The exact time at Notre Dame It’s a beautiful late afternoon in springtime in Paris. One of those delightful afternoons when the trees are bursting into bud and young people chirp and coo outside cafes. I can remember the exact time, because I have a...
Part of the cinema history Whatever our areas of interest, we can agree that Wim Wenders (born in 1945) is now a part of the cinema history. There are flashes of Wenders inscribed in our collective memory, like the red mohair dress matching Nastassja...
Brad Pitt's poetry The story could begin with a few poetic sentences from Brad Pitt: “He walks right by, though he doesn’t see (me)- Shapes and obsessions block his view. He disappears into his cavern, for yet another round. (…) What does it mean to lay oneself...
A certain tension A slight imbalance. Some kind of disturbance… Great artists don’t create unforgettable works by envisaging perfection so much as by establishing anomalies. Along with the exceptional jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, who wore large rings on all...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryiiCfs0ZlM A great country for art Qatar has become one of the great countries in the world for art. The capital, Doha, is marked from the airport to the desert by an extremely ambitious public art program, with a series...
Monument of architecture First of all it’s a new monument to architecture. But it’s also a new monument to culture. In New York, on 30th Street in between 10th and 11th Avenues, you may have noticed the glass edifice christened “The Shed” which resembles a huge...
What sadness to learn that Agnès Varda, the heroine of French cinema, passed away during the night between 28 and 29 March. I was fortunate enough to have rubbed shoulders with this extraordinary woman on many occasions. I published a video interview with her this...
20% of the buyers are Asian Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses make out that at this point in time 20% of their buyers of modern and contemporary art are Asian. Consumption and creation Despite the fact that China is currently imposing strict foreign...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsZeFmjR0No Informal introduction A very small dog, a King Charles spaniel, greets me with a series of barks. There have been more formal introductions. I’m in Paris at the home of Farah Pahlavi, the last wife of Mohammad Reza...
Don't stop at the subject When Cézanne painted his wife or a still life of some apples he didn’t just stop at the subject: a portrait of an unprepossessing woman or fruit arranged on a table… He portrayed his universe, composing a union of colours and shapes to...
Bill Viola and video art A single exhibition is not enough to form a definitive opinion of an artist. The American artist Bill Viola (born in 1951) is known as one of the major figures and the great pioneer of video art. Yet his retrospective at the Grand...
War Machine Tefaf in Maastricht, Holland, is a veritable war machine dedicated to the antiques trade. With its 279 participants and renowned for its excellent organization, it’s been running for 32 years and has recently spawned two sister fairs in New...