A spirit of fun always reigns at the Domaine de Chamarande, where a once-aristocratic residence and its park have become something of a “people’s palace” with contemporary art exhibitions and a vibrant program of performances and activities, all open to … Read More
Not everyone may know what it is called, but everyone has seen the pretty ecru fabric with delicate pastoral scenes printed on it, usually in red or blue. This is Toile de Jouy, so-called not because it originated in Jouy-en-Josas, … Read More
Barking Up the Right Trees Pinus pseudostrobus apulcensis at the Arboretum de Chèvreloup. © F-G Grandin/MNHN Right beside Marie-Antoinette’s make-believe farm on the grounds of the Château de Versailles is a kind of secret garden, open to the public but … Read More
The Emperor’s Not-so-New Furniture “Apelle Peignant Campaspe en Présence d’Alexandre” (c. 1812), by Jacques Louis David. © Rmn-Grand Palais/Philipp Bernard Was Napoleon, on top of his many other attributes, a style-setter? Not really, according to the exhibition “Napoléon Ier ou … Read More
Neglected ArtistResurfaces in Eastern France “Maleck en Bleu” (1898), by Albert André. Collection Musée d’Art Sacré de Pont-Saint-Esprit. All rights reserved. For anyone who has heard of the French city of Montbéliard, one word immediately springs to mind at the … Read More
At Home with George … And Frédéric, Franz, Eugène … George Sand’s House in Nohant. © Etienne Revault-CMN In 1821, a 17-year-old girl named Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, who would one day become George Sand, inherited a small manor house, the Manoir … Read More
Seven Deadly SinsIn the Garden “Le Domaine de Narcisse,” Photo © E. Sender A summer pilgrimage to the International Garden Festival at Château de Chaumont, a couple of hours from Paris, has become a ritual for many Parisians. Each year, … Read More
Furnishing Giverny for Its Former Residents “In the Woods at Giverny: Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading” (1887), by Claude Monet. As is by now well-known, the artist Claude Monet and his family moved into a house … Read More
A Destination, Not an Airport The Maladrerie Saint Lazare, where the lepers of Beauvais once lived. Photo: ParisUpdate.com Every time I mention to friends that I have visited Beauvais, they laugh. This can be explained by the fact that many … Read More
Jean Cocteau in front of his house in Milly-la-Forêt on July 24, 1963. © KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Keystone/Eyedea Presse Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) is a slippery character. It’s hard to get a grip on who he was and what he did, partly because he … Read More
