Art · Observations · Paris · Reportage

Art Basel Paris 2025 at the Grand Palais brought together over 200 galleries from 41 countries

Art Basel Week in Paris was so packed that only now am I taking stock. The fair ran from 24 to 26 October at the Grand Palais and neighbouring venues, gathering more than 200 galleries from 41 countries, with a fairly extensive parallel programme. Among the participants were the leading

NB! · Art · Cinema · Museums · Observations · Humour

The birds from the Lalique Museum in Wingen-sur-Moder recalled the turtle doves that the owner of Duncan's Toy Chest gave to Kevin McCallister

Art · Books · Observations

The Sorceress in Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” as a Trial for Gerda, Not an Enemy

The old witch combed Gerda's hair with a golden comb and told her: "You will stay here for ever, my little angel" Illustration by the Scottish artist Eleanor Vere Boyle for an edition of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen", 1872. In

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Sad

NB! · Observations · Mores · Society

Why is Trump called vulgar, while Macrons is not, given all this?

Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Glenn Martens presents jewelled lip retractors at the Margiela show

Glenn Martens sent models down the Margiela runway wearing jewelled lip retractors as facial adornments. I do not know whether the new accessory will go on sale or was made for the show alone. The idea is that these are Margiela's signature four stitches, only laid over the

Art · Observations · Humour

Look at this 1904 drawing by Sasha Schneider, “Hypnosis”, reflect that every conversation contains an element of hypnosis, and reconsider your circle of acquaintance

Not medical advice

Art · Moscow · Observations · Paris · Humour

I Am Being Painted Again

I am being painted again. Presumably they hope that on canvas I will behave better than I do in life. Serious people, brushes, an easel, inspiration. They say: “We need to capture your inner self.” I say: “Capture the outer one first, so that I can at least recognise myself.

Art · Observations · Society

Ugliness in art from the Middle Ages to today and a reflection on the displacement of beauty

In the Middle Ages, ugly images were meant to frighten, and through that fright to achieve certain didactic, admonitory ends. In the Baroque era, ugliness is used for emotional engagement; in the age of modernism, the unlovely aesthetic calls for revolt against the bourgeois idea of beauty; postmodernism and post-

A huge green inflatable figure stands on Place Vendôme in front of a mansard-roofed façade, beside black cars and a police motorcycle.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Observations · Paris

Giant green inflatable figure on Place Vendôme in Paris during Art Basel

The Place Vendôme, one of the most beautiful squares in Paris, looks like this during Art Basel. Does anyone find this an outstanding work of art, or shall we settle for the phrase "such times, such talents"?

Archive · Observations · Society

Kerensky, Uritsky, Sverdlov, Zinoviev, Lunacharsky, Lenin, Trotsky, Kamenev and Radek Sacrifice Russia to the International

No exaggeration here, incidentally. That is exactly how it is

NB! · Observations · Pop Culture