https://youtu.be/RLKOwokicu4 Son of a giant How to exist in your own right when you’re the son of one of the giants of 20th century painting? To put it another way, how do you “kill your father” when your father is Henri Matisse...
Vietnamese modern art: between Hong Kong and Paris the market for the school of painting that emerged from the colonial occupation is booming
The colonial past While the world re-examines its colonial past and condemns the occupation by former empires of vast swaths of distant territory, while supporters of “cancel culture” topple through the sheer force of their voices the statues...
Munch at Sotheby’s: the master of anguish and solitude also had a huge talent for self-promotion
https://youtu.be/9X-BYm0iWxk The scream “The Scream” by Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is a bit like the tree that conceals the forest. Or the story of how a painting conceived in four versions – which has become a cultural touchstone in...
Man Ray: a great collection at auction and a big controversy
https://youtu.be/b2NRc3C6Os0 Vintage or not In photography, from the moment images become a part of history they are divided by specialists into two kinds of prints. There are those that were made around the time the photograph...
Grenoble, Beijing, New York: Giorgio Morandi is the subject of worldwide fascination
https://youtu.be/RqF3Z5EjvpM Morandi mystery There is a sense of mystery about Morandi. For an artist who seems to have painted the same subject his entire life – carafes, bowls and vases in muted colours – from his tiny bedroom in Bologna,...
Revolution at Opera Gallery: the creation of a 100-million-euro fund for garanties at auction and the promotion of recognized artists
https://youtu.be/Kk24fEsCY9g Reactive art market The art market is exceptionally reactive. It is adapting at great speed to the conditions of the world health crisis. Focused demand This is because demand in the first place is very focused. In...
Rodin/Arp at the Fondation Beyeler: while awaiting to see one of Europe’s most beautiful exhibitions in person
https://youtu.be/Tl_lO_NHFMM Fondation Beyeler One of the most beautiful current exhibitions in Europe can be found at the Foundation Beyeler in Basel, which is showcasing an imaginary dialogue between Rodin and Arp. It opened in December 2020...
Art market: speculation on figurative art, digital fatigue, and the growing power of Paris. No crash on the horizon for now…
Safe haven and resilience All the art market specialists agree on at least one thing concerning the forecasts for 2021: there won’t be a crash. This is primarily because, as the dealer and Picasso collector David Nahmad explains: “art remains...
Balthus: 144 drawings and paintings by the great and controversial painter to be auctioned in Paris
Woman and muse The French politician Talleyrand is attributed with the saying: “Behind every great man there’s a woman.” In observing art history, we might add that behind numerous great artists there are many women. Sublime source of...
Matisse: the most anticipated exhibition in Paris is disappointing despite the sublime artworks
https://youtu.be/qeah722Q5Ew Genius Henri Matisse is, without doubt, a painter of genius and an endless source of visual surprises and delight. The exhibition at the Centre Pompidou celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth was...
Charles Stewart CEO of Sotheby’s: “reinventing the auctions model”
https://youtu.be/e94QGzpYduU Patrick Drahi It’s been 12 months since Sotheby’s was bought by the French businessman Patrick Drahi. It’s been 9 months since he appointed a new head of the auction house, former investment banker at...
Vida Americana at the Whitney Museum: The anti-Trump art history exhibition is also on the net
American inferiority complex For a long time the United States suffered from an inferiority complex with regards to its painting. This was because despite America’s status as an economic powerhouse, up until the Second World War it was Paris –...