SHARING WITH ME

  I don’t know too many people who do like squiggles ! In fact at the exhibition the other day there were more cynical remarks coming from spectators than anything else. The Cy Twombly (1928-2011) retrospective had just opened and there were very few people. A younger generation than I had seen at the American Collection or even Magritte. My daughter came with me. She knew nothing about the artist in question, so I said nothing about him until we walked into the first gallery. Nothing is perhaps not the right word. I had told her that he was American, had lived for most of his life in Italy and was considered to be one of the most prolific American artists of the 20th century. "More than Picasso?" She asked. S o I added the American artists... Her mouth opened wide in surprise when she saw the first painting…I don’t blame her. It was Gianni who introduced me to Twombly but until going to this exhibition, I had forgotten that he lived in Bassano, the same town as Gianni once

I wonder how many people would contest a Rembrandt painting? There are so many stories, anecdotes about Rembrandt that after a while, the common mortal like me can get a little lost. The exhibition « Rembrandt Intime » has been on since the 16th of September at the Jaquemart-André which is not my favorite place for a « blockbuster exhibition ». The rooms are really small and once there are a couple fo groups going through, you are crushed to pieces. I got there at a reasonable hour this morning, no queues. I couldn’t believe my eyes. What I came up against once inside was impossible. Push, push, so I waited… The first of my conferences this year there had been an extremely interesting one on this exhibition. So many of the Rembrandt pictures are contested today that it’s nice to know that 99% of his etchings are his…and those I have always loved most. The first time I discovered them was with my Mother sometime in the 80’s. I couldn’t get over the simplicity and yet the empathy which s