Get to the art of France
No I haven't come over all Cockney (!), let me tell you about the unexpected places to indulge your love of art in France + why Metz is worth visiting + books to inspire your own creations.
My recent trip to the city of Metz in Lorraine and its outpost of the Pompidou Centre got me thinking about the lesser-known places in which you can indulge your love of art. Paris’ Pompidou Centre is closing in September for a five-year renovation, so Metz is the place to go in its absence. The city is a great place to spend a few days (Times article coming soon) and it has a curious mix of architecture, largely due to the years it was under German Occupation, and its cathedral is magnificent. The most striking building is the Pompidou Metz, with its wooden beams and undulating roof, designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. Many of the Paris gallery’s best works are now on display there as part of the Dimanche Sans Fin (Endless Sunday) exhibition, in which they are woven together with works by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, who co-curated the collection. There are some extraordinary, thought-provoking pieces, such as his Not Afraid of Love, a visual representation of the phrase ‘the elephant in the room’. When it sold at Christie’s for $2,751,500, the Lot Essay read:
“The viewer is confronted by this huge creature, whose eyes, trunk and legs stick out from under an enormous white sheet. There is something at once frightening and funny about this elephant. The beast tries to hide its size, weight and presence and in so doing, renders himself completely absurd. Elephants by nature are adaptable creatures, animals that are at home in many different types of landscapes. The elephant is a powerful animal, but Cattelan has transformed this strength into vulnerability.”
Elsewhere, there are pieces by Joan Míro, Francis Bacon and Henry Moore, and it has been curated in such an enchanting way along its theme of a never-ending Sunday. This provides light moments such as Picasso’s Little Girl Jumping Rope, and Cattelan’s superhero chess set titled Good Vs Evil. I was visiting with my 14-year-old daughter who has recently opted to do Art GCSE, and hoped that it might inspire her (I will have to wait and see the result of that) and set me thinking about how readers could also get started or re-started with their art.
Creating your own art
I have long admired the France-inspired illustrations and watercolour paintings of Jessie Kanelos Weiner, an artist based in Paris who has recently published a book that will inspire your own works of art. Thinking in Watercolour includes 30 prompts to help readers get to grips with watercolour techniques and how to adapt them so that you can use watercolour to capture and illustrate your own scenes, ideas and inspirations. It is thanks to seeing France through the eyes of a newcomer that allowed her to capture so much in her work, and this concept is one that you can adopt too, as a soulful and individual way to capture your travels in France. Her prompts include using a photo (or the real thing) of a coastal scene to show how the colours gently blend from sea to sky. Elsewhere, she uses the Eiffel Tower as an example of capturing perspective, or a favourite dish to a way to illustrate what it means to you or to tell its story (plenty of inspiration in Amuse Bouche if you need it! Out now in paperback). It’s a lovely book, and will be really valuable to those who want to explore watercolour in a way that is personal, rather than copying techniques by rote.
If you’re more of a doodler, then a book that I have loved for a long time is CitySketch Paris by Melissa Wood, who I used to commission to illustrate a column in France Magazine and became good pal. In this book, there are 100 prompts from around Paris, where you can draw your own sketch to complete the scene or put your own interpretation on it. There is a London and a New York version of the book too, but obviously the most inspirational city is Paris.
And while we’re on the subject of illustrators, I have become a fan of Lucia Calfapietra since she was commissioned to illustrate the dishes on the cover of my book. She is Italian, but is based in Marseille and I really need to get down there to meet her in person! Follow her on Instagram here.
Where to discover art, where you didn’t think to look
I’ve only been to Monet’s garden at Giverny once and I loved it, but as much as I’d love to visit again, the thought of the crowds there does put me off. And now that I’ve seen The Louvre with about 10% of its usual visitor numbers (thank you, Paris Olympics), I fear I will always want to enjoy world-renowned masterpieces with a bit of breathing space. Thankfully, France is full of little nods to its artistic masters and you can learn about their artworks and their lives in many unexpected places. Here are some pins to stick in your map as you plan your next foray around France: