He is always slightly grouchy. His slow manner of speaking is characterized by a strong Belgian accent and his physique has remained the same all the time I have known him. He is Sylvio Perlstein, a true character, an atypical collector who is rather wild by nature,...
One should be wary of the vocabulary employed by auction houses. The use of superlatives is all too common (the most beautiful artwork, the most beautiful collection etc…) and the sole objective is to push up prices. An example that comes to mind is the sale in 2015...
Every time a snippet of a notable collection is unveiled it naturally engenders an emphatic flood of reactions in the vein of “I like this” or “I don’t like that”, grimaces, “oh”’s and “ha”’s, enthusiastic exclamations and harsh words. Take, for example, in...
The history of art can be unjust. But we quickly find the reasons for certain anomalies. Take Tarsila do Amaral (1886-1973). Does her name sound unfamiliar to you? That’s understandable. She presents two major disadvantages. She’s a female painter who was also...
The greatest painters are those who have paid very close attention to their predecessors. Just look at Picasso, steeped in knowledge from a very young age thanks to his father who was an art teacher. Similarly, these days a major artist such as Scottish painter Peter...
Those who take great delight in the treasures of art history and its curiosities know that there is only one fair in the world that displays such an array of offerings: the Tefaf in Maastricht. 280 galleries with works ranging from antiquity to contemporary art...
In the Parisian district of Le Marais, the Tornabuoni gallery is exhibiting 24 paintings until 24 February by one of the most famous yet also most controversial artists in the history of twentieth-century art: Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978). They are on sale for...
At a time when Facebook’s algorithms are blocking users who post Courbet’s “L’origine du monde” on their wall, despite it being visible to all at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris; at a time when visitors to the Metropolitan Museum in New York are calling for the removal of...
“My love I think of you always. But the 14 hours a day I don’t spend with you are a torment to me” (30 June [1949]) “I thus accept the situation as it is and will seek a miracle no longer. I am happy when I think of you” (25 October [1949]) “It is...
Gisèle Vienne: "Crowd" While Anne Imhof was staging dark, aesthetically pretentious performances on the theme of gutter punks, which resemble photoshoots for Nordic fashion magazines and for which she was unfortunately awarded the Golden Lion at the 2017 Venice...
The art public adores suffering artists. They live badly, they die young, they’re ill, but every now and then they produce extraordinary things. In the rankings of this type of artist the gold medal goes to Vincent Van Gogh, but just behind him there is the Italian...
Jacques Grange is the french superstar of interior design. He has worked for the joint heir to the cosmetics empire and prolific art collector Ronald Lauder, the businessman Leon Black who is just as famous in New York for his elitist taste in art (he is the owner of...