keys to their similarities. In their own way, they invented a new mode of representation, expressionist at Rodin, cubist at Picasso. (From:  https://www.museepicassoparis.fr/fr/picasso-rodin)

PICASSO – RODIN
2 artists, 2 museums, 1 landmark exhibition
Through January 2, 2022

Musée National Picasso-Paris
5 rue de Thorigny
3rd Arrondissement
Open Tuesday through Friday 10:30 am to 6:00 pm
and Saturday, Sunday and Holidays 9:30 am to 6:00 pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
Métro:  Saint-Paul, Saint-Sébastien Froissart, or Chemin Vert
Official website:  https://www.museepicassoparis.fr/en/

Musée Rodin
77 rue de Varenne
7th Arrondissement
Open Tuesday through Sunday 10:00am to 6:30pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
Métro: Varenne or Invalides
RER: Invalides
Café-restaurant L’Augustine in the garden under tall trees
Official website: https://www.musee-rodin.fr/en

Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature

Y’all, despite its name, this is one of the jewels of the world.  It is so avant-garde, it flies under the radar.  The curatorial staff is out of this world and killing it every day.  They organize shows and rearrange permanent exhibitions in ways only designers of Bergdorf-Goodman windows could imagine.  This place is IT.  Do not pass go, do not collect $200, geaux, geaux, geaux cat geaux to this place the next time you are in Paris!!!!

Carte Blanche – Eva Jospin

For over 10 years, artist Eva Jospin has been composing forest and mineral landscapes exclusively from cardboard. The sobriety of the initial material and the monumental presence of the sculptures contrast with the extremely meticulous and detailed nature of the cut-outs imitating the details of natural landscapes with perfection. She has been invited to take over the rooms of the Museum in the fall of 2021.  (From the official website.)

Eva Jospin

Eva Jospin, Forest.

Eva Jospin
November 16, 2021 through March 20, 2022
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
62 rue des Archives
3rd Arrondissement
Open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Late openings some Wednesdays until 9:30 pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
Métro: Hôtel de Ville, Rambuteau, or Arts et Métiers (take a few minutes and admire this station if you get out here).
Official website:  https://www.chassenature.org

And So Much More

Oh yes, there are operas and the standard permanent gallery exhibitions that remain in many places!  And, the good news is that everything is opening up.  If it isn’t mentioned here, check out your favorite venue’s website.  Repertory works are often fabulous productions.  Especially now since performers have not had a lot of practice time.  And, what could be wrong with seeing masterworks at the standby museums??  Nothing at all!!

Opéra de Paris – various repertory works, and interesting ballet performances. See the lineup and purchase tickets here.

Musée d’Orsay and Musée de l’Orangerie – various shows as well as permanent collection on display.

Paintings in the Louvre Acquired by Louis XIV

Paintings in the Louvre Acquired by Louis XIV

One of the most fascinating parts of stopping at a painting that strikes your sensibility is learning more about it.  The labels next to the works are little blurbs providing basic information.  And generally, it includes how the object made its way into the collection – part of the provenance of the work.

Like monarchs in other realms, French kings were great collectors of art and owned royal castles that could store all of these objects.  The Louvre was one of those castles owned by the sovereign, and we are fortunate that they kept adding to the royal collection over the centuries.

Since Louis XIV is often thought of as the most outsized King of France, here are a few paintings that were directly acquired by the Sun King.  Most of his acquisitions were safely classical French works.  Many religious and classical myths, historical battles, triumphant victories, and battle scenes glorify Louis XIV. And compare Louis XIV to gods.  What else would he expect?

Of course, all of the paintings that belonged to the French crown belonged to Louis XIV when he was King of France from 1643 until 1715.  But these are 7 collected by him, or given to him, while he was king and that are hanging on the walls of the Louvre ready for you to search them out on your next visit.

(The artist’s name is followed by the name of the painting in English and French, the date the work was created, a brief description of how it entered Louis XIV’s collection, and the location where it is on display in the Louvre. All images from louvre.fr.)

1.

Luini, Bernardino.
Salomé Receiving the Head of John the Baptist.  Salomé recevant la tête de saint Jean Baptiste. 1520 – 1530.
Acquired in 1671 from Everhard Jabach.
Denon, Salle 710 – Grande Galerie

To start things off, take a look at this painting of a lovely Salomé turning her head away while John the Baptist’s is held by his hair above the silver plate.  This is one of many paintings Louis XIV bought from Everhard Jabach.  Jabach was an art collector, wheeler, dealer, and director in the French East India Company, which held a monopoly on trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  He had the resources to amass a huge collection of important works from renowned artists.  Some of these he sold to Louis XIV in 1671.

Musée du Louvre. Luini, Bernardino. Salomé recevant la tête de saint Jean Baptiste. 1520 – 1530.

2.

Gellée, Claude, called Le Lorraine.
Seaport at Sunset; Port de mer au soleil couchant.  Painted in 1637 for Pope Urbain VIII.
Given to Louis XIV by André Le Nôtre in 1693.
Richelieu, Salle 827

This beautiful landscape is by a celebrated French painter who creates a classical scene of a port with the warm glow of sunset washing the sea, the ships, the buildings, and the people.  And, notably, this was a gift to Louis XIV by his gardener, André Le Nôtre, the designer of the gardens at Versailles.

Musée du Louvre. Gellée, Claude. Port de mer au soleil couchant. 1637.

3.

Le Brun, Charles.
Alexander the Great Enters Babylon; Entrée d’Alexandre dans Babylone.  1665.
Collected by Louis XIV.
Sully, Salle 914

Could more adoration and comparison be heaped onto Louis XIV?  This is pretty triumphant, for both Louis XIV and a triumph for Charles LeBrun.

Musée du Louvre, Le Brun, Charles. Entrée d’Alexandre dans Babylone. 1665.

4.

van Rijn, Rembrandt Harmenszoon, also called Rembrandt.
Portrait of the Artist at His Easel; Autoportrait au chevalet et à l’appuie-main de peintre. 1660.
Collected by Louis XIV about 1671.
Richelieu, Salle 101

Rembrandt, check.

Musée du Louvre, van Rijn, Rembrandt Harmenszoon, also called Rembrandt. Autoportrait au chevalet et à l’appuie-main de peintre. 1660.

5.

Titien (Tiziano Vecellio, called Tiziano), in English, Titian.
Saint Jerome doing penance; Saint Jérôme pénitent.  XVI century.
Louis XIV bought this painting and others from Pierre-Alexis Ponce de La Feuille in 1671.
Denon, Salle 711

Poor St. Jerome.  He lived in the 300s and early 400s living in a cave outside of Bethlehem after converting to Christianity.  Writing furiously and eating a subsistence diet, he is often portrayed half-clothed.  Here, Titien shows a penitent St. Jerome on bended knee before a crucifix.  Notice his friend the lion in the shadows, faithfully staying with the one who had removed a thorn from his paw and nursed him back to health.

Musée du Louvre. Titien. Saint Jérôme pénitent. XVI century.

6.

Santi, Raffaello, called Raphaël.
St. George Fighting the Dragon; Saint Georges luttant avec le dragon.  1503 – 1505.
Acquired by Louis XIV from the heirs of Cardinal Mazarin in 1665.
Denon, Salle 710

This jewel is only 11.5” x 10”.  Even though it is in a large gilded frame, it is easy to miss.  The Grand Gallery can be overwhelming with masterworks whizzing by.  Take some time to find the ones you like.  Notice that Cardinal Mazarin had a good eye when it came to collecting masterpieces.

Musée du Louvre. Santi, Raffaello, dit RaphaëlItalie. Saint Georges luttant avec le dragon. 1503 – 1505.

7.

Vouet, Simon, Attributed to.
Christ on the Column;  Le Christ à la colonne.  Around 1645.
Entered the collection of Louis XIV before 1706.
Richelieu, Salle 831

This may be one of the most muscular depictions of Jesus ever created.  He and his tormentors are definitely gym rats in this painting.

Musée du Louvre. Vouet, Simon. Le Christ à la colonne. Around 1645.

BONUS – because it is a must to include:

Rigaud, Hyacinthe also called, Rigau y Ros.
Louis XIV (1638-1715); Louis XIV (1638-1715).  1701.
Collected by Louis XIV
Held by the Louvre, but on view at Versailles.

Louis XIV in all his glory.  Of course, he collected it.

Musée du Louvre. Rigaud, Hyacinthe. Louis XIV (1638-1715). 1701.

There are so many paintings that were acquired by royalty.  Find your favorites on the walls of the Louvre, then check the label.  You may be surprised who shares your taste!

Musée du Louvre
Paris
For hours and information to plan your visit, go to https://www.louvre.fr/en/visit#hours-admission.
Look for the logo:

New Paris Art Exhibits & Musical Highlights 2019/2020

New Paris Art Exhibits & Musical Highlights 2019/2020

Now that La Rentrée is complete, it is time to start trip planning in the winter and into 2020.  Here are a few highlights that begin with visual arts and exhibits.

Théâtre du Châtelet

The Théâtre du Châtelet will reopen in September after a 30-month renovation.  A sumptuous theater, but at the same time with an intimate audience space.  One tremendous idea of the co-directors is to introduce an idea that people who purchase tickets for a show buy extra tickets for those who cannot afford them.  What a refreshing idea!  Along with avant-garde theater, the Théâtre du Châtelet will perform An American in Paris from November 28, 2019 until January 1, 2020.

Léonard da Vinci Exhibit

That is correct.  The French do not call him Leonardo, rather Léonard.  Buy your tickets now for the sensational celebration of Léonard da Vinci at the Louvre.  From October 24, 2019 until February 24, 2020.  You can get priority access by becoming a Friend of the Louvre.  Add this to your trip planning as the main event.  Then, schedule other things around this once in many, many lifetimes opportunity.  I am trying to make it to see this!

Leonardo, Virgin of the Rocks.

Skip Mona – this is on the wall with no one looking at it!!!!  Next to other masterpieces by him – bonus – and people walk by with no clue.

A change at the Louvre you definitely need to know.  If you have a museum pass, you must now reserve a time to enter the Louvre.  Best advice on visiting – go when it opens or go on a Wednesday or Friday late afternoon or evening.  The Louvre is open until 9:45pm on those two days.  (You don’t want me to gush about how enchanting it is to visit the Louvre in the nighttime.)  Remember, Tuesdays, the Louvre is closed.  You can always buy timed entry tickets online as well.

Grand Palais Exhibits

Three extraordinary events are coming to the Grand Palais!

El Greco

First, we know him as El Greco, but the name of the exhibit is GRECO from October 16, 2019 – February 10, 2020. This is the FIRST retrospective in France dedicated to El Greco!!! What a bonus for Paris! From the Grand Palais’ site: “Attracted by the incredible promise of the El Escorial site, the artist brought Titian’s color, Tintoretto’s audacity, and Michelangelo’s heroic style. This eloquent combination, original yet consistent with his own way, gave El Greco (who died four years after Caravaggio) a unique place in the history of painting, as the last grandmaster of the Renaissance and the first great painter of the Golden Age.”

El Greco

Toulouse-Lautrec

Second, on October 9, 2019, the exhibition TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, Resolutely Modern opens. It is another retrospective, and the last one was in 1992. It runs until January 27, 2020. Rather than focusing on what is called, the “Montmartre Culture,” this exhibition explores his art, on its own. And, in the Grand Palais’ site, it states, “By giving too much weight to the context and folklore of the Moulin-Rouge, we have lost sight of the aesthetic, poetic ambition which Lautrec invested in what he learned, in turn, from Princeteau, Bonnat, and Cormon.” It should be fascinating.

Toulouse-Lautrec

Paris Photo

Third, and not the least by far, is Paris Photo. From November 7-10, 2019, you can see amazing art under the glass ceiling of the Grand Palais. “Paris Photo is the largest international art fair dedicated to the photographic medium and is held each November at the historic Grand Palais in Paris. Since 1997, the Fair’s mission is to promote and nurture photographic creation and the galleries, publishers, and artists at its source. Paris Photo brings together up to 200 exhibitors from across the world, offering collectors and enthusiasts the most diverse and qualitative presentation of photography-driven projects today. Leading galleries showcase historical and contemporary artworks from modern masters to young talents.” From https://www.parisphoto.com/en/fair/About/.

That is three events in one space to consider in your trip planning.

Jeu de Paume

Photographs by Peter Hujar are coming soon to the Jeu de Paume in an exhibition, Peter Hujar Speed of Life. In keeping with its goal of promoting mechanical and electronic imagery of the 20th and 21st centuries, it stays on the cutting edge. From October 15, 2019, until January 19, 2020, Hujar’s work will entice visitors into the beautiful building where court games were once played. The press for this exhibit describes the artist as, “In his loft studio in the East Village, Hujar focused on those who followed their creative instincts and shunned mainstream success. He made, in his words, “uncomplicated, direct photographs of complicated and difficult subjects,” immortalizing moments, individuals, and subcultures passing at the speed of life.” From the Jeu de Paume’s website. Also on view late 2019 and early 2020 are exhibits of work by Daisuke Kosugi and Zineb Sedira.

Palais de Tokyo

October 14 – RÜFÜS DU SOL.  In the Yoyo at Palais de Tokyo.  An amazing venue for this Australian group to perform!!!

Also, from October 16, 2019, until January 5, 2010, Futur, ancien, fugitif is an exhibition of contemporary works from artists of varying ages, living throughout France and other countries. None of the artist’s work is in the same medium or in the same method. All of the invited artists will answer and explore similar existential questions through their works. Like many of the other exhibitions at the Palais de Tokyo, this one sounds like it will be interesting and mind-expanding.

Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature

Sorry, but this gem will be closed until the fall or winter of 2020 for renovation and enlargement.  Obviously, the word has gotten out that this place is a must see – the number of visitors doubled between 2016 and 2018.  Put it in your trip planning at some point.

Musée de Luxembourg

You can see more than just the garden over at Luxembourg Palace. Just next door to the French Senate complex, the small Musée du Luxembourg museum often hosts fascinating exhibitions. And, it is true for The Golden Age of the English Painting, from Reynolds to Turner.

From September 11, 2019 to February 16, 2020, if you happen to be in Paris and want to see a dose of English painting in Paris. This is the ticket for you.

Musée Jacquemart-André

Not into English painting? What about paintings from the Italian Renaissance? If so, make trip planning a priority to see, The Alana CollectionMasterpieces of Italian Painting. In this unprecedented loan, seventy-five masterpieces from Italian masters will hang in the sumptuous rooms of the Musée Jacquemart-André. From September 13, 2019, until January 20, 2020, admire works by Lorenzo Monaco, Fra Angelico, Uccello, Lippi, Bellini, Carpaccio, Tintoretto, Veronese, Bronzino, and Gentileschi.

Musée Maillol

One hundred works from ‘Naïve’ artists (“Called ‘modern primitives’ by one of their ardent supporters”) soon will grace the Musee Maillol in the exhibition entitled, From the Douanier Rousseau to Séraphine, The Great Naïve Masters. From September 11, 2019, to January 19, 2020, you can be mesmerized by the seemingly simplistic art by André Bauchant, Camille Bombois, Ferdinand Desnos, Jean Ève, René Rimbert, Dominique Peyronnet, and Louis Vivin. From the museum’s site: “By combining a historical, analytical, and perceptive approach to the works and their presentation in the exhibition, the Musée Maillol will unveil the subversive dimension of Naïve art and will present these Naïve, primitive, modern, or anti-modern artists as great artists who ran counter to the avant-garde artists.”

Fondation Louis Vuitton

Charlotte Perriand: Inventing a New World will be on view from October 2, 2019, to February 24, 2020. The website for the Fondation describes the exhibit, “To mark the twentieth anniversary of the passing of Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999), the Fondation pays tribute to her as an architect and visionary creator through an exhibition of her work exploring the links between art, architecture and design.” Charlotte Perriand worked with both Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in her youth. She designed interiors for the art of living, “L’Art de Vivre,” with the idea that everything working in conjunction, beautifully, creates a better place for all of us.

charlotte perriand

Furniture and interior by Charlotte Perriand on exhibit. Jacques.delacroix, Meubles Charlotte Perriand, CC BY-SA 3.0

And, for an abbreviated round up of highlights from the performing arts….  There is just soooo much happening in Paris…..

Opéra National de Paris

Over at the Opéra National de Paris, at both venues – Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille – of course, there are some of the most in-demand events in the world. Well-known operas from Madam Butterfly to Don Carlo, but also with lesser-knowns, like Les Indes Galantes and Boris Godunov. Plus newer works like Lear. And, the opera is performing a few works from Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

On the ballet and dance front, the troupe is performing a Balanchine tribute from February through April 2020, Giselle in January and February of that year. But, from January 18-29, the ballet will perform Debussy and Ravel together for a cosmic performance. Described on the website as, “Guided by her perpetual fascination for the relationship between pure movement and music, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker takes up Prélude à l’après‑midi d’un faune with the dancers of the Rosas Company. The performance continues with L’Enfant et les sortilèges, a tale written by Colette and finely orchestrated by Ravel. In Richard Jones and Antony McDonald’s production, the singers of the Academy suffuse this work with the freshness of youth.”

As well as many concerts and events. And lots of “Young Audience” events that are great for all ages. Each seems like it is a can’t miss engagement.

Philharmonie de Paris

Okay, the Philharmonie de Paris has about 500 concerts each year – of every kind of music. Plus, it has a museum and mounts exhibitions. A LOT is happening. Some interesting and fun events are the movies where the orchestra plays the music. Yes, live music at a movie. Take a look at the calendar once you have your dates and make a plan to visit this incredible venue. The building alone is worth a visit, but add in talented musicians and singers and performers and you have a guaranteed exciting time.

philharmonie de paris

Inside the Philharmonie de Paris. Photo by BastienM, Paris-Philharmonie1, CC BY-SA 4.0

Even if you lived in Paris, I don’t know how you could see all of these incredible opportunities to learn and experience more!

La Rentrée – 10 Ways to Embrace and Celebrate

La Rentrée – 10 Ways to Embrace and Celebrate

La Rentrée is upon us.  The end of summer is here and it is time for re-entry to the world of work and school – La Rentrée.  Such an apt word to describe getting back into the routine.  Yes, it is foreign to us (no joke).  The French take the month of August off work, so it is really a total mindset adjustment when work and school begin again.  Imagine the hardship!!!!

And, because this summer is over after having been particularly hectic, are a few ideas that may help for La Rentrée.

10 Ways to Embrace La Rentrée

Embracing re-entry after leaving the shores of the Mediterranean sounds impossible. And, I agree. How can anyone be happy to leave the “sud-life” to go back to the grind?

But, to get back down to the Riviera, work must be done to earn the euros required to enjoy the holiday. So, it may not be easy to embrace La Rentrée, but here are a few ideas. It doesn’t have to be a grind! Make La Rentrée a new part of a fun fall.

1. Head to the nearest brasserie and indulge with a plateau de fruits de mer.

What could be more reminiscent of time near the water than huge platters iced seafood? Lobsters, clams, oysters, shrimp, mussels and mignonette sauce. Refreshing and briny to bring you back to the “sud-life.”

2. A pique-nique in a garden.

The weather will be cooler and the leaves will begin to change soon. Spread your blanket under a giant tree and bust out the bread, cheese and foie gras! Bring some red wine, real plates, real cutlery, and real glasses. Make it special. Enjoy life at home just like you did on vacation.

3. Buy some new sheets or new towels. Go shopping.

Think about the little luxury you wanted before vacation and put it in your shopping cart. Fresh, crisp sheets and thick, absorbent towels will put you right as rain.

4. Put exercise back in your routine.

Re-entry can be less stressful if you carve out some time to exercise. Whether it is walking, running, going to the gym, swimming. Make some time to get your body back into physical well being. It will help with the routine of school and work. Plus, you will be keeping that body in shape for next summer’s fun!

5. Get your children a new, fun and useful school bag, lunch box, or outfit.

Just a little something will help the children ease into re-entry as well. Remember, it is just as hard for them to start a new “work” year. A little something special, something they choose, not picked by you, will help everyone’s feelings.

6. At least for a few weeks, try to plan dinner ahead so you can shop effectively at the grocery store.

Looking at recipes for quickly prepared meals and making lists is such a time saver. See what sides, salads, and mains you can make without much time, or all in one sheet pan in the oven, and make them work to your advantage. Lists help so much!!!! One for what to have for dinner and one for the ingredients to make them happen.

7. Speaking of food…. try to recreate a great recipe or meal that you had during the summer.

You may not be surprised to find a recipe or many recipes for that memorable meal online. Many times, restaurants list nearly all of the ingredients in the menu. Other times, if it is really good, others have thought the same thing and posted their own recipes recreating special foods. Or, if you are really creative and have a great food sense and memory, start trying it out on your own. Who knows, you may create something you like even better.

8. Didn’t see all of your friends over the summer? Now is the perfect time to catch up.

Pull out your calendars and compare schedules for the upcoming weeks. Plan a coffee or cocktail date and put it on the calendar in pen. Then, you can discuss your summers and also commiserate over La Rentrée.

9. Do not over-schedule!

The surest way to bomb at re-entry is to over schedule. Before accepting invitations for play dates and dinners, take a deep breath, take your time and look at your calendar. You need some time at home. Downtime with just the family. Or, so the children can study, you can get ready for the next workday, and everyone can have a few minutes without being overwhelmed with things to do.

10. Eat dinner together as a family.

After making your lists for dinner and ingredients, and making sure you aren’t overbooked, have dinner with the family. Find out about the new school schedule, re-hash (quickly) the bad parts of work, and move on to talk about plans for the future. Find out what is happening now that re-entry is in full swing.

What is your best advice to ease the re-entry?

…ease into La Rentrée…

Inrap and “Tromelin, the Island of Forgotten Slaves”

Inrap and “Tromelin, the Island of Forgotten Slaves”

After the destruction of multiple historically important medieval buildings, Victor Hugo wrote an article in 1825, “Guerre aux démolisseurs!” (“War on the demolishers!”). Hugo’s article and widespread support for his idea led to the start of protecting historic monuments.  But historic monuments are only part of the history that can be found at a specific location. Up until fairly recently, developers and contractors have been able to build on apparently empty spaces without any investigation into the ground below or preservation/conservation of what was found in the ground.

In other words, if contractors dug up the ground and found historic artifacts, they could disregard the ruins below and immediately continue with their constructions.  All without any preservation or study of the site, or the objects.

Even if they found Gallo-Roman or Medieval ruins, burial grounds, roads, temples, etc…., nothing would have to be conserved. Ignore that history and keep on building!  This article is a bit dense.  But, stick with me and hopefully you will appreciate Inrap and its work with Tromelin.

Inrap

Obviously, tearing up and throwing away ancient ruins was not good.  After multiple scandals involving the destruction of large and significant finds around the turn of the 21st century, France enacted laws that require an archeological study of building sites.  Inrap is the department tasked with preventing the loss of archeological heritage on land, and in water, and providing the results of those studies to the public. Inrap is short for, “Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives.” Or, in English, “French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research.”

This is a tremendous task given that the land of France is dotted with scattered sites from pre-written history, to Roman times, to sites as recent as WWI and WWII.  The published results from Inrap’s work are fascinating and widely diverse.  It seems that the archeologists are finding more and more mesmerizing works every day!

Graffiti from soldiers in caves during WWI; thousand-year-old footprints in Normandy; a ritual Jewish bath from Medieval France; Gallic warriors from 3 and 4 centuries BC; hunter-gathers in Paleolithic times – they find it all in France.  And with more construction, more astonishing archeological ruins are found and investigated.

The Utile

Through its research, and its obligation to provide information to the public, Inrap helps with various public exhibitions.  These exhibitions generally display the work of this important organizations.  One of these exhibitions in which it played a significant role is, “Tromelin, the Island of Forgotten Slaves.”  The final stop of this traveling exhibition is at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris from February 13, 2019 until June 3, 2019.

The exhibition explores the French East India Company’s, Utile, and what happened to its passengers.  The Utile was shipwrecked in 1761 on a desert island in the Indian Ocean.  Along with its French crew, the ship was carrying an illegal cargo of 160 enslaved Malagasy people.  (Malagasy are natives of Madagascar; Malagasy in French is Malgache.)

On the desert island, French and Malagasy survivors made a raft to try to return to Madagascar.  Leaving 80 surviving Malagasy people on the island with a 3 month supply of food, the French crew sailed away promising to return to rescue them as soon as they reached Madagascar.

The ones who left the island never returned for the survivors.

Tromelin

Fifteen years later, a Frenchman named, Bernard Boudin de Tromelin, captained his ship to the island and rescued the only remaining survivors: 7 Malagasy women and an eight-month-old Malagasy child.  The remote island remains a French territory and is now named, Tromelin Island, in honor of the rescuer.

Inrap Research Expeditions

Since the 2000s, Inrap has played a decisive role in thoroughly researching all historical details of enslaved peoples during France’s colonial period.  Because the location included a shipwreck, Inrap formed a collaboration with the Naval Archeology Research Group (le Groupe de recherche en archéologie navale, or GRAN).

Both groups wanted to collect as much information, using the latest technology, and as comprehensively as possible. In multiple expeditions between 2006 and 2013, the organizations conducted historic, archeological and environmental work on the island and in its waters.

The Exhibition

The culmination of this research and the efforts of other participating organizations is the public exhibition, “Tromelin, the Island of Forgotten Slaves.” It is divided into three sections:  examining the slave trade in the Indian Ocean; the archeological information collected about the enslaved people, their culture while on the island, their food, life and death; and finally, memorial.

Since 2015, it has been traveling to various cities of France with great success.  Now, it makes its last stop in Paris at one of the great museums in France.

Information

“Tromelin, The Island of Forgotten Slaves”
(“Tromelin, l’Île des Esclaves Oubliés”)
Musée de l’Homme
Address: 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016
Nearest Métro: Trocadéro; exit at “Avenue Paul Doumer – Musée de l’Homme”
Official website of Musée de l’Homme: http://www.museedelhomme.fr/en
Musée de l’Homme (Museum of Man) is part of the National Natural History Museums in France and it presents the evolution of humans and human societies.  It occupies one side of the gargantuan Palais de Chaillot (across from the Eiffel Tower).

Palais Chaillot; Museum of Man; Inrap Exhibition

Interested in Inrap?  Read more here. The site even has an extract of a film about the enslaved Malagasy who were abandoned on the island.

Cultural Highlights – Visual and Performing Arts Coming to Paris Spring 2019

Cultural Highlights – Visual and Performing Arts Coming to Paris Spring 2019

Spring 2019 Cultural Highlights

Visual and performing arts again take center stage when planning a trip to Paris.  Along with organ concerts and musical performance at many churches, take a look at this super short list of exciting events.  They may be enough reason to start planning now.

UPDATE: See New Paris Art Exhibits & Musical Highlights for Fall 2019 and into 2020.

Visual Arts

Love Oceania?

Musee du Quai Branly

Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac hosts a comprehensive exhibition on Oceania from March 12, 2019 until July 7, 2019. On the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific region, encompassing the 25,000 islands of Oceania, he introduced the Western world to Oceanic peoples and their art. From the museum’s website, “Across this vast, scattered territory in which each archipelago island and land has managed to preserve its own unique characteristics, artists nonetheless share universal questions, issues, and reflections. Featuring painstakingly sculpted canoes, jade ornaments, ritual figures, and contemporary videos and installations, Oceania reveals how tradition and ancestral memory coexist with the visionary and sometimes critical perspective that these artists have of their society and the rest of the world.”

Palais de Tokyo

Palais de Tokyo

Various exhibitions and site-specific installations fill the huge spaces here. From Julien Creuzet, Theaster Gates, Julius von Bismark, to Louis-Cyprien Rials and more. These young artists are exploring world societies norms and histories and putting it right in front through cutting edge art.  Open from noon to midnight every day except Tuesdays. Buckle up and take a look at the exhibits filling the Palais de Tokyo.

Calder-Picasso

Calder-Picasso

“Calder-Picasso” is on view from February 19, 2019, until August 25, 2019, at the National Picasso Museum Paris (Musée National Picasso-Paris).  This exhibition will be a rare chance to see together approximately 150 works by these two 20th century masters. Negative space or the void is the focus of the show. Should be an interesting mash-up.

The Orient of the Painters, from Dream to Light

Orient of the Painters

From March 7, 2019, until July 21, 2019, the Musée Marmottan Monet mounts “The Orient of the Painters, from Dream to Light.” This show presents Orientalist paintings along with the theory that abstraction had its birth in these Orientalism paintings. (During the 19th century, the “Orient” to the painters in Europe was generally the Middle East and North African countries. The distant exotic lands had only been revealed through Napoleon’s conquests and the return of stories and trophies.) The paintings are alive with vivid color and fantastical scenes. May have to make a return trip to see this show or at least hope for a catalog.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Closed for rehanging and installation.  Reopens March 15, 2019.

Performing Arts

Opéra National de Paris – Bastille

Opera Bastille

Over at the Opéra Bastille, enjoy timeless favorites by recognized masters of opera. Or, see the experimental, Tree of Codes. What about the not too often performed, Prince Igor by Borodine? Or, Rameau’s opera-ballet, Les Indes galantes?

Palais Garnier

Opera Garnier Interior

Celebrate the 350th anniversary of Opera in Paris at the Palais Garnier on 08 May 2019. The incredible diva, Anna Netrebko, will perform along with Yusif Eyvazov. Throughout the remainder of the spring season, Mozart, Verdi, and Donizetti are on the stage, as well as many ballet performances. All are in the sumptuous red velvet and gilded surrounds of the famous opera house.

Philharmonie de Paris

Philharmonie de Paris

photo © William Beaucardet

Find a variety of concerts, chamber music, choral works and solo singing performances in the spring.  Berlioz’s Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers and even Benjamin Brittan’s War Requiem.  Where else can you hear these?

Modern Dance

Theatre National de Chaillot

Theatre National de Chaillot

Théâtre National de Chaillot offers a selection of interesting and arresting dance performances.  Just reading the titles of the works is enticing:  Some Hope for the Bastards by Canadian, Frédérick Gravel; Nederlands Dans Theater’s, Subtle Dust; Catherine Diverrès’, Blow The Bloody Doors Off!