Monarchies · Museums · Heritage · Paris
These are only some of the jewels displayed in the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre, which was robbed today, according to available reports. Among other things, the gallery houses the principal French crown jewels. What could be seen in the Galerie d'Apollon: 💎The "Regent"
Museums · Heritage · Paris · Reportage
The Louvre Has Been Robbed. The museum is closed. All likely approaches to it have been cordoned off. Crowds of tourists who do not read the news are asking the gendarmes what has happened and whether they will get their money back. A notice announces, in studiously neutral terms, exceptional
Archaeology · Museums · Paris · Humour
Judging by the gestures, he is still arguing with the tour guide. An urn that proves that ancient art is not merely vases, but a philosophy of form. The photograph shows an Etruscan funerary urn, roughly of the 4th to 3rd centuries BC, from the collection of the Louvre. Such
Art · Museums · Observations · Paris · Society Pages
Yesterday I attended the opening of the Gerhard Richter retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Believe me, taking in all the splendour Richter has created is harder than reading this text. Given that some call the 93-year-old Richter the greatest artist of our time, the exhibition is indeed
Art · Observations · Paris · Humour
The Parisian gallery Massimo de Carlo presents a project by the Scandinavian contemporary artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset: a hyperrealist sculpture of a gallery assistant, installed in the window in full view of passers-by. The gallery office, usually hidden behind the exhibition space, has been brought to the fore:
Art · Books · Monarchies · Observations · Paris
On the other hand, David's sketch indubitably depicts not the majestic Queen of France but a condemned, emaciated woman, made ready for execution. Marie Antoinette was only 37 at the time of her execution on 16 October 1793. After her trial she spent 10 months in the Temple
Art · Books · Monarchies · Paris · People
Marie Antoinette in the procession to the scaffold, 16 October 1793. The Revolution's first crime was the death of the king; its most terrible crime was the death of the queen Chateaubriand's famous phrase acquires its meaning once one truly reflects on the fate of this
Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Paris · Humour
Wherever cultural monuments are restored, the monuments themselves somehow rarely come out as the winners. Take, for instance, the statues by the Molière fountain in Paris, restored three years ago for half a million euros. They are now in rather a strange state, patched up with masking tape in several
Aristocracy · The East · Art · Monarchies · Paris
Sotheby's has put up for sale the collections of the Iranian princess Niloufar Pahlavi, niece of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The collection was kept in a mansion in the French capital, decorated by the legendary Renzo Mongiardino in the late 1970s. Most of the works of art
Art · Paris · People
"I am creating the image of a genius!" "Just don't forget to sign it, or everyone will think it's you" Rodin modelled his bust of Hugo without the sitter ever posing for him. For, as is well known, Hugo could not sit
Art · Observations · Paris · Society Pages
All week, everyone I know in Paris has been discussing Kirill Serebrennikov's premiere at the Théâtre du Châtelet, where "Hamlet. Ghosts" was presented, to a text by Serebrennikov about Hamlet in the context of world culture and modern history. The first thing that distinguishes the production
Architecture · Observations · Society · Paris
Trump plans a majestic triumphal arch opposite the Lincoln Memorial, and a pedestrian bridge leading to it with statues of American presidents in niches, for the 250th anniversary of American independence, to be celebrated in 2026. The project is grandiose and, naturally, designed to remain a monument to the Trump