What is it about Vermeer that fascinates us so much? Is it the scarcity of his paintings? The mystery of the life of the artist dubbed “The Sphinx of Delft” by 19th-century art critic Théophile Thoré-Bürger? Or is it the … Read More
I would translate the word-playing name of the restaurant (V)ivre as “high (or drunk) on life,” a happy name for a place that cheers you up right away with a friendly greeting from the jovial owner, Caroline Savoy (daughter of … Read More
French photographer Eli Lotar (1905-69), the subject of one of the current exhibitions at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, seems to have been rather forgotten until now compared with such contemporaries as André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau, … Read More
Chez Léon is not to be confused with the chain of inexpensive mussels-and-fries restaurants found all over Paris. Far from it. This Léon is the kind of classic Paris bistro that is fast disappearing (and those that are left aren’t … Read More
In the past few days, readers from all over the world, or my frontal lobe, have been writing in to ask, “David, have you seen anything strange in Paris recently?” To which I can only answer, “Should Adair buzz in … Read More
Les Résistants, a new restaurant in Paris’s 10th arrondissement, has only been open for a month or so and is already packed, upstairs and down. This may be a sign of support for the approach of the three young owners, … Read More
The unusual exhibition “Drawing Machines” at the Musée des Arts et Métiers interprets its title in a variety of ways in an effort “to portray the timeless magic of drawing.” There are machines designed to help artists draw. There are … Read More
My wife Nancy used to be close friends with an American woman who had lived in Paris in the late 1940s and early ’50s. One day they were talking about what the city was like back then, and the older … Read More
Visitors to “Tenue Correcte Exigée: Quand le Vêtement Fait Scandale” at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs are greeted with insults in many languages splashed like graffiti on the walls: “What’s that you’re wearing? A sack?” “Fashion faux pas!” “Don’t you … Read More
Written in script on the menu of Sense Eat, an Italian vegetarian restaurant near Odéon, is a quote from Albert Einstein: “It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, … Read More
