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fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
10 hours agoFrance's new restitution law passes final vote
The French parliament has enacted a law for the restitution of cultural items taken from former colonies.
The stellar collection of 30-plus Venice paintings from the artist's 10-week visit in 1908 is smartly framed by additional materials. Visitors get exposed to historic photographs of the city, as well as of the Monet couple visiting, and are provided with lots of quotations from the artist about his approach to art, process and subject.
Art UK has taken it as its mission to digitally unite one million artworks from 3,500 institutions. This free-to-all portal connects everyone with the UK's public art collections.
Eugène Atget's images of the city reminded me of when I first came across the turn-of-the-century French photographer's work in a book called 'A Vision of Paris' (1963), which paired more than a hundred of Atget's photographs with passages from Marcel Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time,' and I couldn't quite see them for what they were. There was something about the preciousness of juxtaposing Atget's gorgeous golden prints with Proust's gorgeous language that made me feel as if I were suffocating under all those foulards, drapes, and aesthetics.
Past a sign for a family waterpark, a door opens onto an homage to fin-de-siècle Paris. Chandeliers are reflected in gilt-edged mirrors; there is a chorus line of lobsters and yards of fromage. Every so often, a waiter in a dinner suit flambées a crepe Suzette with a shock of flames, like a big top fire-eater. This is fine dining as buffet.
Styling by Axelle using fashion by Nazarene Amictus, Victoria Amerson Design GmbH, Mossi, and Vintage pieces. The assistant stylist is Evan. The series explores the idea of haste and unintentional disorder in Paris, the moment when you rush downstairs, almost forgetting your trousers, because every minute counts. This sense of urgency, this I don't have time, becomes an aesthetic language. In Paris, style isn't calculated, and yet, nothing is ever left to chance.
At the official launch last November, the current culture minister Rachida Dati described the imperative behind the programme as not just celebrating an uncommon visionary but the "burning relevance" of his legacy: "a commitment to continuing to nurture this demanding idea of what culture is".
The streets around the Louvre have improved considerably as a dining destination. It's still true that the neighborhood rewards those who know where to look - the blocks immediately adjacent to the museum are thick with tourist traps - but a short walk in almost any direction opens up genuinely good options.
Paris didn't invent shopping (even if it sometimes feels that way), but it arguably invented the specialty shop as we understand it today. Long before concept stores, lifestyle retail, or anything resembling "curation" entered the vocabulary, Paris was already organized around doing one thing extremely well -and it still is. From cheesemongers to winemakers and beyond, specialization remains the point.
They let us shoot in places people weren't allowed to normally, like Marie Antoinette's private theater. They were like, 'This is your home.' The Versailles exhibition will screen several scenes from Coppola's film in the very rooms where they were staged, highlighting the deep connection between these storied grounds and her acclaimed creation.
Once an independent commune, Montmartre was absorbed into the city limits of Paris in 1860, but the hilltop village has always retained a distinct sense of self. Famed for its religious, artistic, and at times seedy history, the neighborhood has drawn the likes of Picasso, Renoir, and hopelessly devoted Francophiles like myself with its bucolic charm, iconic lampposts, steep steps, and panoramic views.
Running from March 17 to July 19, 2026, Renoir and Love will be one of the top special exhibitions of the year in Paris. Celebrating how affection, connection and human relationships shaped Renoir's work during a defining period of his career. Bringing many key works together for the first time in decades, the exhibition offers a fresh perspective on how Renoir approached love not as an abstract ideal, but as something lived and experienced within the changing social life of late-19th-century Paris.
Born in Paris in 1936 to German-Jewish parents who fled the Nazis, his family survived the war in hiding in south-western France. Rosenberg first arrived at the Louvre in 1962, at the invitation of Charles de Gaulle's minister of culture, later heading up the department of paintings during the museum's dramatic relaunch in the 1980s and early 90s, symbolised by the 1989 completion of I.M. Pei's sculptural entrance, the Louvre Pyramid.
CultureClic is one of the most comprehensive French art apps available. Designed as a mobile-first discovery tool, it maps out more than 1,350 museums across France and highlights hundreds of geolocated artworks, photographs, and historical engravings. The app is particularly strong in Paris but also features content in cities like Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, and Avignon. What sets CultureClic apart is its use of augmented reality, allowing users to visualize artworks and historical documents in context.
Belleville has always been a little bit rowdy, whether it meant to be or not. Long before it was folded into Paris in 1860, it existed as its own working-class wine village perched on a hill, slightly removed from the city both geographically and ideologically. In recent years, as Paris's 10th and 11th arrondissements have slid fully into hipster territory, and even the gritty Barbès neighborhood feels increasingly polished, Belleville has held onto its identity with surprising resolve.
If you've walked around any of France's cosmopolitan cities in recent years, you're sure to have come across some stunning murals. Painted onto the side of buildings, in hidden corners, and just about anywhere an artist can paint, street art is booming. We're not talking old-school graffiti here, hastily sprayed names on walls, and anti-social stuff like that. Today's street art is commissioned by city or town councils and created by prominent street artists from around the globe says Suzanne Pearson.
Our perceptions of Seurat have usually been shaped by several vast canvases of Parisians enjoying life - who can forget Bathing, Asnières? - and the radical technique of painting he pioneered - often known as `pointillism' or `Neo-Impressionism'. Following the Impressionists and fascinated by new theories on optics and colour, Seurat placed pure dots of colour beside each other directly onto the canvas, so they melded together in the viewer's eye rather than blending them on a palette.
Léribault's first mission, according to Macron, will be the "appeasement" of a museum which has been badly hurt by the theft of France's crown jewels on 19 October and a string of scandals since then. He will need all his diplomatic talents to face the unions, who have led an unprecedented series of strikes, asking a rise in wages.