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Note : this post and the April 30 one, about things to see, were written for American friends visiting Paris, one of them for the first time, who wanted a few tips from a local. They were staying in a hotel just off République... ***** THREE STRONG RECOMMENDATIONS These are the three places I'd most strongly recommend during your visit, as I think they offer a nice variety of quality Parisian eating experiences. 1. Dinner at Le Train Bleu When the underlying idea was to recommend places off the tourist track, it might seem odd to start with Le Train Bleu, at the Gare de Lyon. But this is surely one of the most extraordinary restaurant spaces in the world. You can only experience it in Paris, of course, and I usually take any first-time visitor there for dinner. It's Lyon-influenced brasserie food at more-than-brasserie prices, but they have simple set-price menus at 55 and 74 euros, and anyway, as usual, the final bill depends above all on what you drink. It's worth it (and...

Installation view at the Galerie Mitterrand's booth at ArtParis 2024 In my last post, marking the tenth anniversary of the death of painter David Caille, I wrote that the latest example of David's enduring legacy is his influence on Mamali Shafahi's latest project,  Rest in Peace. Rest in Peace marks a new, more contemplative phase in Mamali's output, and a new example of artistic collaboration. In an unexpected return to a traditional medium, oil pastels (set, jewel-like, in high-relief casings), the series draws together, as if taking stock, all the strands that have run through his work over the past twenty years: the active involvement, in some cases transformation, of others; new technologies and their impact on us all; concern that new generations, focusing on technology, are losing their ancestral memory of traditional cultures, myths and legends; the quest, therefore, to build bridges between our high-tech future and the richness of the traditional past, especi...

I've already posted a short article about David Caille, but as today is the tenth anniversary of his death, I thought I'd make a longer post, even if it repeats some of the former one, and add more photos. David was an immensely talented young painter, but at 27 he took his own life: a tragedy for him and his family, of course, but also a great loss to art. He'd studied in Düsseldorf with Peter Doig, who on learning of his death wrote: ' I loved David's work and really really liked him as a person - as a fellow artist and as a student. He first came to visit me in Düsseldorf from Lyon with his portfolio, and showed me his work. He asked if he could join my class and he said he felt he was marginalised making paintings in Lyon. I was immediately attracted to his painted language and the imagery that he worked with. I enjoyed having him in my class, as did all the students who worked there during this time. He was a very popular and respected student and even years af...

  Noisiel is a suburb on the RER A line between Paris and Disneyland, now part of the Marne-la-Vallée new town. Its main claim to fame is a magnificent, metal-framed, water-powered factory with polychrome brickwork, the Moulin Saulnier (1872), thrown, Chenonceaux-style, across the river Marne for Chocolat Menier. The industrial-scale dairy farm that supplied the chocolate factory, in its day the world's largest, is now an arts complex, with a national theatre, a cinema, a mediatheque and exhibition halls: La Ferme du Buisson . I'd never previously set foot in Noisiel, but was drawn there last week, on a warm spring day and in excellent company, by Ballotta , an exhibition of characteristically impressive, carefully-crafted paintings and sculptures by the young Irish artist Justin Fitzpatrick (previously shown at the Seventeen Gallery in London: this link takes you to the presentation text and photos on the gallery's website). Anyone who knows Fitzpatrick's work will un...