I love Impressionist painting. I love the light and I love the warmth of the people portrayed. I had never heard of Albert Edelfelt, but the ads for the exhibit around Paris convinced us to head over to the Petit Palais and find out more about him. Albert Edelfelt is a Finnish artist who lived […]

The Atelier des Lumières opened in April of 2018 in a former smelting plant/iron foundry from the 19th Century in the 11th arrondisement. It is a “digital art center” with 120 video-projectors to create an immersive art experience. As described by SortirAParis back in 2018, it is a “breathtaking visual and sound show.”The first exhibition […]

So you’re planning a trip to Paris and while you’re there, you want to see a castle, a “chateau.” But even thinking about trying to brave the crowds at Versailles makes your stomach churn. Is there somewhere else you can go that’s easily accessible by public transportation from Paris? And not too far away? The […]

You’ve been to the Louvre. You’ve been to the D’Orsay. You love them, I get it. But there are SO many smaller, lesser known museums, that offer the chance to discover something new. One that Peter and I recently discovered is the Musee Maillol. www.museemaillol.com. Do you know it? It’s a 10-minute walk from the […]

Do you know what a netsuke is? According to Google, it’s: “a carved button-like ornament, especially of ivory or wood, formerly worn in Japan to suspend articles from the sash of a kimono.” I got interested in them because I’m reading “The Hare with Amber Eyes” by Edmund de Waal whose family, the Ephrussi family, […]

Frederic Bazille was from an upper middle class family and was pursuing medical studies. His “hobby” was painting, and he went, in 1862, to Paris to the studio of a painter, Charles Gleyre, where he met Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir and Alfred Sisley. With them (and others like Edouard Manet), he created paintings that were […]

There was an incredible exhibit at the Fondation Louis Vuitton that ran from October of 2016 to March of 2017. It was a collection of 130 Impressionist paintings that had belonged toTchoukine, an amazing patron of the arts in his day. This was the first time that these paintings had been out of Russia and […]

Have you heard of the Basilica of Saint Denis? I recently had the enormous pleasure of discovering this incredible building, thanks to my friend Rachel, who had seen a description of it on a British show “The Art of France” on BBC 4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08cgq7f It is located in the northern suburb of Saint Denis, perhaps better […]

I always like finding smaller museums to explore in Paris. Here are two that have beautiful buildings as well as exhibits. On the recommendation of my friend Natalie, I visited the Musee Marmottan (marmottan.fr) in the 16th Arrondissement. One of its big collections, works by Claude Monet, was under renovation so it was not available […]

1900 was an amazing year in Paris and the exhibit at the Petit Palais right now (through August 17th), called “Paris 1900- La Ville Spectacle” gives you a great feel for all that was happening then. The Universal Exposition opened in April of 1900 and it was the biggest event of its kind ever, covering […]