Letting Luce

 

MAXIMILIEN LUCE

l'Instinct du Paysage

 

Musée de Montmartre

12 rue Cortot 75018

 

 

Ends September 14, 2025

 

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Maximilien Luce (1858–1941) was a trailblazer of Neo-Impressionism and key figure in anarchist and libertarian communities. Leaving an indelible legacy through his deep artistic and political passions, his paintings of urban and rural scenes as well as the human experience reflect the social and industrial shifts of his time. Although his stunning landscapes take center stage in this exhibition, he also portrays subjects that were unexplored by his fellow Pointillists, such as workers in motion.
 
The humanistic spirit at the core of his work defines its essence, yet landscape remains a central theme that energized his art throughout his career. With a distinctive sensitivity, Luce masterfully portrays light and color. This exhibition, the first major Paris retrospective of Luce since 1983, showcases his artistry and brings his frequently underappreciated work to a wider audience.

Luce lived on rue Cortot from 1887 until 1899, just steps from where this exhibition, the first Paris retrospective since 1983, is now being held. — BPJ

Table Tuesday

 A gallery along a passageway off Place de la Bastille.

 

Window Wednesday

 

Sipping serenity in Montmartre where art meets the streets.

 

Saint Patrick d'Irlande

 

 

Picasso bust of Dora Maar looking rather green.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

***

Some Irish pubs in Paris to lift a glass:

Le Galway Irish Pub

Brady's Irish Pub

Corcoran's Irish Pub

The Harp Bar

O'Sullivans

Murphy's House

- Check for info and opening hours -

Fashion fiends

 

Currently at Le Grand Palais Champs-Élysées:

 

DOLCE&GABBANA

"Du Coeur à La Main" / "From the Heart to the Hand"

 

 Ends April 2, 2025

 

*** 

 

When Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana founded their brand in 1985, it quickly captivated the industry with its unapologetic celebration of sensuality and craftsmanship. Dolce & Gabbana’s early collections, inspired by Sicilian culture—black lace, corsets, religious iconography—stood out in a minimalist-dominated era, offering a theatrical alternative that felt both nostalgic and rebellious. The pair made glamour aspirational and attainable and today, their empire thrives on that same audacity, evolving with trends yet staying true to their Mediterranean roots. The sheer opulence on display at Le Grand Palais, room after room of staggering designs, is leaving viewers breathless. - BPJ

 

  

 

 

Window Wednesday

 Window into the mesmerizing worlds of Pablo Picasso and Henri (Le Douanier) Rousseau.

***

Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau are the latest dynamic duo pairing at the Atelier des Lumières, with both men's artistic styles diverging dramatically despite sharing the same era. Picasso, a titan of modern art, pioneered Cubism with its fragmented, abstract forms, breaking reality into geometric shards that challenged perception. Like his revolutionary Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Picasso's work pulsed with intellectual complexity and emotional intensity, often bending perspective to mirror the chaos of the human experience. In contrast, Rousseau, known as Le Douanier, was a self-taught naïf who painted with a childlike simplicity, crafting flat, dreamlike jungle scenes. His style leaned on vivid colors and meticulous detail, exuding a serene, almost surreal innocence that ignored academic norms. Where Picasso dissected the world, Rousseau enchanted it, offering a whimsical escape to Picasso’s cerebral upheaval. Together, they highlight the era’s spectrum: innovation versus intuition, fragmentation versus fantasy. - BPJ

PABLO PICASSO

L'art en mouvement

 

HENRI ROUSSEAU

Au pays des rêves

L'Atelier des Lumières

38 rue Saint-Maur 75011

 

Ends June 29, 2025

 

 

Above: Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

Below: Henri (Le Douanier) Rousseau (1844 - 1910)

 

Mona Monday

 

 Pixelated Mona in the Marais district.

Art is always a good idea

 

Currently at Le Grand Palais Champs-Élysées:

Japanese visual artist Chiharu Shiota

"The Soul Trembles"

Ends March 19, 2025

 

Mona Monday

 She's everywhere.

 

Rappelle-toi

Rappelle-toi Barbara Il pleuvait sans cesse sur Brest ce jour-là. Et tu marchais souriante. Épanouie ravie ruisselante. Sous la pluie. Rappelle-toi Barbara - Jacques Prévert

 ***

 Today ends an in-depth exhibition highlighting the life and work of Jacques Prévert at the Montmartre Museum with its stunning Renoir Gardens and small tea room.

From my college days I've fond memories of how my father would recite "Rapelle-toi Barbara" to me because it had my name in it, not realizing that Prévert was much more than a prolific poet. A talented writer, screenwriter and, in his own right, artist whose best friends were notable painters of the day such as Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, he spent his time in Montmartre welcoming a beau monde from a small studio that overlooked Le Moulin Rouge and was filled with books and scraps of cuttings to create his astonishing surrealist collages.

 Prévert's Wikipedia biography states, "He died of lung cancer in Omonville-la-Petite on 11 April 1977. He had been working on the last scene of the animated movie Le Roi et l'Oiseau ("The King and the Mockingbird") with his friend and collaborator Paul Grimault. When the film was released in 1980, it was dedicated to Prévert's memory, and on opening night, Grimault kept the seat next to him empty. His dog Auto was given to a family friend after his death." - BPJ

 

Musée de Montmartre

12 rue Cortot 75018

  

 

Below: in a spontaneous moment at the exhibition a couple embraces in front of one of Prévert's collages that happened to be just around the corner from a poster of the film, "Les Enfants du Paradis" (1945), screenplay by Jacques Prévert

 

Mona Monday

Mona on a book cover about the history of art.

Crochet crazy

 

A giant serpent coils around The Tree of Life in an immense art installation representing the beginning of humankind.

LE LA SERPENT

 

Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto

 

Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche

24 rue de Sèvres 75007

 

On view til February 23

 

 

 

 

***

This evening:

 

Nocturne des Beaux-Arts Saint Germain-des-Prés 

 

gallery hopping - vernissages - meet the artists - live music - apéros....

 

From 6 PM

Begin at corner of rue de Seine / rue des Beaux-Arts

 

Belladonna

 

 

Tatiana Wolska

"Tatiana Wolska’s Belladonna exhibition nestles between the political and the intimate, offering a physical and cognitive experience where drawing merges with sculpture. Witches’ plant, good or magic weed known since ancient times, Belladonna, is both the remedy and the poison reminding us that its use requires subtle handling as well as great knowledge. Through the history of this plant, the exhibition promotes proliferation and dialogue in order to unite the familiar and the strange, lightness and ardor, suggestion and claim."

Curated by Marianne Derrien

Drawing Lab Paris

17 rue de Richelieu 75001

January 24 - April 20, 2025

Maison&Objet Monday

Last chance to catch the creativity and beauty that is Paris Design Week.

 Full program 2025:

MAISON&OBJET

 

Ends Monday January 20

  

 

Tower Tuesday

 

 

This year's Christmas decorations at Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche are all about the Eiffel Tower.

 ***

 Below: breathtaking dance performances

 

Ends December 31, 2024

 

CIRQUE LE ROUX:

Entre Chiens et Louves

Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche

24 rue de Sèvres 75007

 

 

 

Window Wednesday

As evening falls the light inside an antiques shop reveals colorful comics cutouts. 

 

Museum Monday

 

 

 

JACKSON POLLOCK The Early Years (1934-1947)

 

 Picasso Museum

Ends January 19, 2025

 

 

Mona Monday

 

 

***

Pie-in-the-face Mona

A fun exhibition on a narrow Marais side street. 

 Ended November 16

***

FINAL DAY: all weekend and thru Monday November 18:

Montmartre's unique annual Portes Ouvertes des ateliers d'artistes: from Anvers to Abbesses, when artists open their private ateliers to the public and Parisians and visitors alike roam the streets, stairways and hills, maps in hand, searching hidden addresses and local art.

101 Artistes - 63 Ateliers

 Thank you organizers and Mairie du 18ème

 

(click to enlarge)

 

Mona Monday

 

Trompe your oeil at this eye-catching exhibition.

 Musée Marmatton Monet

 

TROMPE L'OEIL - From 1520 to the Present

 

Ends March 2, 2025

Museum Monday

 

A bride stands before the largest painting in the Louvre, Les Noces de Cana, The Wedding at Cana, by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588).