Clients traveling to Paris this summer? (Check out our recent article on new and noteworthy accommodations.) There’s never a bad time to visit the City of Light, but the summer season-- ripe with jazz concerts in the Parc Floral, sunbathing on the beach along the Seine, browsing the street markets for picnic items, and shopping the Soldes--is truly marvelous. Not to mention the fact that most Parisians high-tail it out of the city for their annual vacances in August.
For clients looking for their art fix this summer, there’s no shortage of opportunities in the world’s museum capital. Some of the bigger blockbusters like Manet at the Orsay and the free Impressionists exhibit at the Hotel de Ville attract long lines, but two exhibits at the Musée d'Art Moderne in the 16th arrondissement are also dynamite: "Marc Desgrandchamps" and "Van Dongen: Fauve, Anarchist and Socialite." (The museum was the victim of a notorious heist in May 2010 where a thief made off with millions worth of paintings.) Note: Entry to the museum’s permanent collection is free.
Monumenta, at the Grand Palais, is a large-scale work that takes up the entire glass-roofed nave of the building. Since 2007, a major contemporary artist has been invited to create an installation for the enormous space. Following in the footsteps of Richard Serra and Christian Boltanksi, Anish Kapoor has unveiled “Leviathan.” Arrive at the aperitif hour and you can grab a glass of wine at the indoor café overlooking the giant sculpture.
Another exhibit that’s getting rave reviews is showing at the Musée Jacquemart-André. “The Caillebotte Brothers’ Private World” juxtaposes the famous Impressionist paintings of Gustave Caillebotte with the photographs taken by his brother, Martial, and conveys “the new urban lifestyle which was taking hold at the dawn of the 20th century.”
Image courtesy of the Musée Jacquemart-André