In times past, the great European museums were founded around royal collections. In more recent memory, in the US particularly, it was through the largesse of business moguls that the finest museum collections were assembled, a trend that continues right up in the...
The art world, like the rest of us for that matter, likes pigeonholing artists into one category or another. Fortunately there are artists who manage to escape all categorisation. A case in point is Francesco Vezzoli, the Italian artist recognised by international...
The American legend Robert Longo (born in 1953), whose works can be found in the collections of major museums across the world, was in Paris a few days ago as he has two gallery shows, one at Thaddeus Ropac in Le Marais, the other at Cahiers d'Art in Saint Germain des...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_00F0Wyw6vA She’s best known as the wife of John Lennon - one of the icons of 20th century pop music - and a fortiori as the heiress of his legendary group The Beatles. However, ladies and gentlemen, now Yoko Ono finds herself...
When it comes to art, there’s a strange microclimate in Brussels. The European capital is home to a surprising number of seasoned collectors with particular interests in those rather challenging art forms people tend to term avant-garde. One of the best illustrations...
‘Each time you talk to your friends on Facebook, each time you buy a book on Amazon, each time you save for your pension fund, you’re dealing with a company practicing tax optimisation. We’re not talking drug trafficking. It frequently turns out that these...
It's a story that has got the entire old master world talking. And it begins like the best art market myths: in 2014 a family in Toulouse, in the south-west of France, while doing work on their house, discovered a canvas in the attic which appeared to be from the...
Sigmar Polke (1941-2010) is true a giant of painting from the second half of the 20th century but has yet to receive the full credit he deserves. This is especially apparent when compared with his fellow countryman Gerhard Richter (born 1932) who can properly be...
In a just short space of time La Monnaie de Paris, with its sumptuous 18th century salons, has defied to all expectations to become an important exhibition space for radical contemporary art. Hot on the heels of the solo exhibition by Belgian artist Marcel...
Picabia, Duchamp, Bellmer... Major names in the history of modern art and, it would seem, completely out of most people’s price range nowadays. In Paris, however, the cradle of Surrealism and Dadaism, you can find highly specialised book and manuscript auctions...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNudBHEsAlI Some painters have an overwhelmingly intellectual relationship to their work. For others it’s more physical. Ask one of the most famous among the latter group, Gerhard Richter, born in 1932, who his greatest inspirations...
Though he’s a towering figure in the history of French art, it’s the Prado in Madrid that is currently exhibiting almost his entire catalogue of works. Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) was a painter from the Lorraine region whose work was highly regarded in his time....