Like Van Gogh “It is not because I sell little that I am a bad painter.” On August 22, 1882, Vincent van Gogh closed a letter to his brother Theo with these words, complaining of the hurtful remarks of a shortsighted art dealer. As he...
Georges de La Tour and There Was Light: The Mystical Beauty of Chiaroscuro in Paris
https://youtu.be/0Y81nKHGEMA?si=7njVbwZrhaV82n9T Light obsession For painters, light is an obsession. It is what gives life to a picture, sometimes to the point of provoking a mystical response.(Take for instance the light in Cézanne paintings,...
Maiolino at the Picasso Museum: The Golden Lion and Her Beautiful Clay Metaphors
https://youtu.be/Ng2-g8ImgEk?si=8_HaXiEnGgBXqQ2L The fate of women There’s a great deal embedded in the work of Anna Maria Maiolino. But nothing reveals itself at first glance. The artist—who, though born in Italy in 1942, has spent most of her...
Come Summer, Arles Blooms Into Capital of the International Scene, Now Featuring Wael Shawky and Ho Tzu Nyen
Van Gogh, tourist magnet The scorching sun, the Rhône winding majestically through the city, lively café terraces, Roman ruins, Van Gogh—the ever-present tourist magnet—and everywhere, down one alley or another, contemporary art exhibitions....
Barbara Hepworth at the Fondation Maeght: Harmony of Curves and Hollows in the Pine Grove
https://youtu.be/x5XqBEE-pWY Never before attempted “Here, something never before attempted is being tried: to create the universe, create instinctively, and through love, the universe in which modern art might find both its rightful...
Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles : Happy Days
Letizia Battaglia Often, when artists first begin documenting their lives through photography, they naturally start by capturing their happy days. But what comes next—in both their work and their lives—usually ends up telling another story....
Cézanne in Aix: If You Miss This Exhibit, You’ll Have Failed Your Summer
https://youtu.be/QhDVh8aFuMs Aix en Provence It’s a safe bet that had Cézanne not been from Aix-en-Provence, the history of modern art would have gone down a very different path. In the final years of his life, the painter—whom Picasso would...
Venice: When Renaissance Artists Let Loose
https://youtu.be/q8U8JJt7o5w Absolute masterpiece When we think of the absolute masterpieces of art history, we often think first of the Italian Renaissance. And among the Italian museums that house some of the most significant examples, the...
New York: An Exquisite Return Visit to Mr. Frick
https://youtu.be/eLvjpERKfHA Once upon... This story could begin with "Once upon a time," because it concludes in a veritable palace. But a palace of a particular kind. It can be found on Fifth Avenue in New York, opposite Central Park....
Alvin Ailey at the Whitney Museum in New York: A Manifesto of “Blood Memories”
https://youtu.be/jTWVZ1gDQsI Human obsession Dance is a human obsession that social media has taken up in extraordinary ways: It’s one of the more heartening trends that spread on the new platforms. Young and old, professional and...
Max Hollein and the Transformations Shaking Up the Metropolitan Museum
Immense ambitions It is a cultural beacon in the United States. It is also the torchbearer of encyclopedic museums worldwide, in competition with the Louvre for the title of world’s greatest museum. This institution housing over 2 million works...
Arte Povera : Artist by Artist at the Pinault collection
Disparate offering As its name suggests, the Pinault Collection in Paris was designed to showcase the works of art amassed by the businessman François Pinault within the Bourse de Commerce. Up until now the site has presented exhibitions which...