Musée de Cluny in Paris is the French Musée National du Moyen Age and has an impressive permanent collection as well as holding frequent temporary exhibitions. The current exhibition displays the range of artistic production from the reign of Charles VII, with paintings, sculptures, stained glass, tapestries and illuminated manuscripts. It also has a section devoted to the works of Jean Fouquet, one of the most renowned French artists of the fifteenth century.

Charles II came to the throne in 1422, a time of political instability, with the Hundred Years War continuing and the Armagnacs, supporters of the House of Valois, and the Burgundians fighting a civil war. However, by the end of his reign in 1461, the Hundred Years War was over (with the aid of Jeanne d’Arc), as were English claims to the French throne. The period also saw a change in artistic production, with a new style, influenced by both Flemish realism (‘ars nova’) and the Italian Renaissance, taking over from International Gothic.

Jean Fouquet ‘Charles VII’ (c.1450 – 55)

‘Canopy for throne of Charles VII’ (1450)

Maître de Dreux-Budé (André d’Ypres) ‘Crucifixion triptych’ central panel (c.1450)

‘Crucifixion triptych’ side panels. ‘Kiss of Judas’ (left) ‘Resurrection’ (right)

Berthélemy d’Eyck ‘Altarpiece of the Annunciation’ (1443 – 44)

‘Pietà de Tarascon’ (Provence, fifteenth century)

‘Chess Players’ (fifteenth century)

Master of Rohan ‘Grandes Heures de Rohan (1430 – 35)

Enguerrand Quarton ‘Missal of Jean des Martins’ (1466)

It was also an opportunity to see some of the remarkable exhibits that make up the museum’s permanent collection.

‘À mon seul désir’ (The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry) (c.1500)

‘Heads of Kings of Judah’ (west façade Notre-Dame cathedral) (thirteenth century)

Altar frontal from Basel Cathedral (first half eleventh century)

‘Virgin and Child’ (Paris,1240 – 50)

Angelo di Nalduccio, attrib. ‘Bust Reliquary of Saint Mabilia’ (c.1370 – 80)

‘Reliquary of Saint Thomas Becket’ (c.1190 – 1200)

On 15 April 1874, the first Impressionist exhibition opened in Paris, held at the former studio of the photographer Nadal. A group of artists led by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley and Cézanne, tired of rejection by the official Salon, decided to hold their own exhibition, free from what they saw as outdated Salon rules.

Later that month, journalist Louis Leroy wrote a mocking sketch in the satirical magazine ‘Le Charivari’ in which he called the paintings on display slapdash and superficial and creating no more than “impressions”, a term he lifted from the title of a painting by Claude Monet entitled ‘Impressions, Sunrise’ – the group had been given their name.

To mark the 150th anniversay of the first exhibition, Musée d’Orsay presented 130 paintings and works on paper from both the Impressionist exhibition and, by way of contrast, paintings from that year’s Salon.

Works from the 1874 Impressionist exhibition

Paul Cézanne’ Une moderne Olympia’ (1873 – 74)

Edgar Degas ‘Répétition d’un ballet sur la scène’ (1874)

Berthe Morisot ‘Le berceau’ (1872)

Claude Monet ‘Coquelicots’ (1873)

Claude Monet ‘Impression, Soleil Levant’ (1873)

Claude Monet ‘Le déjeuner’ (1868 – 69)

Camille Pissarro ‘La Jardin de la Ville Pontoise’ (1874)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir ‘Danseuse’ (1874)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir ‘La Loge’ (1874)

Alfred Sisley ‘L’automne – Bords de la Seine pres Bougival’ (1873)

Works from the 1874 Salon

Jules Bastien-Lepage ‘Portrait du grand-père de l’artiste’ (1874)

Edouard Dantan ‘Moine sculptant un Christ en bois’ (1874)

Ferdinand Humbert ‘La Vierge, l’Enfant Jésus et saint Jean-Baptiste’ (c.1874)

Edouard Manet ‘Le Chemin de fer’ (1873)

Works from the 1877 Impressionist exhibition

Gustave Caillebotte ‘Peintres en bâtiment.’ (1877)

Claude Monet ‘La Gare Saint-Lazare’ (1877)

Claude Monet ‘Les Dindons’ (1877)

Auguste Renoir ‘Bal du moulin de la Galette’ (1876)

Auguste Renoir ‘La balançoire’ (1876)

The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under conductor Mikko Franck have been performing a complete Sibelius symphony cycle on successive evenings at Maison de la Radio, Paris. This evening’s programme brought together the final three: symphonies 5, 6 and 7.

Jean Sibelius

The evening began with Symphony no. 5, possibly Sibelius’s best known. It was commissioned by the Finnish government in honour of the composer’s fiftieth birthday on 8 December 1915, which had been declared a national holiday. He wrote the original score from 1914 to 1915, revising it twice before it reached its final form in 1919.

Written in E-flat major, it is in three movements, each of which evoke the Nordic landscape. Whilst writing the symphony in 1915, Sibelius noted in his diary, “Today at ten to eleven I saw sixteen swans. One of my greatest experiences! Lord God, what beauty! They circled over me for a long time. Disappeared into the solar haze like a gleaming silver ribbon.” This inspired him to write what has become known as the ‘swan theme’ which forms the dramatic climax of the final movement. The orchestra performed it brilliantly under Finnish conductor Mikko Franck (like many other Finnish conductors, a pupil of Jorma Panula) who planned this series of concerts for his final year as the orchestra leader.

Perhaps it was the thrill of the performance of the fifth symphony that led to the sixth seeming slightly lacklustre in comparison. It is of course a much more subdued and less dramatic composition than the fifth with much quieter moments. Even Sibelius himself wrote of the sixth, “Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public pure cold water.” Whilst it was an enjoyable performance, and certainly not ‘cold water’, I would have preferred a little more dynamism.

Mikko Franck et l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

However, with the final piece of the evening, Symphony no. 7, the orchestra were back on fire. Notable for being a single movement symphony, it is one of the composer’s most remarkable achievements. Despite its complexity, it was played with great energy (the trombone theme was especially wonderful) and it provided the perfect ending to the evening and to the entire cycle. Mikko Franck was deservedly called back for numerous ovations.

Jean Sibelius: Symphony no. 5 in E-flat major, opus 82; Symphony no. 6 in D minor, opus 104; Symphony no. 7 in C major, opus 105.

In 1930, Henri Matisse, then aged 61, met Albert Barnes, an American millionaire businessman and modern art collector who had set up the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania (the Foundation has since moved to Philadelphia). Barnes commissioned Matisse to paint a mural for the Foundation building, leaving the artist to decide on the subject.

Matisse chose dance, a subject he had often painted before, and, in 1931, he began work on a triptych which was to fit under three arches. However, he considered his first attempt to be too decorative and abandoned it. Now known as ‘La Danse inachevée’ (‘The Unfinished Dance’), this work is exhibited in the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, as is Matisse’s second attempt, known as ‘La Danse de Paris’. Although this time he completed the project a problem with the dimensions meant that it was unsuitable for its intended location.

Matisse decided to produce a third version and this was finally installed at the Barnes Foundation In April 1933. ‘La Danse inachevée’ was only discovered in Matisse’s studio in Nice, in 1990.

Henri Matisse ‘Danse inachevée’ (1931)

Henri Matisse ‘La Danse de Paris’ (1931 – 33)

Henri Matisse ‘La Danse’ (Barnes Foundation,1933)

The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris is housed in the Art Deco Palais de Tokyo on Avenue de Président Wilson in the sixteenth arrondissement. As well as Matisse’s two Dance triptychs, its holds extremely impressive permanent collections of Modern and Contemporary paintings and works on paper – a total of 15,000 works from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It is particularly rich in the works of Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy and Giorgio de Chirico.

The Palais de Tokyo seen from the Seine

Raoul Dufy was commissioned to paint huge frescoes for the curved wall of the entrance to the Pavillon de la Lumière et de l’Électricité at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris. His massive work entitled ‘La Fée Électricité’ (‘The Electricity Fairy’) depicts scientists and inventors involved in the history of electricity and its applications. The fresco was donated to the Musée d’Art Moderne by Électricité de France in 1964.

Raoul Dufy ‘La Fée Electricité’ (1937)

Robert and Sonia Delaunay’s series of large paintings entitled ‘Rhythms’ was created in 1938 to decorate the sculpture gallery at the Salon des Tuileries in Paris.

Robert and Sonia Delaunay ‘Rhythms’ (1938)

Robert Delaunay ‘L’Equipe de Cardiff’ (1912 – 13)

Robert Delaunay ‘Tour Eiffel’ (1926)

Pablo Picasso painted ‘Evocation (L’Enterrement de Casagemas)’ as a tribute to his friend and fellow art student Carlos Casagemas, who had committed suicide in Paris in 1901 after a failed love affair. Picasso was deeply affected by the death of his friend and the painting depicts the ascension of Casagemas’s soul.

Pablo Picasso ‘Evocation (L’Enterrement de Casagemas)’ (c.1901)

Pablo Picasso ‘Le vieux marc’ (c.1914)

Georges Braque ‘Nature morte à la pipe’ (1914)

Natalia Goncharova ‘Femme russe’ (c.1909)

Fernand Léger ‘Les discs’ (1918)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Femme aux yeux bleus’ (c.1918)

Chaim Soutine ‘Torse au fond bleu’ (c.1928)

Giorgio de Chirico ‘Offerta a Giove (Offrande à Jupiter)’ (1971)

In 1964, twenty-seven year old Philip Glass moved to Paris to study under eminent composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Not only was this vitally important for his training as a composer but it also gave him the opportunity to immerse himself into French culture including theatre, music and the films of the Nouvelle Vague. He would pursue this interest in the 1990s by writing three operas inspired by the films of writer and director Jean Cocteau.

In 2021, Katia and Marielle Labèque created the instrumental suites for two pianos taken from the third of the operas ‘Les Enfants Terribles’, which Glass wrote in 1996. The success of these encouraged the sisters to ask Glass to complete the trilogy by writing piano suites based on the other two Cocteau films, ‘Orphée’ and ‘La Belle et la Bête’.

Katia and Marielle Labèque (photo. Umberto Nicoletti)

This evening all three of these works were performed in a wonderful concert by the Labèque sisters at the Auditorium in Bordeaux. All three were performed superbly with great energy and enthusiasm. The sisters play with perfectly synchronised movement even in the most complex of sections. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Philip Glass: ‘Orphée’ (1993); ‘La Belle et la Bête’ (1994); ‘Les Enfants Terrbles’ (1996).

Bordeaux, the capial of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, is the sixth-most populated city in France. It is best known as a world capital of wine, being surrounded by some of France’s best chateaux and vineyards. The city itself contains numerous impressive monuments and cultural sites and is home to Opéra National de Bordeaux with its imposing Grand Théâtre.

Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux

The Grand Théâtre was completed in 1780. It has a neo-classical façade with impressive Corinthian-style columns. In 1871, the theatre was briefly the National Assembly for the French Parliament. Today it is home to the Opéra National de Bordeaux, as well as the Ballet National de Bordeaux.

Basilique Saint-Michel

The Basilique Saint-Michel was built between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries in the Flamboyant Gothic style and is now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has a separate freestanding bell tower that stands at an impressive 114 metres but unfortunately at the time of the visit this was covered by scaffolding.

Basilique Saint-Michel nave

The original stained-glass windows of the basilica were destroyed by bombing in 1940; however, this meant that spectacular twentieth-century replacements could be installed.Those in the choir, designed by Max Ingrand, are particularly impressive.

Basilique Saint-Michel stained-glass windows

Cathédrale Saint-André

Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, construction of the Gothic-style Cathédrale Saint-André began in the fourteenth century, although the building of the nave was interrupted by the Hundred Years War. The north portal, built between 1325 – 1350, is particularly impressive with its splendid spires and thirteenth-century tympanum. The tympanum is carved in three layers; the bottom layer depicts the Last Supper, the middle shows the Ascension of Christ between the twelve apostles, whilst at the top is Christ enthroned between angels.

Cathédrale Saint-André tympanum

Grosse Cloche

The Grosse Cloche is the nickname given to one of the medieval entrances to the town. It was built in the fifteenth century as a route through the ramparts and was used by pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela.

The town magistrates are said to have rung the bell as a signal for the harvest to start and also to alert the population in the event of fires starting. It has since become a symbol of the town and appears on its coat of arms. The text engraved on the great bell reads “I call to arms I announce the days I give the hours I chase away the storm I ring in the holidays I shout fire.”

As part of a series of European exhibitions to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Picasso’s death, the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris presents the story of the extraordinary friendship between the artist and Gertrude Stein.

Gertrude Stein was an American-Jewish immigrant who settled in Paris in 1903 just after the arrival of Picasso. They became integral parts of Parisian bohemia and their influence has been enormous. The exhibiton is in two parts; the first tells the story of their influence in Europe, especially that of Picasso’s Cubism, whilst the second part looks at the subsequent effect that their work had in the USA.

Man Ray ‘Gertrude Stein with her portrait by Pablo Picasso (1922)

Pablo Picasso ‘Femme aux mains jointes’ (1907)

Pablo Picasso ‘Trois Figures sous un Arbre’ (1908)

Georges Braques ‘Cinq bananes et deux poires’ (1908)

Henri Matisse ‘Nature morte aux oranges’ (1912)

Georges Braque ‘Compotier, bouteille et verre’ (1912)

Juan Gris ‘Nature morte au livre’ (1913)

Juan Gris ‘La bouteille d’anis’ (1914)

Jacques Lipchitz ‘Gertrude Stein’ (1920)

Jasper Johns ‘Flags’ (1968)

Robert Rauschenberg ‘Centennial Certificate’ (1969)

Jasper Johns ‘Untitled’ (1984)

Whilst in Pont-Aven and Le Pouldu in Brittany in 1886, Paul Gauguin developed a style of painting which used simple forms and pure, bright colours. Over the next couple of years he met other artists in Brittany including Emile Bernard and Paul Serusier and their experiments in painting culminated in a style known as Synthetism. Serusier’s painting ‘The Talisman’, completed under Gauguin’s guidance, would influence the work of his future ‘Nabis’ colleagues.

Synthetism concentrated on the outward appearance of natural forms.and used flat areas of pure colour to express the artist’s feelings about their subject. The Musée d’Orsay has a particularly impressive collection of paintings produced by these artists in Brittany during the late 1880s.

Paul Gauguin ‘La Belle Angèle’ (1889)

Paul Gauguin ‘Les Meules jaunes’ (1889)

Paul Gauguin ‘Self-Portrait with The Yellow Christ’ (1890 – 91)

Emile Bernard ‘Le Pardon’ (1888)

Emile Bernard ‘Madeleine au Bois d’Amour’ (1888)

Emile Bernard ‘Les Brettones aux ombrelles’ (1892)

Paul Serusier ‘Paysage au Bois d’Amour’ (‘Le Talisman’) (1888)

Paul Serusier ‘La Barrière fleuries’ (1889)

Paul Serusier ‘Les Laveuses à la Laita’ (1892)

Paul Serusier ‘L’averse’ (1893)

At the Musée d’Orsay for this exhibition which displays the works that van Gogh produced during the last two months of his life. He spent May to July 1890 in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris, and there produced some of his finest works – seventy-four paintings and over fifty drawings, a remarkable output in such a short period of time.

Vincent van Gogh arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise on 20 May 1890, after having spent a year in the psychiatric hospital of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in the south of France. In Auvers he hoped that he would be able to find some kind of normality in new surroundings closer to his brother Theo. Theo arranged for a doctor in the town, Paul Gachet, who had been recommended by Camille Pissarro, to provide support for him.

Van Gogh immediately found Auvers to be “decidedly very beautiful”, although he was extremely concerned about his financial situation and continued to see himself as a failure. Nevertheless, financial aid from Theo reassured him and with Doctor Gachet’s support he began to paint, initially views of the surrounding countryside and its cottages and portraits of the doctor and his daughter Marguerite.

Vincent van Gogh ‘Thatched Cottages’ (1890)

Vincent van Gogh ‘The House of Père Pilon’ (1890)

Vincent van Gogh ‘Marguerite Gachet in the Garden’ (1890)

Vincent van Gogh ‘Doctor Paul Gachet’ (1890)

At the beginning of June he painted one of his best-known works from this period, ‘The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise’. He was clearly becoming happier at this time and on 10 June wrote to Theo, “It’s odd, all the same, that the nightmare should have ceased to such an extent here.” In one day, 12 June, he painted ‘Landscape with Carriage and Train’ and ‘Vineyards at Auvers-sur-Oise’.

Vincent van Gogh ‘The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise’ (1890)

Vincent van Gogh ‘Landscape with Carriage and Train’ (1890)

Vincent van Gogh ‘Vineyards at Auvers-sur-Oise’ (1890)

In June he also painted portraits, three of Adeline Ravoux, the daughter of the local inn-keeper, one of Marguerite Gachet at the piano, and several of local girls.

Vincent van Gogh ‘Portrait of Adeline Ravoux’ (1890)

Vincent van Gogh ‘Marguerite Gachet at the Piano’ (1890)

Vincent van Gogh ‘Two Girls’ (1890)

In early July he visited Theo and his family in Paris, although discussions there appear to have been quite fractious. Vincent also had fears about the health of both himself and Theo and his mood seems to have taken a downward turn. His final letter to Theo, written on 23 July but undelivered, was pessimistic, with Vincent declaring “I risk my life for my own work and my reason has half foundered in it.”

Vincent van Gogh ‘Tree Roots’ (1890)

On 27 July Vincent worked in the afternoon on his final painting, ‘Tree Roots’. That evening he shot himself in the area of the heart with a revolver and despite the efforts of Dr. Gachet to treat him he died at 1.30 a.m. on Tuesday 29 July. On 7 August, the local newspaper printed a short report which read: “Sunday 27 July, a person named Van Gogh, aged thirty-seven … Dutch citizen, painter by profession, living temporarily in Auvers, shot himself with a revolver in the fields and, being only wounded, returned to his room, where he died two days later.”

Paul Guillaume and Modigliani on the Promenade des Anglais, Nice, 1918 – 19

Parisian art dealer Paul Guillaume first met Amedeo Modigliani in 1914 though the poet Max Jacob and the following year he became his principal gallerist. This exhibition displays many of Modigliani’s artworks that either passed through the gallery of Guillaume or that were promoted by him; as well as photographs and documents that testify to their relationship. Both men had separately developed an interest in African art, Guillaume as a dealer and the influence of African masks can be clearly seen in Modigliani’s art and it is, therefore, unsurprising that their mutual interest would bring dealer and artist together.

Modigliani had originally been trying to make a career for himself as a sculptor but was now devoting himself to painting. It is believed that Guillaume rented a studio for Modigliani on rue Ravignan in Paris and the exhibition contains photographs of the two men posing in front of paintings hanging on the studio wall. Modigliani painted and drew his dealer several times in 1915 and 1916 and three such paintings are included in the exhibition.

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Paul Guillaume’ (1916)

Over one hundred paintings as well as drawings and sculptures by the artist are said to have passed through Guillaume’s hands. These included portraits of notable figures in Paris at the time such as Max Jacob, Jean Cocteau and Moïse Kisling, but also of unknown models, as well as women who shared the painter’s life. The latter included the writer Béatrice Hastings and the young painter Jeanne Hébuterne, who was the mother of his child and his final companion.

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Portrait of Béatrice Hastings’ (1915)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Portrait of Max Jacob’ (1916)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘The Beautiful Grocer’ (1918)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Young Red-haired Woman with a Necklace’ (1918)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Black Hair’ (1918)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘The Young Apprentice’ (1918 – 19)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Portrait of Madame Hanka Zborowska’ (1918 – 19)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Elvire Resting against a Table’ (1919)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Pink Blouse’ (1919)