A bigger-than-life Van Gogh exhibition in Provence. What would the artist say if he could see this?…
Category: FR Art / Architecture
Happy 130th Birthday, Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a symbol of Paris itself. The grand old Parisian lady is celebrating her 130th birthday
Notre Dame de Paris
Victor Hugo’s words come true as Notre Dame burns…
Montmartre and the Windmills of Paris
Windmills aren’t what I would usually associate with Paris, but…
Matisse, a Nun, and a Chapel
“Night Nurse Needed – Should be young and pretty.” This was the ad Henri Matisse placed in 1942…
The Artist and His Objects: Matisse in His Studio
Some of the objects that Matisse collected showed up in his paintings and others served as inspiration…
Jean Cocteau in London
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting several sites decorated by Jean Cocteau on the French Riviera, but I was surprised to find his work in the center of London…
Good King René and His Fountain
The city of Aix-en-Provence has a lot of fountains, but one of them caused quite a stir when it was unveiled in 1923…
Singing About the Avignon Bridge
The Avignon bridge is known around the world today because of the famous children’s song, “Sur le Pont d’Avignon”…
A Saint, a Convict, and a Gargoyle go into a Swamp…
This story seems like a pretty reasonable explanation for all those gargoyles…
Madame Tussaud: Ahead of Her Time
During the French Revolution, Marie Tussaud was forced to make wax casts of severed heads. Later she took them to England and set up her Wax Museum…
The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower
It was 1925 and Victor Lustig was sitting in his Paris hotel room reading a newspaper article about the Eiffel Tower. That gigantic structure had
The Cats of La Romieu
One of the main tourist attractions in the small medieval village of La Romieu, in southwest France, is the abundance of cats to be found
Madame Liberté
The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognised symbols of the United States. But did you know that Lady Liberty is an immigrant?…