Transcript for Episode 221: Where to Experience the Best Modern and Contemporary Art in France

Category: Museums in Paris

Discussed in this Episode

  • Palais de Tokyo in Paris
  • Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris (Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris)
  • Centre Pompidou in Paris
  • Fondation Cartier
  • Fondation Vuiton
  • Picasso Museum in Paris
  • Jeu de Paume Photography Museum in Paris
  • Le Centquatre Paris
  • Mac Val Paris in the Val de Marne
  • CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain de Bordeaux
  • Musée Soulages in Rodez
  • Musée des Abattoirs in Toulouse
  • Carré d'Art in Nîmes
  • Musée d'Art Moderne et Contenporain in Saint Etienne
  • Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art - Mamac in Nice
  • MAEGHT Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence
  • LAM Museum in Lille
  • Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg — MAMCS

THIS IS AN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

0:00
This is join us in France Episode 221 Bofu I’m Annie, are you getting ready for a trip to Paris, Provence, Normandy somewhere else in France? I am sure many of you are fans of the arts. If you are you have a lot of choices to make when it comes to seeing art in France. On today’s episode and Lisa and I discussed the best places to see modern and contemporary art in France. She loves this stuff and leads her case for the latest iteration of the art really well. Maybe even people like me who prefer older, more approachable art should check it out. Show Notes and photos for this episode are on join us in France. com forward slash to 21 that’s the number to 21 join us in France is brought to you by Patreon supporters and addicted to friends. A tour company that specializes in small groups for Francophile

1:00
I’ll be in Paris giving half day walking tours between May 5 and may eight. These are going to be in some of the best areas of Paris. Lima Hey, in velocity MoMA, paradise shares essential among the prey, the Latin Quarter. The GVR new one is already sold out. So check them out on addicted to france.com. I’d love to get a chance to show off my country and meet you in real life.

1:55
Hi Annie. We are going to talk about contemporary art.

2:00
In Paris, and also other places, yeah, France because you’re interested in this stuff. Yes. I love the way she does this stuff. Yes. Yes. Yes. I am very interested in this stuff. Yes, modern and contemporary art. And I was thinking the other day, as I think I had mentioned to you that,

2:19
obviously, one of the things that people do a lot when they come to France, and particularly when they go to Paris is they go to museums. And we talk about many of the museums, we’ve talked about lots of museums, and most of the museums are filled with beautiful, old things. Sure. And aside from the Pompidou Center, which is one we’ve mentioned, there is a lot of really interesting modern and contemporary art. And there are really some wonderful contemporary art museums in Paris and in other cities all over the country. And there are people out there maybe like me, who are interested in this stuff. Yes. And so I thought it wouldn’t really allow it.

3:00
Yeah, well, thank you so much. Thank you, Your Majesty. And I thought it would really be a good idea because Paris is wonderful with it probably, I don’t know, statistically if it’s the the city with the most, but certainly one of the most museums in the world. And there are so many places to go. And there are all kinds of museums of every kind, not just art museums. But I bet that other than Pompey do for those people who are interested in seeing places that have either modern which means really 20th century, really starting from the very beginning of the 20th century or contemporary, which is really like the last 3040 years. If they’re interested in seeing where there’s art of that kind. I thought it would be really fun to know and also because I know one place

3:49
Lulu, Tokyo, yes. Oh, you have you actually gone in? I have not gone in No, no, I heard about the naked people ran away and you ran away? Yes. Well, it’s got always naked

4:00
People but what I was gonna say, it’s funny that you mentioned the pilot Tokyo because what I was going to say is that a lot of these museums and they are museums are either in buildings that were built specifically for contemporary art by very famous architects. And that’s makes them very interesting places to visit just as easy as a building go or like the palace, Tokyo. It’s part of Trocadero. It’s was built as monumental architecture in the 1930s. And it got reconverted into a space for contemporary art. And so it’s an interesting combination of structure from another time period and work that is very, very, very, very today. Right? And there’s embarrassed is also the, I’m showing off now.

4:47
Let me see demo down the level up, which is the other side of the pilot. Yeah. Oh, no, of the public Tokyo. So maybe How about if I start with I just sort of would go down my little list. Sure. Go ahead and stop into it. And then you can

5:00
Tell me if these are places you’ve ever heard of. I mean, I’ll start with a song for Pompidou because it is the biggest, most important and it is in Europe, the biggest center of modern and contemporary art period. Okay, it’s very nice. It’s very nice. I happen to absolutely love this museum. I agree. That’s one that I really enjoy it you know, there are people who still being hanging, it’s really a big hit that that with all these tubes and yellow, green and blue, and it’s I think it’s fun. And I think that the spirit of this museum is fun because it was designed in the 1970s. It actually opened in 1977, which means what it’s what

5:41
count for me 40 5040 or 4040 years.

5:47
It was designed by two very, very, very famous architects. Renzo Piano, was a fabulous Italian architect to still alive, and Richard Rodgers, not the man who wrote the songs different Richard

6:00
Rodgers, who is an American, and what they did was they created a space under the president at the time, who was George popi do which is why that’s it’s actually, it has two names, but it’s because he was he loved modern and contemporary art and collected a lot of it. And so he found the financing. I won’t even go into it. I have no idea where there’s a long story was a long story, I’m sure it was a long story that you read about that. And it’s a long convoluted and of course, what they did was they tore down it’s a part of the fourth or on the spot. It’s right next to the memory, but it was still in the merrier old, old, old buildings and and they built this building which is designed to be for the people. I think that’s really why I like it because it’s not just a contemporary art space. It’s a huge structure, right? It has a huge, huge, huge National Library. It’s an a library that anybody can go into and use that has everything

7:00
connected to art design architecture, film, the history of culture period. It has space about architecture, it has space about everything connected to the arts that you can possibly imagine, including a film center. And it’s, I find it.

7:17
I like it because it’s big. It’s airy, it has a view from up on top to die for it. Yeah, the view is very nice tops of good. It’s great. It’s obviously great. And the only drawback to it, of course, is that it’s a little bit expensive.

7:31
What is it 1615 it’s something like that. Yeah, if you want to do the temporary exhibits, and the quote, permanent collection or think it’s 12 if you just do the permanent collection, by the way, it has 50,000 pieces of art, and it only can show 1300 at a time. So it’s it’s a very interesting museum because every three months they change, they rotate the permanent collection, and it’s set up in chronological order. So if you want to have another

8:00
The art that was made from the beginning of the 20th century up till now. It’s one of the most wonderful places to just go for that. And nothing else. Yes for that. Yeah. Well, French people are very price sensitive. And so they do find it a bit expensive, right. But it is open for free on the first Sunday of each month and one night a week. Oh, and when they don’t have one either week two. Yes. So I was there last Sunday, which was the first Sunday of December, right. And there was a long line to get in for free. I thought I would try that. But what you know, I only had an hour. So Never mind. If you’ve never been there for those out there who have never yet gone. I mean, that’s a huge Esplanade in front of it, which is very, very big and very open. It’s very medieval actually. And

8:48
surprisingly, the lines go very quickly. So because the space inside is enormous, right, there’s so much to do and so much to see. And also it’s a great museum because it has incredible

9:00
blockbuster retrospective exhibits I saw

9:05
a year ago the retrospective of David Hockney’s work, who is an artist who’s alive, still, who I absolutely adore. And, and it was fabulous. There was Giacometti a little bit before that, I mean, major, major, major artists with huge huge retrospectives. So it’s it’s a fabulous place. If you only have time to see one museum of modern contemporary art, it’s probably the one to go to because it is so important in terms of its collection, you know, and what I enjoy about it, and I know that you say that it’s rotating, permanent exhibit that might not hold true, but I’ve been there twice that I recall clearly, I might have. I remember going there as a kid. I don’t know who went in but

9:53
the it’s not so contemporary that people like me, just go

10:00
Who are they trying to? kid like? Yeah. What

10:08
does that do? But I’m like, No, there is no art here. This just footage, the Gullah. This is like, what would you say that in English you? You’re kidding me basically. Yeah, way to say Yeah. Like

10:23
there’s no there’s no line it’s just a black line there is of course at the end but there’s not a lot of it which means that you know somebody like you who can really can’t deal with the very most recent show me because so and George O’Keefe and people like that. Yeah, I love that. But you have to understand that that is no longer contemporary art. Picasso is over 100 years old. We are not talking contemporary art. When we talk Picasso, we’re talking modern art. It’s a difference. Okay, okay. Okay. modern artists really 20th century up to a certain point, but it’s fine. One of the things I think that’s really good from a

11:00
pedagogical point of view, even though it doesn’t hit you over the head at the Pompidou Center, is that because the permanent space is arranged in chronological order, you get an idea of the various movements up through the 20th century and into now the first part of the 21st century. And you can really pick and choose and see what you like. And I’ve done this a lot with university age students.

11:25
And not necessarily students who are art students. And it is fascinating to discover which of the works of the works that they remember and like, because just like with little children, if you walk in there with no a priori in your head, you’d be surprised by the things you respond to. It’s true. Yeah. My daughter actually likes contemporary art. Yeah, yeah. And she’s a very nice, normal person. So there you are.

11:54
Anyway, so the posture center is of course, it’s the biggie and it really is it rivals moment

12:00
In New York as being a very, very important space for everything connected, because it is involved with design, with architecture, with photography, with every part of what would be contemporary culture and art, and it’s, so it’s a major institution. It really is. However, Paris has other places, and I’m now really only going to focus on things that have to do with modern and contemporary or only contemporary work because we know about all the other wonderful places that we’ve talked about before.

12:33
There’s a place that is in the 14th around the smoke, not very far from den Pharaoh shuttle where you have your catacombs Yay, go down. There, no mine, but your catacombs don’t rely on though I claim the big lie, but you like your show. It’s on the boulevard spy, which means it’s on the way to the finals. And it’s the foundation cocktail.

13:00
Yes. Now even though it was created by Mr. Carter a, it’s a building that actually was designed by a very famous architect a French artist name is john nouvelle

13:12
very good architect. It was, it’s been only in existence since 1994. Most of these are very recent buildings actually. It was designed specifically to hold contemporary art.

13:24
It’s, it’s mostly not only but mostly American art that is shown inside it, even though it is not specifically an American place. And it is very, very, very contemporary, not contemporary, the way some of the stuff is in the pathway to Tokyo, but it has a lot of photography. It has a lot of international artists. So you get Chinese contemporary artists, you get artists from

13:49
all the continents in the world. It has cinema tech, as well. It has readings is very, very interesting place Okay, so it’s more of a it’s also a cultural center itself.

14:00
Cultural Center. Yeah, and one of the things about many of these places is that maybe that’s because that is the new tendency. And I haven’t really thought about it, but I think that is, is that a lot of these places, not all of them, but a lot of them are indeed, cultural centers and as well as just a museum and the differences that are found the Austrian cafe has no permanent exhibit. Okay? So it’s all traveling temporary exhibits, okay. And it can be a major exhibit of a painter or a photographer, or it just doesn’t matter. It depends when you come depends on when you come you and it’s kind of nice because it’s a little out of the way to a nice part of the 14th around a swan. It’s kind of nice, these beautiful big boulevards, and it’s cool it’s a very interesting building. It’s a lot of glass and stuff like that. And that’s got you the fashion house, the cafe, the jeweler dear jeweler, yes, yes, he sold some of his diamonds and he paid to have this building made and apparently cost him a certain amount of money.

15:00
It’s really kind of neat. And it’s if you’re looking for places that have modern or contemporary work, and you don’t want to go where there are huge, huge crowds, where you will, you’ll see real operations. This is a place. Oh, definitely. This is the kind of place you won’t see. You will see some tourists, but this is where provisions go and people from France. So and that’s very nice one. Now, let’s go to your wonderful Pele to Tokyo and the building that is literally right next to it, which is the Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris. That is a mouthful. It is really a mouthful. And they haven’t come up with an acronym for it. I don’t know why. Because you think that since we can MoMA is the Museum of Modern Art. But this one, the Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris, let me see. Let me see in French, see if you can come up with a nice little moniker for it. That doesn’t mean you have to say that whole thing to just, you know, go to it. Anyway, both of them are in this magnificent building that was built in 1937

16:00
For the World’s Fair and it’s all part of the same kind of architecture as you have at Trocadero this. They are at Shiloh, right. And this is this a very, very, very, very monumental stone and plaster architecture with columns and, and sculptures and things on the outside. And of course, one of the wonderful things about both of these spaces is that they have a view over the end of the Eiffel Tower to die for

16:31
the differences is that, do they have like a rooftop terrace or something? No, but they both have cafes. Okay, and the cafe is there’s a part of the cafe that’s inside for inclement weather, and then there’s a beautiful terrorist cafe. Okay? And in fact, the cafe is rarely between the two. It’s like there’s two there two wings of the same humongous structure. One side is the pathway to Tokyo, which means for those of you who don’t understand that

17:00
Tokyo palace. And don’t ask me why it’s called that because I actually, I think it’s because in the World’s Fair it was for Japan. I think that’s why it makes sense I should have looked at but I think that’s what and the other side is the Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris. And I don’t want to say that anymore. So MAMVP How would you pronounce that? Mum? Mum, mum? I don’t know. No, no, it doesn’t work. And if you put the doula so it’s mem DLVDP. That

17:32
sounds too many drugs. So I think we should.

17:39
The city of Paris. Okay, so on one side, I’m going to start with the museum. This is the last time I’m going to say the Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris, which is one of my favorite places to go in Paris, partly because of where it is. Because I always manage to make sure I have time to have something to drink and look out over the water and see the Eiffel Tower and the

18:00
cos it has a fabulous collection of early 20th century art, which is a kind of overflow of what is that the sample Pompey do, but concentrating on some very specific artists, so it has temporary exhibits. Also I saw a temporary exhibit a couple of years ago that had to do with pop art. And another exhibit of I can’t remember who but it was something much more contemporary. But what is very nice is that it’s very big. It’s very spacious, and it has a lot of art that you’ve probably heard of. A lot of the fringe artists so the first half of the 20th century she’ll have Matisse, Doohan.

18:42
painters, a lot of really wonderful painters. And then some French artists that are more recent that most people who are Americans have not heard of, and it’s interesting to discover, to see what French painters have been doing in the last half of the 20th century because most Americans will not have heard of most

19:00
These artists, so it’s a very complimentary museum to going to the Pompidou and then even later than Pompeii do it. No, it’s contemporary because it’s basically popping to starts at the beginning of the 20th century. Okay? But the Museum of this museum, I don’t have to say it anymore.

19:23
For some reason, it seems to have concentrated certain of these artists. So you have to boo Faye, who is a French artists do fee who was a French artist, these are all 20th century artists, not into 20th century art. But there’s a whole lot of their work. And I think what happened was, they really weren’t sure where to put all of it. Okay, because this particular museum was opened in 1961. Okay, so it started even before Pompidou. Right. And I think what happened was that between the work that was stored in the

20:00
In the in this basements or wherever they saw it in the loop, which used to have all this work hidden away because they didn’t have space to show it. Yeah, before they opened or say before they open Pompey do, they took a little bit of it out and put it in this museum, okay. And it’s a very pleasant Museum, and it’s a medium sized museum. So it’s a very nice place to go, especially if the weather is nice. And you can eventually you know, go outside and have a look. And then you walk across the cafe and go up a couple of steps. And you come to the other side of this building. And that is what is now called the Pele to Tokyo.

20:39
And the Paris Tokyo was reopened in 2012. So it’s a very, very, very recent as a space specifically and only for the most eccentric contemporary art. Yeah. Which means Don’t look at me like that, which means

21:00
That it has two things that are interesting one is because it was one of these structures that was built in the 1930s. It’s very, it’s really enormous and they gutted the inside. They didn’t do that on the other side of the the other wing, they gutted it specifically, because a lot of contemporary art pieces are installations that are very, very big. And so they wanted to have a it’s a Mondo space, that can be rearranged according to whatever it is they want to put in it. But also it was designed with money, I believe from the city of Paris, I’m not sure if it’s also from, I’m sure also from the Ministry of Culture,

21:37
to give a space for young, unknown artists because that is the hardest thing in the world is if you are an artist that is not famous already, is to get a space to have your work shown and shown for even a short time a week or two at a time. So this is a space that’s dedicated to now and it says space is dedicated to young

22:00
Young can mean anything you want it to mean, except that it’s basically unheard of unknown artists, some of whom are just out of art school, some of whom have been around for a while, but haven’t had a chance to really show their work. So a lot of it is it’s not painting. It’s performance. It’s installation. It’s strange, a lot of it is very, very, very strange. I have no idea what was going on when you were there, but it’s shining goes. It’s 22,000 square meters inside its enormous space. And for those people who are really interested in seeing what is happening, more or less French artists, I mean, there may be some artists that are from other countries.

22:43
For instance, my art students when I was teaching at the art school here, if they went up to Paris, they would go there, because it’s it’s worked on by their contemporaries, and it’s also a way of checking out to see if they think anything’s worth anything or not.

23:00
It’s a it’s, it’s valid for that reason, if for no other, I’ve been to it a few times, I cannot say honestly that I’ve seen anything that I really remember. But that’s the it’s it’s a space that doesn’t cost. It’s purposely not expensive. It’s purposely open to the public. So it doesn’t mean it’s cheaper, cheaper. It’s I think,

23:22
I can’t remember if it’s either it’s either cheap or free. I can’t remember go, but it’s also to it. And it has night performances of rock music and things like that. So it’s really to gather a younger crowd to track some people. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, a lot of museums are really not for super young people. So, you know, this is a way of trying to say, Okay, we’ve got a space for you guys. You want to come you can hang out and make light of weird things and noise and it’s okay.

23:48
I know I’m very tolerant. I think it’s perfectly fine. I don’t have to like it. I don’t have to go, you know, that’s my attitude.

23:55
Another space that’s only been open for a very, very short time.

24:00
Only since 2014 and that is becoming very, very important as a space for major exhibits, and that is the foundation of return.

24:11
Which was sponsored by Mr. Bannon.

24:15
Who is one of the two richest men in Paris in France. How do you spell the last name ARNAULT. okay he’s been there’s the other one out one of them is the one that owns sweet tone. And the other one I can never remember the two of them there he knows he know and are no no, there’s p No, no, no, no, they they are rivals. their rivals. Pino opened Museum of Contemporary Art in Venice because he was trying to build a museum on one of the islands in the Sand River and had problems with the administration in Paris and said, okay, screw you all. I’m going to take my work somewhere else because both them established museums around their own private major collection and so

25:00
He went off to Venice. So his museum is now in Venice and are no, his is this he had Frank Gehry come design the building for him. Hmm. Gary of Guggenheim makes Nice. Very incredible, absolutely incredible, incredible building. It’s in the middle of the park of the Bible, Anya, which means it’s on the western edge going outside of Paris in the 16th around the smart so you either need to take Metro and bus or car. Yeah to get there.

25:34
It’s it’s got a part of it that has permanent exhibit of his collection of contemporary art. So we’re not looking at Picasso, or anything. We’re looking at work from post World War Two on and specifically the last 50 years. And major major exhibits the one that’s there right now, and I believe it’s up till February, but I’m not absolutely certain is a

26:01
an exhibit of the work of a going Sheila who was an artist from the beginning of the 20th century, but whose work at the time was considered to be too avant garde and scandalous, actually scandalous. He actually went to prison because of his work was just considered to be obscene. Now, it’s pieces that are in major museums all over the world. And

26:24
and john, PO, john, Becka, john, I think it’s not PR. I can’t remember who was a young New York artist who died in 1989 at the age of 27. And whose work is considered to be major work for the end of the 20th century in the United States and who’s painting I absolutely love. I have to absolutely love his work. They are put together

26:46
a lot of times these days contemporary shows juxtapose to artists that are from time periods that are very different. In this case, I’m not sure if it works or not. I haven’t seen the exhibit, right? I’ve been told that it’s a very long line to get in, but

27:00
It’s a place to go if you want to see a building that is absolutely fabulous. Yeah, but most people go to see a building while they go to see the building. And then there’s the permanent exhibit, which is a lot of his collection of artists that have been art, you know, producing art for the last a lot of British artists, a lot of American artists, different things like that. But it’s kind of a neat, it’s a neat place to go. You just know to have to be prepared that you have to kind of traipse out to the

27:25
first western edge by the Bologna. Yeah, but it’s kind of nice. Um,

27:31
the

27:34
obviously there’s the museum, the Picasso Museum, but I put it in the category of Modern Art not contemporary art anymore, right. That’s right in the middle of the map.

27:46
And, and it’s included in the museum pass and it’s included the museum pass and and the Picasso Museum is only Picasso. I mean,

27:55
I mean, it really shows off how crazy because it was it was crazy.

28:00
Yeah, it was pretty talented to, I mean, but it’s a it’s it is a museum that’s devoted strictly to him. So it’s not a museum where you have permanent collection plus temporary things if somebody else

28:11
there’s another one.

28:13
That is the shoe the poem, which is a actually a photography Museum, right and it’s on the end of the Tuileries right next to the Orangery. Now their archery is dedicated to Monet and to impressionist or post impressionist painters. And it’s a small museum. And if you just walk across the little bit of the park, the Tuileries, there’s another building right there looks very much the same. It looks very much the same. They were built at the same time and it says your home which basically means it was originally designed this indoor tennis court. Yeah. And it is a really interesting for photography. If you’re interested in modern photography, artistic photography, yeah, it is the place to go. It is the there are several places I wish

29:00
You and we walked past the photography exhibit in Toulouse. And I was pointing out to you that none of these were even in focus. I don’t remember. I don’t remember. probably wasn’t.

29:13
And the guy at the door just spam because he was you. He was using a pinhole camera.

29:20
Okay then and then I see the art. He was managing to take very large

29:28
prints of scenes, but nothing was in focus.

29:35
Well, because it’s a thing like that, because I think it’s It was the beginning along that was a long time ago, of course, of photography as an art form, which really originated here in France. In the United States, photography really originated as a form of documentation. But in France, from the very beginning, there was a different spirit about what photography would become and it really is true that

30:00
photography as a form of art to

30:03
compete with painting, I would say, really developed here in France first. And so the diploma is very interesting for people who are interested in seeing international artists, all of whom do only photography. Okay, that’s enough. And then two others that I had not heard of before. One of which is in the 19th around a small, which is very interesting, and it’s called the song cap, which means the hundred and four. I don’t know why because it’s a dress is not bad. The two dresses five.

30:33
Really? Yeah. It’s not the reason why it’s called EN. Yeah. Okay. Julio, Julio, in the 19th. And it’s

30:44
it’s just, it’s a cultural center. As we were just we were just talking Yeah, we were on on mic. That sounds really like a lot of fun. It’s been open since the end of 2008. Never heard of it before. It has temporary art.

31:00
It’s a temporary art space, but it also has music concerts, it has theater, it has poetry readings, it has a bookshop. It has a restaurant. And it sounds like a lot of fun, right? It sounds like the kind of place you go spend an afternoon, you can go spend an afternoon or an evening, and you can see what the contemporary art is. And it’s not very far from South Africa. It’s a little bit to the eastern Africa. It’s up in that area. But it’s the I’m going to check it out the next time I go up to Paris because it sounds really, really like a lot of fun. And one last one that’s been open, also only since the 2000 since 2005, outside of power, so I’m sort of segue into the outside of Paris, in the valve Amman. Oh, that’s not so far. So it’s kind of going towards Disney World. Yeah. And it’s called the Mac vow. Okay. Museum of Contemporary Art in the vows demand. So they called it they gave it a moniker the Mac about so Mac is

32:00
Ma Ma See, right and then slash vow VL. Okay. And it’s a it’s a contemporary art museum. It’s actually in the town of VT still sin, okay. And it’s only French artists. Mm hmm. relatively young. The politics is to make the entry fee very minimal like three or four euros because they wanted to be available for people who are not the normal clientele for going to museums. And apparently, it’s doing very, very well. And it’s a kind of place where it’s brought in a lot of people from the burbs, the young people that normally would not go to see any kind of art in an art museum. And it was specifically set up in a part of the white veil demonic east, I guess it’s east of Paris, in an area that would cater to people who don’t necessarily have the means to always get into the city center. So again, these are places that are really interesting and the places to discover it.

33:00
This is a field that you’re particularly interested in exploring. And if you’ve already been to Paris several times, and you want to find new things to do, yeah, these are some of the things that I can suggest. Now, I’ve got a list of not very big list, but if some places that are also really interesting for modern or contemporary art all over, okay? In no specific order, geographically, I should have done this in a way of like, like a clock going around the country. So but good, it doesn’t matter. Okay.

33:32
Bordeaux,

33:34
Bordeaux, if you go to Bordeaux, among the other things to do besides going to look at the beautiful limestone buildings and drink a lot of wine.

33:42
It has a very, very, very interesting Museum of Contemporary Art called the CA PC. Okay. And it’s been open since 1983. And it I’ve been there twice, and it’s in buildings that were part of the

34:00
hangers

34:03
that were used for stocking the goods that came in on the ships. Okay, so it’s in a very posh very beautiful part of Bordeaux Actually, it’s right not far from the big square that when someone says square I think that’s how you pronounce it. I’m not even sure it’s a nice It’s a beautiful part of how do you learn the croissants a square, which is this huge square? QUINCONC Yes. Oh, yes. I’m not sure how. I I’m gonna

34:31
QUNQUIN yeah CONCEES

34:39
goals concert maybe? I guess that’s what I would guess. Okay. It’s the one of the largest squares in a city in in France. You knows is that the statue in the sculpture? Is that where the the water? thing is? There’s a fountain there’s a fountain huge

35:00
fountain Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, it’s on the other side. It’s not very far from there on the other side in a very nice, okay, really nice part of Bordeaux. And it’s, it’s got, I don’t know if it has a permanent exhibit but it has interesting temporary exhibits at this museum. And it’s very contemporary, but it’s very interesting and the building is also very beautiful to see. Okay, so it’s a kind of nice thing to do. And it’s been a nice part of Bordeaux. It’s one of the things I remember that I really liked a lot about it. Road is and now I’m going to stay for the Mid South southwest, stay in the southwest for a minute. Rodas which is of course a small city what two hours from today’s Yeah, northeast of two news.

35:42
Will days has a very beautiful brand new contemporary museum that was opened in 2014.

35:50
That is called the museum.

35:54
Okay, and the reason it’s called music collage is because the museum is dedicated to

36:00
The work of the man who is considered to be the greatest living French painter today. And you should know that on the 24th of December, he will be 99 years old.

36:14
And that is pure Sula. Okay, who is still actually producing work.

36:22
And the building is one of these buildings that’s made of this very interesting 10 core steel. That’s the, you know, this fake rusted steel. Very, very contemporary, very interesting because it’s the middle of

36:34
road. This is a kind of small town doesn’t have a whole lot going for it in general. I mean, it’s this little town that has its ups and downs in history. But it has a very old little city center, very tiny, just a few square blocks. And then there’s this very beautiful, very contemporary building. And it’s a fabulous museum for abstract painting. And it also has a part of the museum that has temporary exhibits. Now. I’ve been there. Quite a

37:00
few times because I’ve gone there with students that have been there by myself. And if you are interested in contemporary painting, and particularly the work of this artists, it’s a really interesting place to visit. It’s a very nice place to visit has a little fancy restaurant attached to it too. But if you don’t want to do the fancy restaurant, you can go across the park. And on the other side is this fabulous diner that has American hamburgers, and that’s just as good.

37:26
Really

37:27
good. Good dude Rodas Yeah, I’m staying in the south west. We have the abattoir here in Toulouse. Yes. Which I have to say I’m have to be very honest and say it’s not my favorite museum. It’s a very interesting building.

37:42
It was built in the 1820s as slaughterhouse building, which would everyone’s going to go a slaughterhouse it’s actually a gorgeous brick building. Really beautiful, with very interesting grounds around it and a beautiful park. But the collection is based on the private collection of one man

38:00
And it’s not my favorite work. It is not. So it’s very interesting when they have good temporary exhibits, and it is contemporary, so largely post World War Two and up.

38:12
But it’s nice and it is the only contemporary art museum we have introduced. And they have some nice ceramic pieces outside of it by leisure. I want to say there’s a one piece or two by laissez faire Malaysia. Yeah, yeah. And they’re outside of the museum and they’re kind of colorful. Yes. Very nice. Very good. He was he did very interesting things. He did both painting and drawing and then his most interesting work I think was actually his sculpture. Yeah. And what’s nice, this is kind of mosaic. It could be a mosaic. I don’t I’m not sure technically How was made I don’t know if it was a mosaic. It looks like a large mosaic that that pictures large people. Yeah, right. Doing it’s like work day workers.

39:00
I don’t think I don’t know if it’s a mosaic or not. But But the thing about this museum is that it was highly anticipated after the Museum of Contemporary Art opened in Bordeaux, which of course is a kind of rival have to lose as a city. And this building itself is really beautiful. And they really did a good job of trying to make it into a space for a contemporary art. But its permanent collection is a bit disappointing. It’s not very interesting, as far as I’m concerned, personally, it has one huge piece by Picasso that is a curtain that he did for a theater piece. That’s very famous, but it hasn’t been Minotaur on it, and it’s just painted, but other than that, what’s interesting in this in this particular museum is when they have interesting temporary shows come through right and they do but not major you know, because you put a Minotaur Yeah. Something on a curtain sank staying in the southwest, we’ve with Bordeaux Rodas to lose

40:00
Nima Nima. Nima means okay. Yep. Next to it right now. So you have the Roman temple. Yeah. The Maze. Okay. Yeah. And right next to it is the one called the chi da. Yes. I’ve seen it. I wanted to go in, but we ran it. I mean, it was like half an hour before the closed and we knew wasn’t going to be time. Yeah. And it’s

40:22
it’s modern, obviously. Nice. But yeah, it’s basically the same format, things same size. It was inspired by their opposite each other. It was opened in 1993. A very famous architect Norman Foster was the designer of it. And directly inspired by the Roman temple right there. Yeah. So it’s, it’s really neat. And it has, again, it’s a space that has no permanent exhibit. So whatever the temporary exhibit, okay, that this is outside of major museums, like some of the ones like the Pompidou Center that have enough money to buy it.

41:00
Keep a collection or the victim, the foundation we don’t, because it was his private collection. A lot of the smaller, which means outside of Paris museums wind up having just temporary exhibits that come through. Yeah, because it means otherwise they have to have a lot of money to be able to buy. Yeah, pieces. And so but this is it’s really neat. And it’s again, the one in Bordeaux, the one in Rodas, and even the one or two news like the one a name. They’re interesting from the architectural point of view as well. Yeah, the one that name is is quite strange. I hope I am. I’m gonna have to look through my photos to see if I have a good for you and have a good photo of it. Yeah, because it’s, it’s pretty striking. It is very striking. So I’m leaving that area and kind of digging Inzaghi a little bit. I discovered that there is a museum of modern and contemporary art that apparently sounds very, very interesting. In Santee chin. So now, ya know, Sandy chin, notice

42:00
Everybody who’s listening, listen to the way she just repeated Sunday 10 after me, because for us here,

42:07
most of us unless you have had to have never been to send a chip. Yeah, I’ve been just in the chat box from Leone on the other side of the valley. It’s a city that

42:19
of course.

42:23
Obviously industrial. Yeah, a little bit, but it’s up and coming. And it has. It has

42:33
a fixer upper. It’s a city that’s a fixer upper. It’s actually a very,

42:39
very interesting area. And it has apparently a very, very, very big collection of Contemporary Art and Design.

42:50
And Santi Chen happens to have strangely enough, a very good art school as well. So that is probably why they received the money from the Ministry.

43:00
Culture Yeah, to open up this museum. So it’s kind of neat to know that you can go to these places that are really off the beaten track. Definitely. Yeah. And still find something like that. Because it’s, you know, it’s in the middle of a messy city and also has an interesting Museum of mine. So it’s an old mine that you can visit and you go down into the mind and all that right. It was very interesting. What went in there years ago with with family. Yeah, I mean, for me, places like that are really great. When you’ve already had your first two trips to France, and you’ve done the major things that you’ve said there on your first list of like, oh, at least you have to go see this is the places that are wonderful to discover. Because there are I don’t think Cynthia Jen has a pretty city center. No, except that it hasn’t Cathedral. It’s a little bit interesting. Okay, because it was made out of lava. Oh, so it’s dark. Yeah. And it makes it very interesting. Well, the one who does is made out of purple and red sandstone. It’s actually kind of interesting.

44:00
I only ever go to all those for basketball games. I don’t know. It’s actually kind of interesting. They have a lot of good girl basketball. I’m glad to hear that.

44:12
Okay, I’m going to move further east. And I’m going to take everybody to of all places. Nice. Yeah. Nice. And up above it 25 kilometers away. Another into sample dance, which is a place that I’ve been to many times and absolutely adore. Yeah, in Nice. There is a beautiful, absolutely beautiful contemporary art museum that was opened in 1990.

44:36
That has contemporary art, modern art, which means all through

44:41
basically the 20th century. And it has a lot of the best French artists that really were producing work from the middle of the 20th century on. One of my favorite women artists is Nikki to sound foul. A lot of her work is there because she actually lived in and around the nice area.

45:00
Nice, which is the city I happen to like a lot, has of course if you ever beautiful Matisse museum because he lived there a good part of his life. But this is a neat building too. And it’s a very, very interesting museum and it has a very good collection if you want to see what some fringe artists we’re doing starting after World War Two, did you see what the name of it is? It’s simply called the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of nice. Okay, that’s it. And then if you’re going to be in that area, so you’re going to travel along the Riviera and go into the Provence area. There are other little museums along the way I am not this is not a list of everything that exists. This is just a list of suggesting you take your car and you travel up into the hills 25 kilometers. And you come to a place that has a special place in my heart. And that’s called the mag foundation. mag mag but spelled MAE

46:00
GHT. It’s a Dutch word MAEGHT. Allah is a weird thing, which for a long time I used to call the mate foundation. And it wasn’t that it wasn’t the foundation and it’s actually the mag foundation. Okay. And it is a private museum. Unlike most of these others that are actually built by the city’s okay. It was built by a man named Amy mag.

46:31
And it was built.

46:34
The story is actually very touching. It was built in the 1960s. He was an art. He was in the business of buying and selling art. He was a galleries to had a lot of money. He had accumulated a personal art collection that was very important. And unfortunately, in the early 1960s, he had a nine or 10 year old son who died of leukemia.

47:00
And he was very, very good friends with several of the most important French artists at the time. one of whom is wda

47:10
who was an artist that was very, very interesting man.

47:13
He was friends with my TC was friends with a whole lot of people. Matisse was a very old man by this time. And what happened was that somebody made a suggestion to him that he do something other than simply staying as an art merchant. And that if he would, if he could now where he got all the money from I really don’t know I don’t know the details of all of this sad work, but that if he wanted to create a space for all of these artists, they would all contribute major works and make it into a permanent space for 20th century art in France. And it is beautiful. It’s just on the edge of the village of sampled advanced which is absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, yes. And it is a modern, new

48:00
The building which of course, no longer is the most contemporary looking thing because it was built in the 1960s. But it’s designed to fit into the landscape of Provence with its olive trees, and it’s wonderful plants and flowers and everything. And all of the major French artists of the 20th century. All of them contributed works or me to work specifically for this place, including Chicago.

48:25
And so it’s a beautiful place to visit. Sounds good and it’s his grandchildren who are now the owners of it and who run it and it’s it’s run as basically a museum, but it is actually in in private hands. But it’s it’s very beautiful place to go and yeah, if your listeners go to some polygons, I’m sure they do. Yeah, so they could stop there and it was really meant to be a place to show art not that’s to be sold but just recently you have to have a car is it outside of my memory is I haven’t been back in a

49:00
Quite a while is that there might it’s it’s certainly possible now that there might be a bus that goes from right. But but it’s easier if you have a car. Yeah. You know, I mean, it’s just because you go up into the hills behind nice. And that’s just very briefly a couple of others because they’re interesting. And last is a modern art and my say has a museum that is the museum. Yeah, but it’s not a Museum of Contemporary Art. Okay, it’s a museum of Mediterranean culture. Okay, so we Scott and and so, yeah, because I was thinking, well, there are also the what they call the shadowy day, which is what used to be a hospital in Marcee and has temporary exhibits contemporary art as well. But But interestingly enough, I didn’t really include it on this list you just said I just want to mention to others and they’re further north. Now we’re going to go to the other end of France. One of them is on the outskirts of lean okay.

50:00
It’s called lamb the lamb LAM okay?

50:05
The Leal

50:10
amo down. I think that’s what it is Neil MOV, I think that’s what it is. Right? And it’s it’s a very, very, very big and very important museum that’s basically funded by Leo and the region around Leo which of course is the Department of the North. So it’s the very first part of their and it’s a Museum of Modern Art, contemporary art and art boots. And output is very interesting, because I brute is a term that was created by the artist Dubuffet and it design it designates are done by people who did not train as artists I see. And it’s a whole field of art where you have people who

50:48
are it’s not just it’s not folk art, so much as it it’s art. Sometimes people who are disturbed

50:59
some of it is

51:00
actually interesting but a little bit disturbing to look at, but people who have a kind of genius for art but who never had any formal training and use it, use it and it’s it’s got a very big collection of this work and it’s it’s Would you say that in English absolute so this is like brutal art it’s called it’s not primitive art see primitive art is no longer politically correct term for traditional arts of other cultures

51:27
as far as I know the term is used in English are probably Yeah, yeah, it’s very interesting anyway it’s a very big beautiful modern museum. Hmm. And I saw pictures of it on internet as it was looking it up. And I’ve been to Leo, which I loved as a city to visit actually. And this looks like a really interesting place to go. It’s just outside in a very big contemporary building. And the way they’ve designed it is that it’s got different wings so you can kind of beautiful grounds around it. So it looks kind of interesting. And then the last one last but not least, in stressful

52:01
There’s a museum of modern contemporary art that isn’t a very big new building that’s 20 years old. It’s actually a building that half of it has older art, you know, the cutesy, the loop and things like that. And half of it is designed specifically for contemporary and modern work. And it has temporary and permanent exhibits. And it looks very interesting because it’s very colorful, very beautiful building again, with very colorful hallways and things to see and so to stress work, which is a city, I highly recommend visiting. Oh, yeah. Starts where is

52:40
it has an ancient medieval art museum. It has the cathedral. It has an old little France which is a neighborhood in the center a pretty, it has the canals, it has everything. And it has this very, very interesting Contemporary Art Museum and because Strasbourg is an international European city and has a very

53:00
cosmopolitan population. It’s a museum that has turned out to be very popular there as well. Very nice. Yes. Hospital has the European Parliament, right. So So I mean, obviously can’t visit that there are there are others, unless it’s

53:15
the bathroom wonders, right? Like they open it on occasion but this gives it but I think it gives people an idea that there are other things to see if you’re interested in that kind of artwork. There really are places for you to go all over the country. And I’m sure that there are others and somebody will write and say why didn’t you mention this? And I’m sorry, I really apologize. Yeah, yeah, we, I mean, like everything else we’ve done, we don’t we can’t be exhausted. You know, we just tried to mention the ones that catch our attention. But basically, I’ve been to all three of them. You know, so our thing. Oh, gosh, no.

53:55
No know I’m gaining an appreciation for modern art.

54:00
Contemporary I’m not so sure. It depends on what it is. I don’t like everything. The Tate I was found a little hard to tell. Yeah.

54:12
Well, he was maybe in another 40 years to like,

54:16
give me time give you time. Anyway, for those of you who are interested in knowing about where all these things are, there you are. There you are. This is another kind of art experience. Thank you so much. At least you are quite welcome anything okay. Oh, wow. Bye. Thank you, Phil Robertson and Jay Jensen for becoming new Patreon supporters. This week, I released several Patreon rewards for the month of January 2019. Just in the last few days, there’s a new lunch break French about Napoleon’s mother Letitia. She was truly an extraordinary woman. This is a bilingual audio file with a written out version as well.

55:00
And so it’s in French and in English, it’s meant for you to practice your French listening skills.

55:08
I also released a new French history brief about a street in Roma Hey, that I, if you’ve been to America, you’ve probably walked on that street and you didn’t realize all the amazing things that happened there. And I talked about that. And I also added four photos of things in Paris that I think you should check out next time you visit because they are cool, and they are not on everybody’s radar and you know me I want to put the good stuff of Paris that not everybody knows about on your radar to dollar Patreon supporters get the photos but if you support at a $5 level, then you get the lunch break French, the French history brief and the photos to be one of the wonderful people who support the show on Patreon. Go to patreon.com forward slash join us PAT

56:00
REON Join us without spaces or dashes. And thank you so much for giving back. I love seeing all your photos tagged with a hashtag join us in France on Instagram. I found several this week and I responded to them directly. That’s very fun. Please keep doing it. So hashtag join us in France. And if you are on Twitter, it’s at Paris podcast and I will check those every day. And the thing the big thing for friends today other than the fact that finally we got a sunny day in Toulouse, which I’m sure you’re fascinated

56:39
with rain for like 10 days, it was awful. But now we today we got a nice sunny day. Well, but by the time this up tomorrow, so I’m releasing the episode two days from now but tomorrow is LaShawn dolla dolla is crap day and so I’m I posted on

57:00
The Facebook group, my recipe for homemade craps is very easy to do. And I want to tell you about it right here because frankly, you know, you can do it from memory. It’s that simple. You don’t need any special equipment to make crepes. But you do need a good really good nonstick pan. And if you have one of those specialized crepe pans, it’s better because there’s the edge is shallow and it makes it easier to turn the crepe. Alright, so the trick to not have lumps is to mix all liquid ingredients first and then add the flower. You can do this either in a stand mixer but I do it with a bowl and a whisk and it works just fine. I mean if I was making 100 grapes, I would probably use a mixer but I usually makes this batch that makes 20 so it’s not that big. Okay, so you start with a cup of milk and a cup of water. Now you could do two cups of milk instead of water.

58:00
I like to do some bubbles. But but you cannot do cut two cups of water it’ll be disgusting.

58:07
Then you need something for flavor and I like to use a tablespoon of vanilla. The good Mexican vanilla that I buy a Costco is French Vanilla in France is not that good. So I buy it at Costco and

58:22
and then I use either dark rum or orange blossom depending on you know the flavor I want to get to. And so it’s one big tea of vanilla, and between one and three of the other two, it depends on how strong you like the flavor to be. Three tablespoons of sugar, and three eggs. You mix all of that well. And then you slowly like a tablespoon at a time you add the flour and you and you mix with a whisk as you add the flower

58:55
the dough at the end so and it’s two cups of flour the day

59:00
What the end should be kind of running still, I mean, you’ll be like, it’s not like pancakes where it’s fairly firm. It’s it’s not going to be much thicker than to be knew what to begin with. But what’s going to happen is then you’re going to let it sit

59:19
outside of the refrigerator, you don’t want to put it in the fridge for an hour for full hour, and I just set my alarm so I don’t forget.

59:28
And you let it sit there and while it sits, the flower is going to get it’s going to get thicker. It’s going to get so much thicker that at the end before you start making the crepes you might need to add a couple tablespoons more liquid, you know depending you have to kind of get a feel for this. Now to cook your crepes you need a pan like I said at the beginning it has to be really good nonstick, and you need a tiny bit of oil, Solon oil that the easiest way to do this

1:00:00
You grab a paper towel, and you put a little bit of oil in a dish and you make your paper towel wet with oil and and then you rub that on to the pan. So there’s no you know, no visible I mean, you can see that the pan is a tiny bit shiny but it’s there’s no be devoid or anything like that. And then when you pen is good and hot, so I use a an induction stove top and it goes between one and nine and I set it to seven. So when I started I said it to eight because I’m always impatient. But and then I keep it to seven. And and what you do is you take like a quarter cup of the of the mix, and you till Japan and then you make sure that you feel the whole surface of the band with the with a mixture. I have a user nine inch Ben and it’s 30 seconds

1:01:00
On each side, now, when you first turn before you first turn it, it’s going to stick on the edges a little bit. So you need a knife or something to get it unstuck once you’ve turned it over once, and I do that with my fingers, because that way I know what my fingers are delicate enough that I won’t break it. Then you can you know, flip it in the air and do all that good stuff. But the first turn has to be done by hand otherwise, it won’t work. All right, I think that’s it. Did I forget anything? So it’s 30 seconds on each side. And so to make 20 crepes, it will take you 20 minutes.

1:01:40
And that’s the problem is that it takes a long time to just stand there and do you crepes and you can’t believe the stove. Like today I burned too and then I thought okay, I’m just going to set a timer otherwise, because you think I have 30 seconds I can go put some dishes away and then you see something else and you get distracted and

1:02:00
So I set a timer and just just stick stay in front of your stuff. Anyway, now the real question is, what do you like to put on your crepes? In my family, we love Nutella. Of course. Who doesn’t. We also love peanut butter and bananas is so good.

1:02:23
We love to just sprinkle some granulated sugar and some drops of lemon. That is absolutely fantastic. I also love but I’m the only one come to my home. So that’s chestnuts, chestnut puree. I don’t know if you can find that in America but it’s easy to find in France. And that’s about it. I don’t like it so much with jam or whatever. But But I would love to know, hashtag join us in France. photos of your crepes and maybe your favorite recipe, your favorite way to make them and what you like to put on them. That will be fun.

1:03:00
And also I would love photos of you with modern and contemporary art in France that would be also very, very fun. Okay, I think that’s it for today. Do check out the walking tours may 5 through eighth on addicted to france.com stay warm. I know it’s super cold in America right now unless you’re in Australia and in that case stay cool because I know it’s super hot in Australia. And I’ll talk to you next week with a new episode on 12 tips for visiting Paris or have like

1:03:35
the join us in France travel podcast is written and produced by Annie Sargent and copyright 2019 by addicted to France. It is released under a Creative Commons Attribution non commercial no derivatives license

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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Category: Museums in Paris