Madame de Sévigné: Lettres Parisiennes
Lasting Letters
The 400th anniversary this year of the birth of that great letter-writer, the Marquise de Sévigné, afforded me the opportunity both to visit the wonderful new exhibition “Madame de Sévigné: Lettres Parisiennes” at the Musée Carnavalet (located in a building … Read More
Nan Goldin: This Will Not End Well
Double Exposure
Nan Goldin is a survivor. Nothing could get the best of her, not family trauma, not drug addiction and not the death of many loved ones over the years from suicide, AIDS and overdoses. She photographed it all. Now 72 … Read More
Playing with Fire
Now You See Her ...
The room is empty, with only a Steinway Spirio grand piano in the center. Don your virtual reality headset, however, and suddenly the famed pianist Yuja Wang, dressed in a chic black-and-white-striped gown, is seated at the keyboard playing Maurice … Read More
Eva Jospin: Grottesco & Claire Tabouret: D’un Seul Souffle
Pagan vs. Christian Iconography
French museums are brilliant at putting on mega exhibitions like the current “1925-2025: 100 Years of Art Deco” (through April 26) at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs or “Sargent: Dazzling Paris” (through January 11) at the Musée d’Orsay, both of … Read More
Light Cycles
A Scintillating Night Walk
“Light Cycles,” an often-breathtaking immersive night walk in the park, uses sound and light to evoke the beauty of the living world and takes full advantage of the varied features of La Villette, Paris’s largest park, designed by architect Bernard … Read More
Les Gens de Paris, 1926-1936
Who Are These People?
The exhibition “Les Gens de Paris, 1926-1936” at the Musée Carnavalet is not just a snapshot of the people of Paris in the years following World War I and during the Depression, it is a full-scale portrait. The show presents … Read More
Bridget Riley: Starting Point
Mentor and Mentee
If you arrive at the Musée d’Orsay to see the John Singer Sargent exhibition and find the line outside to be blocks long and the show jammed with art lovers, head instead for a sweet little show on the fifth … Read More
Les Mondes de Colette
Outrageous, Immoral and Multitalented
Having visited the writer Colette’s childhood home in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye on a sun-kissed spring day last year with two good friends, I suppose it was payback time when I arrived alone at the exhibition “Les Mondes de Colette” at the Bibliothèque … Read More
Boris Zaborov & Evi Keller
Things That Sleep in the Heart
I have written about the Caillebotte estate in the town of Yerres several times, extolling its many virtues: it is located only half an hour from Paris, and it boasts a large, beautiful park with a number of follies, including … Read More
Grand Palais
Grander Than Ever
It may have taken five long years, but the revamped Grand Palais, now completely reopened, is nothing if not grand, even grandiose. The always spectacular glass-domed ceiling is as beautiful and awe-inspiring as always, and new areas have recently been … Read More