Long hidden away in a Breton collection, this major painting by the Czech artist will soon change hands. A link between two periods, the enigmatic landscape recalls the intense spirituality that guided his search for form. Frantisek Kupka was a leading abstract art pioneer, the precocious inventor...

The Tubogas is a flexible metal pipe patented in 1881. In the 1940s, it was discovered by jewelers, who gave it a glittering future. Depending on the times, uses and users, Tubogas changed names almost as often as a snake changes its skin: "skeleton key", "spirotube", "gas pipe", "Serpenti". But it...

After struggling to exist as artists, women painters of the turn of the 19th century have begun to set records. This is not revenge, but well-deserved recognition. We only need to recall the difficulties women artists had in gaining acceptance to the Académie and participating in the Salons of the...

The squabble between the Louvre and the Cy Twombly Foundation over the renovation of the Salle des Bronzes, whose ceiling the artist frescoed in 2010, might be a run-in whose full flavor is only relished by Parisians and New Yorkers. The American foundation has demanded an “immediate correction” by...

Lying in the Upper Engadine at an altitude of 1,856 m, the village of St. Moritz becomes a holiday home for many collectors each winter. Proclaiming its status as a pioneer of winter tourism (its first luxury hotel opened in 1864), the Swiss resort with a population of 5,000 contains ten galleries...

The forced withdrawal from a January 27 Pierre Bergé sale at Drouot of two stained glass windows from the abbey church of Saint-Denis illustrates the Ministry of Culture’s high-handedness and betrays a certain amount of scorn for the history of our heritage. Two days before the sale, the auctioneer...

You never know what awaits you in an "Œuvres Choisies" exhibition, the collectively organized shows of objects that most excite dealers in their upcoming sales. What immediately stands out in the current sampling, on view through March 4th, is its concentration of animal imagery. Gallery 9 of the...

A fascinating figure of the post-war Parisian art scene, Wols was a genuine myth in the 1950s-1960s. Nicknamed the “French Pollock”, he was mostly praised for his abstract oil paintings. Beyond the myth, the historical importance and diversity of his rich oeuvre, from watercolors to prints and...

A major figure in Japanism during the late 19th century, Gabriel Viardot designed to showcase and drawing-room furniture inhabited by dragons and bedecked with mother-of-pearl. Gabriel Viardot was one of the leading representatives of Japanese-style furniture much in vogue in the late...