Vincent Olinet

Art installation on the castle grounds of Saint Germain en Laye... this was so pretty!

Roy Lichtenstein

We were invited to Roy Lichtenstein's retrospective at Centre G. Pompidou today.

 Had breakfast with my love & watched Paris slowly come to life.. we escaped before the arrival of the summer crowds.

Madrid Part III

The gems of Madrid are undisputedly its museums and we were lucky to be able to visit the 2 big ones - Centro del Arte Reina Sofia and the Museo del Prado. 

The Reina Sofia is well-known for Picasso's Guernica but it didnt speak to me as I felt detached from the Spanish civil war. However, the Dali exhibition was well worth every cent. Luckily I already bought tickets online cos the queues were horrendous!

The Prado had many Goya paintings and other Spanish artists throughout the centuries... It is to Madrid what the Louvre is to Paris. It wasnt my favorite. 

But the one painting worth seeing is the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch.

To this day, no one can accurately give a full and complete analysis of this painting depicting heaven, hell and our world.

This is the amazing Caixa Forum which is hard to miss as you are walking towards the Museo del Prado. A modern art gallery with a garden on a wall! 

However, if you only have time for ONE museum in Madrid, let it be the smaller Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza which to me, is one of the BEST museums in the world. 

The reason for this is its size which is very accessible being smaller than most museums and the fact that this museum is essentially a private art collection. Hence many major artists from the different art movements are represented. We saw Chagall, Renoir, Gauguin, Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Manet, even Lichtenstein... it's an amazing amazing museum. I highly recommend it if you ever go to Madrid.

And as the sun continued to smile over Madrid, we packed our bags and headed back to grey Paris, our hearts heavy but well-fed with art, food and the sun. 

A date with Chagall

A lovely afternoon spent with Chagall at the museum!

He is a master of color and romance and swirls and dreams, he could do a whole painting in different shades of blue and it would be beautiful. If you've ever gone to the Paris Opera House, the ceiling is also painted by him.

And even though I dislike cubism in general no matter the artist, Chagall never goes overboard and his paintings influenced by cubism always turn out soft and romantic, thanks to his mastery of the color palette.

Unfortunately, though the exhibition started in Feb this year, crowds were still aplenty. 

Though my favorites were not there, I learnt more about him and his life which was how I imagined - a true romantic! If ever I could choose 3 paintings to own in my life, a Chagall would be one of them.

As Picasso once said, “When Chagall paints, you do not know if he is asleep or awake. Somewhere or other inside his head, there must be an angel."
 

From now till July 2013 at the Musée du Luxembourg, Paris.

and then and then and then and then and then

A little bit of Murakami on my wall.

It takes a certain kind of mood to appreciate the author with the same name, but the artist is just full of cute!

Auvers-sur-Oise

One Saturday not long ago...

when the sun was still out everyday.. we went to Auvers-sur-Oise on a whim where Vincent van Gogh lived & worked & commited suicide. It was amazing to see in real life the landscapes he was inspired by... the exact things he painted still standing today.

This church is one of my favorite paintings by him because of the color of the sky - is it day as most people say or is it a bright moonlit night as i feel.. that's the beauty of art.. no one tells you what it should be :)

And the graves of van Gogh & his brother... their story is heartbreaking... his brother was the only one who supported him & stood by him his whole life...

"One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way." - Vincent van Gogh

 

Stein exposition

Paris at 0800hrs. The light is so soft over the Seine that we walk for longer than we should, breathing in the crisp cold air.

The Grand Palais where we are due 2 hours before the museum opens.

Le Point magazine invited us for breakfast at the museum & a private visit to the Stein exhibition... which got me out of bed willingly... cos i hate lining up during winter for museums.

The Stein siblings were American art lovers who built up an impressive collection of great painters in the 20th century. They had Picasso's & Cezanne's early works... the small little paintings who would never be as well-known as the famous ones but to me are sometimes nicer. Art is of course, subjective... but a quiet Wednesday morning of coffee, croissants & art is hard to disagree with. xx

murakami x Versailles

Murakami x Versailles, old vs new.

The palace gardens all covered in snow was a beautiful sight to behold. Despite having been to Paris many times, I have never stepped foot in Versailles. The Murakami exhibition which ends 12 december finally made me haul myself there despite the cold.

Tongari-kun, Mr Pointy greets us as we entered the whimsical colorful but sometimes dark world of Takashi Murakami. He is such an icon in his creative use of thousands of colors... you are always left speechless when u stand before a giant work of his.

Kaikai & Kiki are 2 of my favorite Murakami characters! I loved the juxtaposition of contemporary Japanese art & old French aristocratic gild & busts.

Miss Ko2... i think i saw her in Frankfurt 2 years ago!

The magnificent Hall of Mirrors.

Flower Matango in the Hall of Mirrors.

 

And finally, the most happy piece of art - Kawaii - Vacances, Summer Vacation in the Kingdom of the Golden and a carpet full of happy flower faces! The kids were all laughing here & even the museum guard seemed relaxed & friendly.

It was a breath of sunshine in an otherwise freezing & bleak winter afternoon.

summer in paris

Summer has finally arrived in Paris... daytime temperatures of 30 degrees & tourists everywhere.



I decide that no queues outside the Musee d'Orsay is the best day to visit the greatest in Impressionist art.



Jean Escoula... i never saw sorrow so clearly portrayed in a sculpture.



Claude Monet's Le dejeuner, 1868.



Van Gogh's La chambre de Van Gogh a Arles.
I finally get to see this famous one in real life.



The brush strokes up close.



Van gogh's La nuit etoilee, The starry night.



The rooftop terrace overlooking the Seine.



Beautiful sunny day with cool winds.
You can see Sacre Coeur just behind my head hehe.



I always prefer to cross from left bank to right bank by foot instead of metro.
I walked from the museum to St Germain des pres, had lunch at a lovely cafe.. coddled eggs with smoked salmon on Poilane bread... yummy.



Peeked into the rue Bonaparte salon of Laduree..



then walked across the river to the Louvre, and along Rue St Honore to check out Colette..



A nice quiet afternoon by myself was just the thing i needed, to reflect about my life, my job, my friends.. I am filled with disappointment.. so i did not come to a fulfilling conclusion in the end. Is that normal?



Another late dinner of couscous with lamb brochettes...
Couscous brings back beautiful memories.



Goodbye for a little while Paris... i will be back next week... hopefully with a lighter heart.

Murakami in Frankfurt

I went for the Takashi murakami exhibition in Frankfurt and was uber happy. The last time i was there, they opened a day after i left so i swore jet lag and fatigue would not stop me this time.



Just opposite the girl with the spraying nipples was her boyfriend with an erect penis and a sperm cloud around him. It was hilarious and oh-so-cute!



It was one of the happiest exhibitions i have ever seen... there was even a Vuitton room where all the walls were FILLED with his collaborations with them. Colorful monograms everywhere... it was just crazy. And my favorite..



Tan Tan Bo Puking!!!!



Plus I stumbled upon a most beautiful Christmas market right smack in the center of the city.



It was packed with families and couples.. it was all very heartwarming but a tad lonely.



So i stuffed my face with a delicious currywurst..



and a cup of hot wine to warm the body..



Have i mentioned how much i love carousels? I always stop to take a look at the smiling faces as they twirl round and round.. and the parents happily snapping away.



I wish you were there with me.



Stopping for a hot chocolate on the way back.. une patisserie toute charmante!