Art

On Thursday we had our last conversation class for 2007. We started by talking about CHristmas tradition in France, England and Sweden.

Then we talked about  artists who lived and worked locally:  the painters Picasso, Dali, and the sculptor Maillol. We even talked about Van de Velde, a Belgian artist of the 20th century who spent part of his life in France;

We discussed life in Greece as Fiona's brother has got a house there and spends a lot of time there. He even speaks modern Greek. Now, I want to go there, too !!!

We've decided to meet again on the 3rd of January.

Virginie and I went to see (Not) a Love Song by Alain Buffard last Thursday. It was about former divas and "after diva-life" combined with famous songs such as "Femme Fatale" and "Fame". It was brilliant, in four languages and translations were projected on the little podium.

One exam down, six more to go

I had my Art exam today and consisted of three parts: comparing 6 pairs, completing a painting and comparing it with one another and analysing the style "impressionism" focusing on the business aspect of it, drawing parallels from aspects such as aesthetics, subject matter etc.

I went to the Grand Palais on Wednesday (with my Art class) to see the exhibition about Courbet. Though we had to rush through the exhibition, I got to see some interesting paintings.

This face (Le désespéré) is hanging all around in Metro stations

And this one is probably the most known (Origine du monde), and apparently was not that scandalous as many other nude paintings by other artist.

Here my analysis of the painting "Raboteurs de Parquets", that I have to hand in tomorrow.

October 6th, 2007: Rugby World Cup Quarter Finals (France vs. New Zealand) + Nuit Blanche in Paris.

When Virginie and I got out of the Metro at the Hôtel de Ville, it was absolutely packed. There was a huge screen in front of the City Hall and loads of people passionately watching the game.

For the Nuit Blanche, we went to see videos from Michel Gondry in the Théâtre du Châtelet. He worked with Björk, The Chemincal Brothers, Daft Punk and did the film "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" (very very good film and can only recommend it).

On our way to the Jardin des Tuileries, we stopped at Palais Royal to see La Comédie Française perform pieces (improvised and rehearsed) in the street.

Right next to it, was an installation called Triptych from the United Visual Artists. Three screens reacted to movements from the crowd as soon as they approached.

The Jardin des Tuileries was beautiful. The Compagnie Carabosse put up 2,000 "fire points" throughout the garden to create a magical night.

SF MoMA

Originally uploaded by isapisa.

I went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art which is situated in the SoMa (South of Market Street). I can't recall all the famous artists but of course they had Matisse, Klee, Miró, Rauschenberg, Pollock, Dalí, Chirico...

No mental state has so occupied the Western mind as melancholy; going to the heart of the problems that preoccupy us today - from history to philosophy, from medicine to psychiatry, from religion to theology, from literature to art. Melancholy, traditionally the cause of suffering and folly has also, since antiquity, been considered one of the elements in the temperaments of those marked for greatness, in our heroes and geniuses.
Normally I am not melancholic, but I was interested in that topic. In the exhibition was a very strange spirit ...
A lot of melancholic people at the pictures, as statues and in front of the pictures.