SHARING WITH ME

This morning I visited the Hermitage. Oh, you don’t think I did? How right you are, but I did go to see a documentary called « The Hermitage Revealed ». Pierrette had talked about this coming event and then Marielle had seen it. In Paris, the communication has been more than secretive. I saw extracts in a cinema and that’s about all apart from Pierrette and Marielle talking about it. I booked and off I went. 

The average age of the audience was « old » . Not a young person in sight. I find it difficult to believe that young people are not interested in such a museum with 250 years of history and built by Catherine ll. War or not, she went on collecting pictures from all over Europe. Her Palace had to be on the same level as the rest of Europe. Her son, Nicholas followed in her footsteps, just as the curator today follows in his father’s footsteps. There are over 3 million pieces in 2000 rooms. I’ve just got to get there. I saw the Hermitage and the different palaces when St Petersb

The fountain in front of the Grand Palais Remember how I mixed up Niki de Saint Phalle and Nicolas de Stäel (Le Havre in July.  THE "SEAS" I REALLY LOVE )? I have seen a lot of Niki’s work over the years. Statues in gardens, close to the Beaubourg centre, in Switzerland and the Tinguely foundation. They amused me - but no more. In fact her worked seemed to be rather repetitive with the Nanas. There is a retrospective of her work at the moment at the Grand Palais. One of the largest since she died 12 years ago.  I know a few people who always go on the first day to such events. I decided to take the plunge and was right to do so. Apart from a couple of groups, there were very few people at opening time but when I left some three hours later, I could see this would be a block buster. How many people though would try to look at her work and fathom it out? I saw at once that she is not known from my point of view for her wide palette. She was born in 1930, the scion of a