Chiharu Shiota at the Grand Palais

Paris’ Grand Palais presents —before its complete reopening in the spring of 2025— the poetic installations of Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, “The Soul Trembles” (to March 19, 2025). The exhibition, co-organinised with the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, is an opportunity to discover Shiota’s collection of works spanning over 25 years. It includes several large-scale installations alongside sculptures, performance videos, photographs, drawings, and documentary footage of her stage designs for dance and opera. Continue reading “Chiharu Shiota at the Grand Palais”

Tarsila do Amaral. Painting Modern Brazil

The Musée du Luxembourg in Paris hosts a Tarsila do Amaral retrospective, “Peindre le Brésil Moderne,” revisiting the work of a central figure of Brazilian modernism (to February 02, 2025). This exhibition (with around 150 works) is surprisingly her first retrospective in France. Until recently the artist— called the Brazilian Picasso— was rarely exhibited outside her home country. Continue reading “Tarsila do Amaral. Painting Modern Brazil”

Tale of Two Trees

©Anne-Sophie Emard. Galerie Odile Ouizeman occupies the amazing Maison Galvani designed by architect Christian Pottgiesser

Galerie Odile Ouizeman is showing Anne-Sophie Emard’s immersive installation “Twiinning Trees, Le bois est un document,” which poetically links two lime trees (tilleuls)… one located in the gallery’s indoor garden, and the other, a remarkable 400 year-old lime tree growing on botanist Sylvain Pouvaret’s arnica herb farm (located in the Auvergne, Puy-de-Dome).

The exhibition is a collaboration with “le projet Silvae and the Conservatoire d’Espaces Naturels d’Auvergne” (to December 10, 2024) Continue reading “Tale of Two Trees”

Rodin’s Invisible Balzac

Auguste Rodin, “Etude de robe de chambre pour Balzac” 1897

The Musée Rodin hosts a temporary exhibition “Corps In-Visibles,” drawing on a series of sculptures and studies from the museum’s collection along with 19th century garments from the Palais Galliera. This fascinating exhibition revisits how Rodin created one of his most iconic works: “Monument to Balzac.” (to March 02, 2025). The point of departure for this exhibition features the ghost-like “Study for Balzac’s Dressing Gown,” an empty plaster garment suggesting the body it covered… reminiscent of “The Invisible Man” sci-fi thriller. Continue reading “Rodin’s Invisible Balzac”

L’Age Atomique Revisited

Bruce Conner, “Bombhead” 2002

The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris host “L’Age Atomique” Les artistes à l’épreuve de l’histoire,” an exhibition revisiting how the era is depicted by artists from the forties until today. Bringing together some 250 works—paintings, drawings, photographs, vintage movie clips, installations and documents –the exhibition includes rarely seen works by such major artists as Francis Bacon, Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Le Corbusier, and Salvador Dali (to February 09, 2025) Continue reading “L’Age Atomique Revisited”

Robert Ryman at l’Orangerie

“Robert Ryman. Act of Looking” Musée de l’Orangerie

The “Robert Ryman. Act of Looking” exhibition at Paris’ Musée de l’Orangerie revisits the artist’s minimalist white on white paintings (until July 01, 2024). Quintessentially art for art’s sake, people either love or hate this kind of work. Ryman (1930-2019) is a self-taught American painter, who began working in New York in the late 1950’s. He spent most of his career exploring the foundations of painting. Returning to the formula of the white square time after time — which he chose for its neutrality— he explored all the material components of a painting from texture, to surface to lighting and hanging systems. Continue reading “Robert Ryman at l’Orangerie”

Modern Times à la Parisienne

Robert Delaunay, Paris –The Woman and the Tower, 1925 Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Photo © BPK, Berlin, Dist. RMN- Grand Palais / image BPK

“Le Paris de la Modernité: 1905-1925” is an exhibition revisiting the Paris art scene from the end of the Belle Époque to the Roaring Twenties. It was a time when the city was exploding with a frenzy of creative energy attracting artists from all over the world. For Ernest Hemingway Paris in those years was a moveable feast (until April 14, 2024. Modernism sought a new alignment with modern times. The world was changing with new technologies rapidly affecting how people lived, traveled, worked… and made war. Artists felt they needed to change too. Many did while exploring new imagery, materials and techniques. “Le Paris de la Modernité” (at the Petit Palais) tells how the modern art story played out in Paris from 1905 to 1925. Continue reading “Modern Times à la Parisienne”

Loading Urban Art

“Loading, L’art urbain à l’ère numérique” revisits the recent history of street art and the impact of new technologies on its creation and dissemination (until July 21, 2024). The  exhibition at Paris’ Grand Palais Immersif greets visitors with a spectacular 360 degree immersive screen experience followed by several interactive installations including: “World Wide Walls” (a joystick ride of global graffiti partnered by Google Art  & Culture), “Hello, my name is…” (a DIY digital graffiti experience) and Seb Toussaint’s “Magnet Mural” inviting visitors to create a collective artwork with coloured magnetic shapes. Continue reading “Loading Urban Art”

Dana Schutz’s “Monde Visible”

Dana Schutz, “Swimming, Smoking, Crying” © 2023 Dana Schutz, courtesy of the artist, CFA Berlin, Thomas Dane Gallery and David Zwirner. Photo: Obispo

One of the most prominent figures in the U.S. new figuration scene, Dana Schutz, is featured with an exhibition “Le Monde Visible” (The Visible World) at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (until February 11, 2024). With forty paintings from the early 2000s until today, drawings and recent sculptures it spans her stellar two decade career. Schutz (born 1976) is among the most successful female artists of her generation. Her painting “Elevator” recently sold at Christie’s for $6.5 million. It is the first time that the work of this internationally renowned American artist has been shown on this scale in France. Continue reading “Dana Schutz’s “Monde Visible””

Anna-Eva Bergman Revisited

“Pyramide No.6” 1960

The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris presents a major retrospective of work by Norwegian artist Anna-Eva Bergman (1909-1987, who lived in France with her husband Hans Hartung for many years. Her work marked a step forward for non-figurative painters and ranks with other great women artists such as Hilma af Klint, Georgia O’Keeffe and Sonia Delaunay (to July 16, 2023). Continue reading “Anna-Eva Bergman Revisited”