It’s autumn, it’s finally autumn! And the All Saints’ holiday is almost here… So, since Mademoiselle Bon Plan generously gives carte blanche to a guest from time to time, and she happens to be out and about herself, I’ve decided to share my latest excursion ideas with you!
We will start by heading to the Museum of Impressionism in Giverny to see the Manguin exhibition and test out the latest app created for the garden. Then, we’ll take a tour of Troussay and Beauregard, two small private castles in the Centre- Val de Loire region. The painter Robert Pougheon will then lead our steps to La Piscine in Roubaix.
We’ll head back to Paris for a moment for the Pop Art, Icons that Matter exhibition at the Musée Maillol, and finally, we’ll admire contemporary photography on la Rue des Arts in Toulon, a city that’s really on the move!
Château de Beauregard
Manguin at the Museum of Impressionism
(by Valérie Collet)
This exhibition to be discovered in Giverny, in the middle of the lovely Norman countryside, is truly all about color, as if the artist’s canvases had arranged a rendezvous with the autumn foliage. Charles Manguin is not a very well-known painter. Yet the brilliance of his works, their sensuality, and their sublime nonchalance are instantly captivating.
The artist was born in Paris in 1874 and lived there. But like many painters, he was quickly seduced by the South. Renting his friend Matisse’s villa in Saint-Tropez in 1904, he painted Jeanne, his wife, as well as the surrounding nature. Like many other artists experimenting with southern light, his works quickly became freer and more colorful.
Manguin Exhibition Giverny
Manguin Exhibition Giverny
Manguin Exhibition Giverny
His palette ignites with exhilaration, much like that of his friends Derain or Vlaminck. They would all be labeled as “wild beasts” (fauves) in a cage at the Salon by a critic, thus officially giving birth to “Fauvism.”
This exhibition of about a hundred works focuses on the painter’s early years (up to 1914). Room after room, the eye wanders from curve to curve, between nudes and landscapes. Tree trunks are blue; shadows are red, mauve, or green. What does reality matter as long as joy and voluptuousness reign supreme!
Manguin Exhibition Giverny
Manguin Exhibition Giverny
Manguin Exhibition Giverny
One can pleasantly extend the visit by taking a few steps into the museum’s garden. The same colorful universe prevails. Its founder, landscape architect Mark Rudkin, designed it in 1991 as a series of monochromatic color boxes. Thus, blue, yellow, red, and even black and white gardens follow one after another!
A new App has just been created to playfully identify the plants found there. A visit that can be shared with children.
Museum of Impressionism garden
Table of Contents
Manguin, the voluptuousness of color
Until November 5
Museum of Impressionism
99 rue Claude Monet, 27620 Giverny
Open every day until November 5, from 10 am to 6 pm
Adult rates : 7 €/ 12-18 years old (and reduced rate) : 4.50 €/ 7-11 years old : 3 €/ under 7 years old : free
The Good Deal : for 3 tickets purchased, 1 free child entry/ free on the 1st Sunday of the month/
joint tickets with Claude Monet’s house and garden or the Vernon museum
(from 8.50 € to 16.50 € depending on age)
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Château de Troussay
(by Valérie Collet)
Located 3 kilometers from the Château de Cheverny, it is the smallest of the Loire castles, and like the others, it can be reached by bike. Its unique character lies in its joyful mix of eras and styles.
This large residence, a listed monument since 2000, features Renaissance elements. But it also includes later additions, since after passing through the hands of Robert de Buggy, squire to Francis I, it belonged to the de la Saussaye and Marcotte families (since 1900). Inside, it is a mosaic of ancient decor and furniture spanning from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Château de Troussay
Château de Troussay
Château de Troussay
Château de Troussay
A very special charm emanates from the place, probably due to the personality of its current owner, Isaure de Sainte Marie, a young woman who, after many years spent in Latin America, took over the family gem.
With unwavering energy and accompanied by all her cats and dogs, she welcomed us in a skirt and leather boots! Everything about her reflects taste, originality, and eclecticism.
Château de Troussay
Château de Troussay
Château de Troussay
Period furniture sits alongside sculptures made from recycled objects, while a shop of vintage furniture and objects with soft Mexican undertones invites you to indulge in a little extravagance… You can spend the night on site. The place offers lodging and guest rooms. A real favorite!
Château de Troussay
Château de Troussay
41700 Cheverny
Tel. : 02 54 44 29 07 or 06 70 63 10 94
Visits : check before going
Suites : from 180 to 200 € for 2 people
Lodgings, weekend package (from Friday evening to Sunday evening) : 480 € for 4-5 people
Decreasing rates for stays longer than three days
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Château de Beauregard
(by Valérie Collet)
Next to the previous one, this castle really acts as the big brother. Larger, more intimately linked to History, it served as a hunting lodge for Francis I, and its 26-meter-long gallery, with its 327 portraits and ceilings painted with lapis lazuli, is simply stunning.
Begun in the 17th century and built over three generations, it spans national and international political history over three centuries.
Château de Beauregard
Château de Beauregard
Château de Beauregard
Château de Beauregard
Since 1926, the site has been in the hands of the Du Pavillon family. And, since things are never done quite like everywhere else here, a second gallery of portraits of a completely different kind has appeared, right next to the Gallery of Illustrious Figures… It features very chic dogs belonging to famous personalities and immortalized by photographer Antoine Schneck.
Amidst the dark wood period furniture, these pooches make quite an impression. Including the intruder – a cat – who has snuck in among them…
Château de Beauregard
Château de Beauregard
You can complete the visit with a walk through the immense 40-hectare park to encounter trees that are more than two centuries old, visit the Garden of Portraits designed by Gilles Clément, or simply enjoy the colors of autumn…
Château de Beauregard
The good deal : the “5 small castles” pass (33 euros); free treasure hunts for kids; bike rentals and a visit to the park only (cheaper) for picnicking and lingering.
Château and park of Beauregard
41120 Cellettes
Tel. : 02 54 74 14 65
Open until November 5, from 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm on weekdays /from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm on weekends
Rates for park and castle (guided tour included) : adults, 12.50 €/ 14-25 years old : 10 €/
5-13 years old : 5 €/ 28 or 32 € (for 4 or 5)
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Robert Pougheon at the La Piscine in Roubaix
(by Valérie Collet)
Robert Pougheon is so pleasantly unknown among the great artists that no one quite knows how to write or pronounce his name (the ‘e’ in Pougheon sometimes has an acute accent). And yet! His art captures you immediately with its originality and visual power.
Having a style all his own, somewhere between Ingres and Puvis de Chavannes, Michelangelo, Cubism, and Art Deco, he was part of the “Rome group” gathered around Jean Dupas in the 30s.
Pougheon Exhibition, La Piscine, Roubaix
His most famous painting is undoubtedly The Serpent, a very peculiar work. One looks (in vain) for the slinking reptile among those you would assume, at first glance, to be Adam and Eve. In fact, the painting only brings together naked women, flappers, or amazons.
A way to affirm women’s liberation in those difficult years? The mystery remains and still keeps art historians busy…
Pougheon Exhibition, La Piscine, Roubaix
Throughout the rooms, one discovers a good part of the collection of drawings inherited by the museum, which it has been working on for years. An avalanche of nudes, portraits, sketches for stained glass, church decorations, or banknotes.
Because the artist, in his time, was the darling of institutions. Grand Prix de Rome for painting in 1914, he exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français, was a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and briefly directed the Académie de France in Rome, then the Musée Jacquemart-André.
Pougheon Exhibition, La Piscine, Roubaix
Pougheon Exhibition, La Piscine, Roubaix
Pougheon Exhibition, La Piscine, Roubaix
Pougheon Exhibition, La Piscine, Roubaix
Pougheon Exhibition, La Piscine, Roubaix
The artist truly belongs at La Piscine, this Art Deco gem transformed into a museum a few years ago. Visiting the venue and its interesting permanent collections displayed here and there at the edge of the pool or in the cabins where people used to change is an experience in itself.
The museum will soon be expanded with an extension, promising us new discoveries!
La Piscine, Roubaix
Robert Pougheon, a fantasy classicism
Until January 7, 2018
La Piscine-Museum of Art and Industry André Diligent
23 rue de l’Espérance, 59100 Roubaix
Opening hours : from Tuesday to Thursday from 11 am to 6 pm
Fridays from 11 am to 8 pm / saturdays and Sundays from 1 pm to 6 pm
Entrance fee : 5.5 €/ Reduced rate (students etc.) : 4 €
The Good Deal : free for under 18s, students in artistic fields, unemployed, etc. / the first Sunday of the month / Fridays for students
Joint ticket with the Manufacture des Flandres : 10 €
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Pop Art, Icons that Matter exhibition at the Musée Maillol
(by Melle Bon Plan)
Initiated by the famous sculptor and patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875-1942), the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York offers a true anthology of 20th-century American art and includes masterpieces of “Pop Art.”
Paintings, sculptures, prints… about sixty of these works will be presented for the first time in Paris at the Musée Maillol during this exhibition.
Pop Art, Icons that matter exhibition
until January 21, 2018
Musée Maillol
61 rue de Grenelle 75007 Paris
open every day during temporary exhibitions, from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm + late night on Fridays until 9:30 pm
Rates : 13 € / 11 €
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The new Rue des Arts in Toulon
(by Valérie Collet)
Toulon is moving! For over ten years, the municipality has been striving to give a new lease of life to its historic center, whose high, colorful walls have a character all their own. Thus, the Place de l’Equerre, with its new awning and olive trees, has become almost unrecognizable.
Quite recently, thanks to the commitment of Jacques Mikaélian, a passionate architect and gallery owner, a historic artery of Old Toulon, nicknamed Rue du Canon, has been transformed into the Rue des Arts.
A large open-air exhibition celebrates the event: day or night, you can admire large shots by young artists Mathilde Geldhof and Benjamin Mouly almost everywhere on the walls.
La Rue des Arts Toulon
La Rue des Arts Toulon
La Rue des Arts Toulon
The display, cleverly concocted by curator Anne Cartier-Bresson, is subtle and plays with windows, wall irregularities, tags, or electrical meters. Here, a face; there, a silhouette or an animal. The effect is quite magical, especially when the neighborhood residents play the extras…
La Rue des Arts Toulon
La Rue des Arts Toulon
La Rue des Arts Toulon
What is frankly commendable here is that instead of welcoming big-name stores, preference was given to creating galleries, bars, or boutiques dedicated to art and the art of living. Contemporary works, photos, vintage or design objects are all crowded together there. The people of Toulon seem to appreciate it and come to party with the artists on Thursday evenings… (below are photographers Benjamin Mouly and Rotha Suong).
With its Opera, its Hôtel des Arts, its Port des Créateurs, and this new Rue des Arts, Toulon offers a lovely cultural program. Winter is mild there, just so you know…
La Rue des Arts Toulon
La Rue des Arts Toulon
