https://youtu.be/RLKOwokicu4 Son of a giant How to exist in your own right when you’re the son of one of the giants of 20th century painting? To put it another way, how do you “kill your father” when your father is Henri Matisse (1869-1954)? An ocean between them The tried and tested solution, as […]
The colonial past While the world re-examines its colonial past and condemns the occupation by former empires of vast swaths of distant territory, while supporters of “cancel culture” topple through the sheer force of their voices the statues erected in the names of formerly great men who are great no longer, there is an […]
The scream “The Scream” by Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is a bit like the tree that conceals the forest. Or the story of how a painting conceived in four versions – which has become a cultural touchstone in global collective memory – has long overshadowed the rest of the output of this Norwegian artist, […]
Vintage or not In photography, from the moment images become a part of history they are divided by specialists into two kinds of prints. There are those that were made around the time the photograph was taken – these are called vintage prints and they are particularly highly prized – […]
https://youtu.be/RqF3Z5EjvpM Morandi mystery There is a sense of mystery about Morandi. For an artist who seems to have painted the same subject his entire life – carafes, bowls and vases in muted colours – from his tiny bedroom in Bologna, how did this painter who was both contemplative and fearful of the world, and […]
https://youtu.be/Kk24fEsCY9g Reactive art market The art market is exceptionally reactive. It is adapting at great speed to the conditions of the world health crisis. Focused demand This is because demand in the first place is very focused. In the field of 20th and 21st century art, tastes are now inclined towards two areas of […]
https://youtu.be/Tl_lO_NHFMM Fondation Beyeler One of the most beautiful current exhibitions in Europe can be found at the Foundation Beyeler in Basel, which is showcasing an imaginary dialogue between Rodin and Arp. It opened in December 2020 (See here the director of the Fondation Beyeler, Samuel Keller, speaking about the art that makes him feel […]
Safe haven and resilience All the art market specialists agree on at least one thing concerning the forecasts for 2021: there won’t be a crash. This is primarily because, as the dealer and Picasso collector David Nahmad explains: “art remains a safe haven at a time when there is still a lot of cash […]
Woman and muse The French politician Talleyrand is attributed with the saying: “Behind every great man there’s a woman.” In observing art history, we might add that behind numerous great artists there are many women. Sublime source of inspiration The fascinating French painter Balthazar Klossowski de Rola, known as Balthus (1908-2001), who ended his […]
Genius Henri Matisse is, without doubt, a painter of genius and an endless source of visual surprises and delight. The exhibition at the Centre Pompidou celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth was anticipated to be a blockbuster if it wasn’t for Covid. But it is further proof – if proof were needed […]
Patrick Drahi It’s been 12 months since Sotheby’s was bought by the French businessman Patrick Drahi. It’s been 9 months since he appointed a new head of the auction house, former investment banker at Morgan Stanley then co-president of Altice USA, Charles Stewart. Radical evolution In this short space of time the […]
American inferiority complex For a long time the United States suffered from an inferiority complex with regards to its painting. This was because despite America’s status as an economic powerhouse, up until the Second World War it was Paris – the global epicentre of artistic creation – that attracted all the talent. National art […]
Quiet in January Usually in January the art market community is deemed to be quiet. New York in May This year it impatiently awaits the auctions that have received a lot of media coverage due to take place in May in New York, with works on sale by Rothko, Richter and Picasso from two prestigious […]
In the Oval Office It was Barack Obama who, during his presidency, chose to hang two paintings in the Oval Office, one above the other. We recognized them as two views of Cape Cod, the coastal area which was a favourite of the Kennedys. More generally, they were two landscapes featuring no human figures by […]
Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Paul Gauguin Their defense A good justice system works in such a way that when an individual is on trial we ask them to explain themselves or better yet to organize their defense. […]
During the sale at Christie’s Gustave Caillebotte Paul Signac Ed Ruscha Charles White Charles White Sanyu Political and economic upheavals As 2019 comes to a close, in a year shaken by various political and economic upheavals, observers may wonder what fate has in store for the modern and contemporary art market. Stratospheric prices Over the […]
Le Grand Palais La Bourse de Commerce Raymond Pettibon Raymond Pettibon Georg Baselitz Komunuma Mark Dion (Fabienne Leclerc) Miriam Cahn Miriam Cahn Keith Haring Martial Raysse Antoni Tapiès Gagosian gallery Successful art fairs These days every successful contemporary art fair, from Miami to Hong Kong, takes place on a city-wide scale. La Fiac And this […]
Faith Ringgold Pablo Picasso Picasso, Bourgeois, Ringgold Diego Rivera Pablo Picasso, Hans Bellmer Maria Martins Jackson Pollock Lee Bontecou Jasper Johns Basquiat, Haring, Koons David Hammons Betye Saar Haegue Yang Michael Armitage Everything must change “For things to remain the same, everything must change.” This now-legendary line, uttered by the dashing Alain Delon […]
