Why did painted images start to crack up, as if seen in a broken mirror, under the hands of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in 1907? As you will learn if you visit the exhaustive exhibition “Cubism,” covering the period … Read More
THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED There was no room at the restaurant where I had reserved a table for two for lunch because I had screwed up the date, so my friend and I went off in search of a … Read More
It is always a pleasure to peek behind closed doors and discover some of the treasures private art collectors normally keep to themselves. And it is always a pleasure to visit the Musée Marmottan Monet, a hunting pavilion near the Bois … Read More
Was Gustave Moreau (1826-98) – the Symbolist painter famed for his mysterious and moody paintings of biblical and mythological subjects – actually a pioneer of abstraction? This was a theory posited in the 1960s by some observers based on works in … Read More
The Paris restaurant with the most spectacular decor is, of course, Le Train Bleu, but its culinary credentials have gone up and down (mostly down) over the years as the restaurant sailed along, relying on its Belle Époque beauty and … Read More
The first time I saw Paula Rego’s storytelling paintings at the Tate Britain in London, I was fascinated by their almost perverse weirdness. Finally, a Paris museum, the Musée de l’Orangerie, has turned its attention to this unique artist with … Read More
Au Bascou is something of an institution on Paris’s Basque restaurant scene. Over the years, it has changed hands a few times, and now a new chef/owner has taken over, brightened the place up with a fresh coat of paint … Read More
The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris is simultaneously holding two blockbuster exhibitions, one on Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) and the other on Egon Schiele (1890-1918). The show on Basquiat, a young painter who went from being an iconoclast to an art-market … Read More
I was saddened when a friend who, like me, loved the Basque restaurant Iratze told me that it had closed, but I recently discovered that it hadn’t really. The same owners, a friendly young couple, are still there, but … Read More
Just as I was going into the exhibition “Picasso: Bleu et Rose” at the Musée d’Orsay, a man who was on his way out said to me: “I envy you. You’re going to have a wonderful experience.” His face was … Read More
