Cultural, artistic and sportive events

Paris Plages (20th July till 20th August 2010)

Location : Voie Georges Pompidou | Bassin de la Villette

Sand, lounge chairs, palm trees and even swimming, no, you’re not on the Mediterranean seashore – you’re right here in the middle of Paris. Ever since 2002, the Paris Town Hall organizes “Paris Plages” (Paris Beach) transforming the embankments of the Seine River into a veritable bathing station; it’s free and open to all. On the program are activities for children (giant puzzles, merry-go-rounds, sand castles), sporty things like botchy ball (pétanque), racket games, pedal-boats, but also, culturally oriented things such as book lending and exhibits – and there are free concerts every evening…

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Yves Saint Laurent (11th March till 29th August 2010)

Location : Petit Palais - Beaux-Arts museum | Metro Champs-Élysées Clémenceau

Address : Avenue Winston Churchill - Paris 8th district

Major figure of fashion in XXth century, Yves Saint Laurent directed for 40 years the fashion house that carries his name. Noticed by Christian Dior in 1955, he became one of the most greatest French fashion designer, famous for making black jackets popular, tuxedos for women or even pantsuit. The Petit Palais is presenting the first retrospective of his collections with more than 250 items exposed, but also objects, drawings, and pictures that illustrate the work of Yves Saint Laurent.

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The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) (19th October till 23rd January 2011)

Location : Orsay Museum | Metro Solférino

Address : 1, rue de la Légion d'Honneur - Paris 7th district

Born in Vesoul en 1824, Jean-Léon Gérôme was an emblematic painter of the Second Empire. A symbol of Academism, he was successful within his lifetime, especially in the United States. Very theatrical in his way of going about it, he painted historical and spectacular scenes sure to seduce you by their great accessibility.

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Claude Monet (22nd of September till 24th of January 2010)

Location : “Grand Palais” National Galleries | Metro Champs-Élysées Clémenceau

Address : 3, avenue du Général-Eisenhower - Paris 8th district

Without a doubt, the big event of the parisian cultural rentrée this year is the exhibition entitled simply “Claude Monet (1840-1926)”, the largest in thirty years dedicated to this famous French Impressionist painter. Through 200 works, the perspective is a grand and overall view of this very fertile artist, many of whose well-known paintings will be shown, along with others less familiar to the general public, which are included. Not to miss for amateurs of art and canvas !

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Rubens, Poussin and 17th century artists (24th September 2010 till 24th January 2011)

Location : Jacquemart-André Museum | Metro Miromesnil

Address : 158, boulevard Haussmann - Paris 8th district

This exhibition brings together works from two great artistic eras, both born of the seventeenth century : Flemish Baroque and Classic French. Through the paintings of Theodoor van Thulden, Nicolas Poussin, and of course, Pierre-Paul Rubens, the Jacquemart-André Museum illustrates the force that brings these two schools together and punctuates the success of Flemish artists in France, notably with respect to the very influential Marie de Medicis (Henry IV’s widow). The progressive rise of French Classical Art is also brought to light.

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Basquiat (15th October 2010 till 31st January 2011)

Location : Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris | Metro Miromesnil

Address : 11, avenue du Président Wilson - Paris 16th district

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of this American artist, the Museum of Modern Art (not to be confused with the Beaubourg Center) dedicates a huge retrospective of the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). Starting off as a graffiti artist the young New Yorker became, in just a few years time, one of the great figures of contemporary art marked by comic strips, medias, publicity, and an asserted black and Hispanic identity.

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The Inca Gold (10th September 2010 till 6th February 2011)

Location : Pinacothèque de Paris | Metro Madeleine

Address : 28, place de la Madeleine - Paris 8th district

Symbol of social domination and closely linked to religious rites, the Incas considered this precious metal as the “sweat" of the sun (their supreme divinity). Gold was widely used in the fabrication of jewelry, crowns, dishes, figurines and other ornaments. This exhibition offers a wide diversity of precious objects that bear witness to the greatness of this civilization.

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