Two of the greatest artworks of the twentieth century were almost conceived in a brothel. The masterpiece “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon”, Picasso’s cubist manifesto now on display at Moma, doesn’t depict pretty girls from the south of France but rather creatures...
“I don’t want to dishearten you, but there will inevitably be a serious and lengthy crash caused by the large number of exhibitions and the weariness the public will feel towards contemporary painting. The crash may take place tomorrow or in ten years’ time, I don’t...
The south of France, with its quality of light and its natural beauty, has long fostered the spirit of sharing in private collectors keen to reveal their treasures to the public. We could mention the Maeght Foundation, which opened in 1964 in Saint-Paul de Vence and...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBHxf2FvTyQ On the big international art show circuit, Kader Attia (born in 1970) is everywhere. He was exhibited at the penultimate Documenta in Kassel in 2012. One of his large-scale works was exhibited as part of the...
Over the past 3 months and up until 9 May the glorious central spiral of the Guggenheim in New York was occupied by the artist Danh Vo (born in 1975 in Vietnam raised in Denmark). He will be succeeded by Alberto Giacometti in June. Which just goes to show… But in my...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz4Bht6Ft3M The Centre Pompidou continues to multiply. Following the opening of a new branch in the East of France in Metz, an outpost in Malaga, and in anticipation of next year’s opening in Shanghai of a new Asian...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPR0ZxmoiZY It certainly isn’t politically correct to say so but artists that are categorized as “African American” are in fashion right now. Their work isn’t all of the same quality, but in the United States in particular...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiYqoZrZJ8E An exhibition doesn’t need to be large for it to be sublime. Right now, the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris is staging an exhibition of this kind. It is in this institution, the setting for what could be called...
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew”. The danger when one possesses many artworks lies in wanting to display them all, in seeking to make a show of strength. In contemporary art, taking into account the diversity of forms and the scale of the artworks, ultimately...
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...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2DuGbgkcbI In art jargon we call them “artists’ artists”. To put it another way, they are often complex personalities whose art’s importance is initially highlighted by their peers rather than spontaneously realized by...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mAt6S_zdWY Imagine an artist who would become a legend within the first decade of his career. What would he do with the rest of his life? In the contemporary period, we could say that Damien Hirst (born in 1965), who was...