A visit to this year’s summer exhibition at the famed Pierre Gianadda Foundation in Martigny, Switzerland, makes a great weekend escape from Paris. The show celebrates the high-color Fauve movement, which, strictly speaking, had its heyday from 1905 to ’08. … Read More
A couple of hours by Eurostar from Paris, two essentially French art shows in London offer an excuse for a weekend immersed in the Anglo-Gallic love-hate relationship. And, if you’ve time to spare for a long weekend, a day trip … Read More
One thing is certain this summer: after over two years of pandemic restrictions, everyone is looking to travel and get away from it all. But where in France to escape while retaining a little of the calm that came with … Read More
The French artist Matt Coco often takes a natural or human disaster as a starting point for her installations. She sees catastrophes not just as an endpoint but also as a potential new beginning. “I try to transpose that moment … Read More
Saint Jean de Luz, a chic Basque fishing port on the Atlantic coast near the Spanish border, has a distinguished history: none other than Louis XIV was married in 1660 in its Église Saint Jean Baptiste to Maria Teresa of … Read More
Many agreeable surprises are to be found in the French provinces, not the least of which are contemporary art spaces in the most unexpected places. One example is the Centre d’Art Contemporain at the Bouvet Ladubay winery in Saumur, which … Read More
With all the confusion about red countries and different vaccination and quarantine requirements, the outlook wasn’t good for a foreign vacation this summer, so I decided to spend mine in France. No hardship there. The question was, where to go? … Read More
Any fan of the painter Gustave Courbet (1819-77) will relish the drive from Besançon to his hometown of Ornans in eastern France, near the Swiss border. You may even feel like a tiny figure in one of his luxuriant landscape … Read More
What’s so French about Saint Petersburg? Quite a lot, surprisingly. I was recently invited to visit the watery Russian city on the Gulf of Finland, with its canals, river and sea, and found it to be almost a museum of … Read More
Finding a place of space and solace in France in August is no mean feat, especially one with a world-class classical music festival, one of the finest abbeys in France, great countryside and good-value, available accommodation. Oh, and decent, well-priced … Read More
