Paris Arts Club

Seth: Le petit Prince The Petit Palais has a free exhibition of street art showing at the moment until the 17th November 2024. It is partly mixed in with the permanent collection and partly grouped in the North hall, all on the ground floor. Of course street art, by definition, is not normally seen in a gallery, but, following the initiative of the Gallery Itinérrances in 2022, such art has for the first time entered the realm of the Paris museums. Most of the artists, now mainly in their 40s and 50s are no longer hiding their identities. Their work is also to be seen in huge murals in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Seth's style is instantly recognisable. He loves to use the image of a child and rainbow colours. He suggests a world of the imagination. The child often has his head in the clouds. Is this the artist himself? Or his avatar..? Visitors to Paris in the autumn of 2023 may have seen Seth's temporary installation outside the Eastern end of the Louvre: Not in present ...

Cyclamen  1911 This light oil painting of a cyclamen, which seems to have been done rapidly by Henri Matisse, is one of the 11 works depicted in a still life painting of his studio in 1911. "The Red Studio" is at present on exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation on the western edge of Paris. This striking work is normally to be seen in the MOMA in New York. It last came to France in 1993 for a Matisse exhibition at the Pompidou Centre: L'Atelier rouge (The Red Studio) 1911 It is a precious record of the state of Matisse's studio in 1911. The Cyclamen painting is situated towards the top right. The studio was not all Venetian red as the picture implies- the red was painted over impulsively at a later stage by Matisse. When asked why, the painter said he didn't know... Gertrude Stein called it Matisse's most musical piece. Matisse's main patron- Russian textile manufacturer Sergei Shchukin- declined to purchase the work, asking Matisse to paint him pictu...

  Jan van Eyck: La vierge du chancelier Rolin (The madonna of Chancellor Rolin) ca 1430?  This small  exhibition at the Louvre has been put on to present the newly restored oil painting by Jan Van Eyck (1390?-1441) "The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin".  Layers of darkened varnish have been stripped away to reveal its rich colours. The work represents the 15th century chancellor of Burgundy in devotion to the virgin Mary and child.  Nicolas Rolin acted as chancellor for the powerful duke of Burgundy, Philip III the Good who reigned as Duke of that rich province from 1419 until his death in 1467. During his reign the Burgundian state reached its apex of prosperity and prestige and Philip's rule stretched up to the Netherlands. Round the back of the the painting there is a helpful video presentation blowing up lots of background details. Does the little man in the red turban represent the painter himself? Jan van Eyck once portrayed himself wearing such a turban. Whit...