France

Paris news

Champs Élysées—one of Paris’s most polluted roads—to be transformed into ‘extraordinary garden’

The major avenue will undergo a €250m makeover to restore its former splendour, following the 2024 Summer Olympics

Opening of Pinault's Bourse de Commerce postponed as French museums told to remain closed

Scheduled to reopen this week, cultural institutions must keep their doors shut after an increase in Covid-19 cases

French High Court orders retrial of Wildenstein art dynasty tax fraud case

Guy Wildenstein and his nephew were accused of hiding assets worth hundreds of millions but were acquitted in 2017 and 2018—now they are wanted back in court for a third trial

Congolese activist who tried to seize an artefact from the Louvre is fined €5,000

Mwazulu Diyabanza says that “museums do not deserve respect” as restitution debate intensifies

French restitution bill passes final hurdle in parliament

Vote by National Assembly paves the way for the return of 27 colonial-era artefacts to Benin and Senegal within one year, but “will not create a legal precedent”

French Senate and government lock horns on restitution

Deputies rejected senators' proposal for a national council to advise the government on future restitution claims

Revealed: the secrets behind Antonia, Modigliani’s ‘most complex work’

Researchers at C2RMF give an exclusive preview of their forensic study of all the artist's works in French museum collections

French museums dismayed as reopening pushed to 7 January

Three-week delay caused by rising cases of coronavirus in the country

Censored work showing faces of 4,000 French police officers goes on show in Berlin

Work was pulled after the intervention of France's interior minister amid protests against a new bill that would have criminalised the publication of images of law enforcement

Collection of Balthus drawings and paintings to be sold for €1.2m—so why no mention of his infatuation with pubescent girls?

The works are from the estate of the artist’s teenage “muse and model” Frédérique Tison, who was also his step-niece

French Senate votes unanimously for restitution to Benin and Senegal in 'act of friendship and trust'

Senate approves bill to return 27 colonial-era artefacts from museum collections to Africa within one year

Saudi Arabia continues relentless cultural drive with Jean Nouvel subterranean desert resort

The plans are part of a ten-year agreement between France and Saudi Arabia to develop the AlUla region into a tourism destination

Louvre and French museums close, while German museums await clarity in second coronavirus lockdown

Closing German museums would be “a hard blow for the institutions and society,” the country's museums association says

Francenews

Congolese activist fined €1,000 for trying to seize African funeral pole from Paris museum

Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza and the other activists who removed the object from display at the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac say their actions are a protest against colonial looting

France’s National Assembly votes to return colonial-era artefacts to Benin and Senegal

Accelerated bill enabling restitution of 27 objects from French museums passes first vote in parliament

Trial of Quai Branly protestors in Paris centres on ‘political’ aspect of activist action

Court erupts after attendee shouts that African funeral pole "belongs to us"

France ordered to return three Derain paintings to heirs of Jewish dealer René Gimpel

Ruling by Paris court of appeal sets an important precedent for pending restitution claim over 16 paintings in French museum collections

How about an €8m Chanel makeover? Paris fashion museum reopens with help of luxury brand

Palais Galliera opens its doors during a hybrid physical and digital Paris fashion week with a major Chanel exhibition

Plans for world's biggest Picasso museum in south of France scuppered

Aix-en-Provence city council says that sale fell through after negotiations with artist’s stepdaughter broke down

Pack your goggles! France to open three underwater sculpture parks this autumn

Visitors will need to swim to see new exhibits submerged off the coast of Corsica, Marseille and Cannes

Vandals smash statue of Mary Magdalene in French chapel—apparently because she is naked

A note was left at the scene by the perpetrators saying they “did not accept” that the saint should be “represented in such a way”

French photographers demand President Macron puts his arts pandemic plan into practice

Signatories say that a ‘new deal’ is needed in France, enabling photojournalists to document the epidemic

Security questions remain after Nantes cathedral blaze: 'There's no European country where church fires are this common'

An arson investigation has been launched into the fire at the Gothic St Peter and St Paul Cathedral in western France

France takes first legal step towards restitutions to Benin and Senegal as cabinet examines new law

Twenty-six objects looted from Abomey Palace to return to Benin, Omar Tall’s sword to be transferred to Senegal

Notre Dame's spire to be rebuilt the way it was—but use of lead likely to spark new controversy

French President Macron makes u-turn after first suggesting the 19th-century spire, which was destroyed in the fire last year, should be replaced by a contemporary design

Musée Rodin in Paris casts new bronzes to offset losses from Covid-19 crisis

With an estimated shortfall of €4.4m in revenue, the museum is looking to "increase the offer and opportunities for sales to new markets"

Francenews

Roselyne Bachelot is France’s new culture minister

The former health and ecology minister shares a passion for opera with newly appointed Prime Minister Jean Castex

'The show must go on': new Rencontres d’Arles director promises 'less is more' approach after pandemic scuppers this year's edition

Head-hunted from Paris Photo, Christoph Wiesner will begin role as Luma Foundation officially opens its headquarters in the French city

American collector to sue France over restitution of $1.7m Pissarro painting

Real estate developer Bruce Toll claims compensation after French High court confirms return of Pissarro's Pea Harvest to heirs of collector Simon Bauer

Paris dealer who sold golden sarcophagus to New York’s Metropolitan Museum charged with fraud and money laundering

The work was returned to Egypt last year after officials were shown evidence it might have been looted during the Arab Spring in 2011