https://youtu.be/ybfy9DPWkAg Van Gogh In 1888 Vincent Van Gogh brought his friend Paul Gauguin to Arles. He dreamed of creating a community there, a communion even, of artists captivated by the colours of the Camargue region. It was...
François Catroux: part of Yves Saint Laurent’s circle, the famous decorator’s collection is auctioned while the value of design skyrockets
Saint Laurent, Loulou de la Falaise, Betty Catroux Great creatives, who are so unique, tend to feel the need to create a close-knit circle around them. This is true of Yves Saint Laurent, whose two best friends became legendary muses: Loulou de...
Carsten Höller: in Lisbon inside the belly of the whale, the artist plays with light and science
https://youtu.be/ZWpomNj3mrQ Phytopathologist Carsten Höller is a man of experiences. That’s not to say he is particularly old, since the Swedish-Belgian-German artist – who speaks French very well – was born in 1961. But from his...
Pissarro, Signac: their major roles in the history of modern art are re-examined in Basel and Paris
Changing mind A good exhibition is one that enables you to change your mind about an artist. Pissarro There are all sorts of reasons why this should happen at the show staged by the Kunstmuseum in Basel dedicated to Camille Pissarro...
Anselm Kiefer: forever in search of the ideal painting
https://youtu.be/yQS91FsimQ4 The same painting Across kilometres and kilometres, since the very beginning, or almost, Anselm Kiefer (born in 1945) has been making the same painting. This is not to say that he’s repeating himself, that...
Edvard Munch in Oslo: the new XXL museum showcasing the extraordinary modern painter
Oslofjord On the banks of the Oslofjord in the all-new cultural district of Bjorvika, located in a former container port set amid the maritime landscape that was so beloved by the famous Norwegian native Edvard Munch (1863-1944), there’s a...
Jeff Koons and David Beckham: the unexpected encounter in Doha
Soft power In the early French Renaissance when King Francis I assembled the greatest artists of the time, such as Leonardo da Vinci, in the West, or closer to the present day during the postwar period when the United States extended its...
Art Basel Miami Beach: the spectacular success of artists from the African diaspora
Josephine Baker As the Pantheon in Paris – the inner sanctum of the French Republic – saw the entrance of Josephine Baker, a black woman, former music-hall dancer, activist and patriot of American origin, Miami saw the inauguration of the...
Beeple, the author of the 69.3-million-dollar NFT: “I want to change the course of art history”
https://youtu.be/C0KMkaN-qx4 More open to change The public health crisis has made people more open to change and has led to a growing awareness of the importance of physical experiences (meeting friends, listening to live music)...
Picasso, his mother, the French police and the Légion d’honneur
France filters In his introduction to the history of French art, the historian André Chastel writes: “France filters. It receives and it sifts.” The best demonstration of this is one of the most talented Spaniards of the 20th century, who the...
Al Thani collection: a new little museum in Paris housing an exceptional cabinet of curiosities
Place de la Concorde To travel through time all you have to do is go to Paris to the Place de la Concorde. You will first arrive in the 18th century, visiting the building designed by the King’s architect, Gabriel, sumptuously restored by...
The modern and contemporary art market in four works plus comments from the buyer of the NFT for 28.9 million dollars
Strong on all fronts In New York, the sales of modern and contemporary art at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, which have been unusually spread over two weeks (1), take the pulse of the market as the world gradually starts to come out of confinement....