Tag Archives: France

New Travel & Wine Videos: “Burgundy & Champagne” Vineyards In France (2020)

Video August 3, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Filmed and Edited by: Matteo Bertoli

Burgundy is a historical region in east-central France. It’s famous for its Burgundy wines as well as pinot noirs and Chardonnay, Chablis and Beaujolais. The area is crisscrossed by a network of canals and studded with grand châteaux, some now luxury hotels. The capital, Dijon, of mustard fame, is home to the imposing Palace of the Dukes, where the distinguished Musée des Beaux-Arts was established in 1787.

Champagne was a province in the northeast of the Kingdom of France, now best known as the Champagne wine region for the sparkling white wine that bears its name in modern-day France. The County of Champagne, descended from the early medieval kingdom of Austrasia, passed to the French crown in 1314.

Homes, Travel, Videos

French Château Tours: Historic 17th Century In Béarn Region (Video)

Video July 22, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Dating to the 1630’s this magnificent, historic property, ennobled by King Louis XIII in 1634, was discovered in 2006, entirely hidden beneath brambles and woodlands, by an intrepid local couple wanting to restore an important building of historical significance to the Béarn region.

Art, Arts & Literature, Books, Culinary Arts, Culture

New Arts & Culture Books: “La Colombe d’Or – Saint Paul de Vence” (Assouline)

July 14, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

“Provence has a treasure; it’s a Colombe d’Or. It has the precious scent of thyme and nostalgia and the golden colour of olive oil and happy days. The Colombe is a part of my life. For me, it’s a place that’s as full of promise as of magnificent memories. The Colombe is indefinable, inimitable. I’m happy that today a book brings back the atmosphere of this place which is like no other in the world.”

La Colombe d’Or hotel and restaurant in the South of France is known all over the world as a privileged place where the Provençal art de vivre goes hand in hand with an astonishing private COLLECTION of modern art.

First opened in 1920 as Chez Robinson, a café-bar with an open-air terrace, it quickly became a very popular meeting place and expanded into a small hotel and restaurant. The friendly atmosphere together with owner Paul Roux’s deep interest in the arts attracted many artists of the day, and the walls were soon covered by paintings, often exchanged for a stay or a few meals. As regular visitors to this beautiful place, Matisse, Braque, Léger, Calder, César, and many other artists have left magnificent works that now form part of the unique setting, including splendid pages in the fascinating guest books—presented to the world for the first time in this volume—in which the greatest artists of our time have drawn and signed moments of happiness. The next generation of the Roux family continues to care for the Colombe d’Or, and the art COLLECTION is still growing today.

Travel & Architecture: “Mont Saint Michel” In Northwest France (Video)

Video July 11, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Mont-saint-michel, Rocky, Cone-shaped Islet in Northwestern France. The Islet, celebrated for Its Benedictine Abbey, has small houses and shops on its lowest level. Above these stand the Monastic Buildings, many of which date from the 13th Century and are considered outstanding examples of Gothic Architecture. The Abbey Church that towers over the island was built in 11th Century in Romanesque Style with a choir in flamboyant Gothic Style, considered as one of Medieval Architecture’s Greatest Achievements.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France. The island lies approximately one kilometer off the country’s northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is 7 hectares in area.

Travel, Videos

New Aerial Travel Videos: “Flight In Vercors Massif” – Southeastern France

Video July 10, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Filmed and Edited by: ISAIRFILMS

The Vercors Massif is a range in France consisting of rugged plateaux and mountains straddling the départements of Isère and Drôme in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps, from which it is separated by the rivers Drac and Isère. The cliffs at the massif’s eastern limit face the city of Grenoble.

Art, Arts & Literature, History

Art History: How The Impressionists Elevated The “French Riviera”

July 4, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From Christie’s (July 3, 2020):

It was the Impressionists, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who first discovered the artistic potential of the south coast, finding an unspoilt landscape that perfectly matched their aims. ‘It is so beautiful,’ Monet wrote, ‘so bright, so luminous. One swims in blue air and it is frightening.’

Vincent van Gogh captured the landscape in and around Arles and Saint-Rémy in the final years of his life, while the Master of Aix, Paul Cézanne, used the rugged landscape of his native Provence to radically reconceive the very nature of art-making.

Long before the South of France became synonymous with glamour and sun-drenched seduction — think of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in the 1955 film To Catch a Thief, or Brigitte Bardot and Alain Delon on the beaches of Saint-Tropez — this corner of Europe attracted a very different kind of tourist.

Since the turn of the century, the sleepy fishing villages and remote towns of the Provençal hills had lured artists from Paris and beyond — the bright light, dazzling colours and palpable presence of the classical past all serving to inspire and revive jaded spirits.

Architecture, Travel, Videos

Art & Design Video: “History Of Cartier Jewelers” (Christie’s)

Video June 25, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Meet Pascale Lepeu, Curator of the Cartier Collection, and see the incredible trove of historic Cartier jewellery that is held within. From elegant diamond tiaras of the Belle Époque to remarkable Art Deco tutti frutti bracelets and more, discover the enormous influence that Cartier has had on the world of high jewellery. An extract from the Christie’s Education online course, History of Jewellery Design: 1880–Now.

Art, Arts & Literature, History, Travel, Videos

Travels With A Curator: “Valenciennes”, Northern France (The Frick Videos)

Video June 24, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

In this week’s episode of “Travels with a Curator,” travel with Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, to Valenciennes, the birthplace of the Rococo painter Jean-Antoine Watteau. Delve into the historical events surrounding Watteau’s “Portal at Valenciennes” (ca. 1710–11), a scene of soldiers at rest near the ramparts of the town. Known for his depictions of garden frolics, Watteau seldom portrayed military life—“The Portal” is one of only three such paintings that survive today.

Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region experienced a steady population decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded.

Art, Arts & Literature, History, Profiles, Videos

Art History: French Cubist Painter Fernand Léger (1881 – 1955) – Sotheby’s

Video June 21, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Vice Chairman Lucian Simmons sits down to describe one of his favorite works – Fernand Léger’s Nature Morte. After surviving World War I, Léger joined an influx of artists searching for “purity” or a so-called “return to order.” Executed in 1925, Léger’s still life is an outstanding example of the artist’s classical period, where the artist found a new stride. Nature Morte will be offered as a highlight of the Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Evening auction in New York.