Sublime. Ouro Preto. Perched on a cluster of slippery hills is a city of white, blue and gold, of sloping streets paved in large rough-edged stones, of fountains and churches, of rockeries, of Jesus and Mary. We’re in Brazil, in the state of Minas Gerais ('the General...
He proudly announces that he celebrated his 80th birthday on 1 April and carts around an encyclopaedia of art inside his head (1). Born in Germany, Werner Spies has always been fascinated by France where he’s lived since he was 25. The director of the Musée National...
This summer in Venice the Biennale is stealing all the attention. Which is why contemporary art lovers might miss an exceptional Philip Guston (1913-1980) exhibition at Gallerie dell’Accademia. Guston, an American painter with a distinctive verve, is known for having...
Xavier Douroux tragically passed away on 28 June. He was one of the most influential and most astute figures in the world of contemporary art in France with Le Consortium in Dijon, which he co-founded with Franck Gautherot as well as a book publisher via Les Presses...
There’s no denying it: the new map of wealthy nations is directly influencing the art market. In the field of modern art, even if Europe with Picasso at the helm (the record price for his work is $179 million, set in 2015) has represented the inner circle of...
Hans Ulrich Obrist (Huo) is one of the most famous superstars of contemporary art. The artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery and self-described exhibition maker was generous enough to inaugurate our new video series: 10 times 50 seconds. -1 What is the first...
(David Hockney studio did not allow photos or videos in the exhibition even for journalists ) There are artists who dream about pictorial revolutions and there are those who celebrate easel painting as it has always been. Painting has its great adventurers, those who...
If there is one unmissable modern art exhibition this summer it has to be Portraits by Cézanne (1839-1906) at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GWacaEf4I0 In 60 paintings it proves many things, first of all the museum’s pulling...
In Paris, a stone’s throw from the Boulevard Saint Germain, an exceptional new show has just opened that looks into the creative process behind Dutch masterpieces of 17th century. It involved a police-like investigation of history to locate the drawings that helped to...
At a time when the world has been shaken by a series of catastrophic election results, France is growing increasingly nervous about the approaching presidential contest in April. Running counter to these trends is the Tefaf antiques fair in Maastricht, taking place...
This exhibition is the first of its kind. It doesn't just tell the history of an art dealer but also the history of art, the history of a family and plain History with a capital H, filled with the blood and tears of the Second World War. ‘21 rue La Boétie’ is the...
The lady in question is one of the most influential ever bestowed to us by the history of art. Nobody has painted anything more touching or arguably more beautiful since. As of 1659, this woman from a humble background, in a dress cut from a coarse cloth which can be...