Traveling Collector: The Insider’s Paris
November 2007
Les Frigos’ portes ouvertes (open house exhibitions) are famous for their grand sweep of the Paris art scene. The artists tidy up the dust, hide the furniture and turn the building into a showcase for an enormous river of contemporary art (paintings, sculptures and medium-tech trash reclaimed from the Parisian streets). Consult the Web site lesfrigos.com for the regularly scheduled shows.
If you want to saturate yourself in art history, Paris offers a museum for every aesthetic sensibility: Impressionism (Musée d’Orsay), non-Western art (Le Musée du Quai Branly, designed by Jean Nouvel), the latest contemporary works (Le Palais de Tokyo, under the new direction of Marc-Olivier Wahler) and Modernism and contemporary (Centre Pompidou).
There are more intimate art spaces to visit as well: exhibitions of collectors’ collections at the Maison Rouge, the Musée Rodin and the Musée Maillol, created by the sculptor’s favorite model, Dina Vierny, should be on your itinerary. This month, don’t miss Paris Photo (Nov. 15–18) in the Carrousel du Louvre, featuring 83 international galleries offering a premiere showcase of contemporary photography.
To see most of everything, pick up a three- or five-day museum pass, but do not forget to consult Time Out (in English) or similar guides to discover the other 60-plus museums in Paris. You can also spend your days outdoors, traversing the rue Lepic in the historic Montmartre quarter and following in the footsteps of van Gogh just below the Sacré Coeur. Or stroll through the Montparnasse Cemetery to visit the final resting places of Man Ray and Tristan Tzara (a square meter of white marble) and Niki de Saint-Phalle’s mirror bird and creature sculptures on the tombstones.
If you arrive during the winter holidays, try strapping on some skates and hitting the ice rink in front of the Hôtel de Ville; a few turns under the Parisian sky is certain to take your breath away. Or just stare at the architecture, which is a fantastic combination of 17th-century and contemporary marvels—all connected by Baron Haussmann-designed boulevards and veering off into picture-postcard cobblestone streets. The city itself is a grand work of art, an incomparable chef d’oeuvre. Bienvenue.
The Artful Diner in Paris
You’re likely to encounter younger artists at La Perle enjoying a red wine, a cold Stella draft and rolled cigarettes while traffic bobs and weaves at the intersection of rue de la Perle and Vieille du Temple. Another 10 minutes and you’re in the heart of the Marais’ bar and restaurant district, and around the corner from the heart of the Jewish quarter on rue du Rosier. If you need some bistro fare before you head to the Centre Pompidou, you can choose from a half-dozen cozy eateries owned and operated by Xavier Denamur, a restaurateur whose collection of Frenchman David Saltiel’s architecturally inspired industrial "interventions"—burnished recuperated clocks and iron objects—as well as the steel wall piece in the bathrooms with peek-a-boo spy holes showing photos of cows (in the Chaise au Plafond), adorn his establishments. Le Petit Fer à Cheval (The Little Horseshoe) is a favorite for expats, and across the road La Belle Hortense with its zinc bar is a bookshop and wine bar par excellence. A little gallery in a comfortable back lounge shows local artists like the Paris graffiti star Miss Tic ("mystic"), whose stencils can be seen in every arrondissement in Paris. "Every wall is an opportunity for art," Denamur explains. Try a Côte Rôti with an assorted plate of cheese at La Chaise au Plafond or opt for a full dinner at Les Philosophes. A block farther south, you’ll find a slightly edgier crowd hanging out at Le Pick-Clops on the corner of Vieille du Temple and Le Roi de Sicile.
When you’ve had your fill of the art movements, take a break and relax at the clebrated, lovingly battered bistro, La Palette. The café remains substantially untouched since Cézanne and Braque tipped glasses there, and is filled with landscapes, portraits of waiters, used painting palettes and an extremely amiable crew of serveurs.
Correspondent Matthew Rose is an artist and writer living and working in Paris since 1992. Filmmaker Jennifer Giovani is currently making a documentary about his works tentatively titled "Collage by Matthew Rose."
If you want to saturate yourself in art history, Paris offers a museum for every aesthetic sensibility: Impressionism (Musée d’Orsay), non-Western art (Le Musée du Quai Branly, designed by Jean Nouvel), the latest contemporary works (Le Palais de Tokyo, under the new direction of Marc-Olivier Wahler) and Modernism and contemporary (Centre Pompidou).
There are more intimate art spaces to visit as well: exhibitions of collectors’ collections at the Maison Rouge, the Musée Rodin and the Musée Maillol, created by the sculptor’s favorite model, Dina Vierny, should be on your itinerary. This month, don’t miss Paris Photo (Nov. 15–18) in the Carrousel du Louvre, featuring 83 international galleries offering a premiere showcase of contemporary photography.
To see most of everything, pick up a three- or five-day museum pass, but do not forget to consult Time Out (in English) or similar guides to discover the other 60-plus museums in Paris. You can also spend your days outdoors, traversing the rue Lepic in the historic Montmartre quarter and following in the footsteps of van Gogh just below the Sacré Coeur. Or stroll through the Montparnasse Cemetery to visit the final resting places of Man Ray and Tristan Tzara (a square meter of white marble) and Niki de Saint-Phalle’s mirror bird and creature sculptures on the tombstones.
If you arrive during the winter holidays, try strapping on some skates and hitting the ice rink in front of the Hôtel de Ville; a few turns under the Parisian sky is certain to take your breath away. Or just stare at the architecture, which is a fantastic combination of 17th-century and contemporary marvels—all connected by Baron Haussmann-designed boulevards and veering off into picture-postcard cobblestone streets. The city itself is a grand work of art, an incomparable chef d’oeuvre. Bienvenue.
The Artful Diner in Paris
You’re likely to encounter younger artists at La Perle enjoying a red wine, a cold Stella draft and rolled cigarettes while traffic bobs and weaves at the intersection of rue de la Perle and Vieille du Temple. Another 10 minutes and you’re in the heart of the Marais’ bar and restaurant district, and around the corner from the heart of the Jewish quarter on rue du Rosier. If you need some bistro fare before you head to the Centre Pompidou, you can choose from a half-dozen cozy eateries owned and operated by Xavier Denamur, a restaurateur whose collection of Frenchman David Saltiel’s architecturally inspired industrial "interventions"—burnished recuperated clocks and iron objects—as well as the steel wall piece in the bathrooms with peek-a-boo spy holes showing photos of cows (in the Chaise au Plafond), adorn his establishments. Le Petit Fer à Cheval (The Little Horseshoe) is a favorite for expats, and across the road La Belle Hortense with its zinc bar is a bookshop and wine bar par excellence. A little gallery in a comfortable back lounge shows local artists like the Paris graffiti star Miss Tic ("mystic"), whose stencils can be seen in every arrondissement in Paris. "Every wall is an opportunity for art," Denamur explains. Try a Côte Rôti with an assorted plate of cheese at La Chaise au Plafond or opt for a full dinner at Les Philosophes. A block farther south, you’ll find a slightly edgier crowd hanging out at Le Pick-Clops on the corner of Vieille du Temple and Le Roi de Sicile.
When you’ve had your fill of the art movements, take a break and relax at the clebrated, lovingly battered bistro, La Palette. The café remains substantially untouched since Cézanne and Braque tipped glasses there, and is filled with landscapes, portraits of waiters, used painting palettes and an extremely amiable crew of serveurs.
Correspondent Matthew Rose is an artist and writer living and working in Paris since 1992. Filmmaker Jennifer Giovani is currently making a documentary about his works tentatively titled "Collage by Matthew Rose."
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