Heidi Ellison
Le Bain et le Miroir
“Vénus à sa Toilette.” Anonymous. France, c. 1550. © RMN/Daniel Arnaudet. Those who decry the vanity of our era and mock the current obsession with Botox and other less-than-natural methods for physical enhancement need only pay a visit to the … Read More
Gustave Eiffel: Le Magicien du Fer
André Granet: “Illumination of the Eiffel Tower for the Exposition Universelle of 1937.” © RMN (Musée d’Orsay / © Hervé Lewandowski “Gustave Eiffel: Le Magicien du Fer,” a new exhibition at Paris’s Hôtel de Ville celebrating the iconic tower’s 120th … Read More
Les Premiers Retables
“Le Repas chez Simon et la Flagellation du Christ” (Bourgogne, 1230-40) © Ville de Semur-en-Auxois/Christophe Gilles How many people avoid the Louvre, that museum of museums, just because it is so big, crowded and overwhelming? When taken in small bites, … Read More
A Collection of Exhibitions
Three cheerful new exhibitions in Paris – “The Jazz Century,” “Warhol’s Wide World” and “Alexander Calder: The Parisian Years” – provide an artful antidote to these morose … Favorite
Europe XXL
The city of Lille inaugurated a major cultural festival called “Europe XXL” on March 14 with a massive parade, the burning of giants papier-mâché falla sculptures (a heritage of the time when … Favorite
Europe XXL
The city of Lille inaugurated a major cultural festival called “Europe XXL” on March 14 with a massive parade, the burning of giants papier-mâché falla sculptures (a heritage of the time when the city was part of the Spanish Netherlands), … Read More
Les Portes du Ciel
A new exhibition at the Louvre, “Les Portes du Ciel” (“The Gates to Heaven”), takes visitors through those gates into the next world as imagined by the Egyptians, illustrated by a wealth of stunning … Favorite
Valadon Utrillo
The Pinacothèque de Paris is a gallery with a mission: it often sets out to rescue the reputation of artists who have been forgotten, neglected or scorned… Favorite
Giorgio de Chirico: La Fabrique des Rêves
The Artist as Enigma “Le Vaticinateur” (1915). © ADAGP, Paris 2009 What could be more recognizable than a Giorgio de Chirico painting? A large stretch of empty space; lonely, featureless human figures or a statue; an architectural element here and … Read More
David LaChapelle
Irreality Show “Statue” from the “Deluge” series (2007). © David LaChapelle What happens when Jeff Koons meets Andy Warhol meets Pierre et Gilles? You get David LaChapelle. Call him camp, kitsch and commercial all you like, but his giant photographic … Read More