The fearless gaze of Agnès Varda
An exhibition at the Cinémathèque française doesn’t shy away from the film-maker’s political side
Sophie Calle takes on Picasso in Paris
In the year’s most unusual tribute to the modernist master, the artist is taking over the museum dedicated to him and filling it with her personal belongings
The case for and against Werner Herzog
The Eye Filmmuseum highlights the madness of the director’s methods and how beautiful the finished films are – and leaves us to make up our own minds about it all
The French culture minister who fell out of love with the arts
In her score-settling memoir, Roselyn Bachelot calls out ungrateful artists and time-serving bureaucrats
Surveillance tactics – the art of spying on screen
The Cinémathèque française’s unsettling show about film-making and espionage reveals how much the two activities have in common
States of play – an interview with Annette Messager
The artist’s wry installations include everything from cuddly toys to supersized versions of everyday objects. But her art is much tougher than it looks
How August Sander faced up to modern times
By turning social types into individuals, the photographer influenced many of his contemporaries and shaped how we see the 20th-century
The magical films of Georges Méliès make him a name to conjure with
The film-maker deserves pride of place in any history of early cinema – as the Cinèmathèque française’s new display confirms
The failed Italian revolutionary who dedicated himself to Asian art
After his failure in politics, Henri Cernuschi succeeded in finance – and left an outstanding collection of Asian art to his adoptive city of Paris
Tourist for a day – why Parisians really ought to climb the Arc de Triomphe
Most Parisians treat the Arc de Triomphe as a glorified roundabout – but by climbing it they’d see the city in a new light
In lockdown Paris, the photographs of Eugène Atget suddenly feel eerily familiar
Walking around the city can feel like following in the footsteps of the famous photographer – but today’s empty streets are altogether more depressing
At the movies, in the museum
What does it mean to make cinema – and film directors in particular – the subject of museum exhibitions?
‘The arrival of a large cultural centre in Landerneau was a real coup’
The presence of the Fonds Hélène & Édouard Leclerc has raised the cultural profile of the small town in Brittany
How Jean Dubuffet brought outsider artists into the museum
The French artist is still the guiding spirit of the Collection de l’Art Brut, the museum he founded in Lausanne
How the Africa Museum is facing up to Belgium’s colonial past
The museum founded by Leopold II has reopened after a five-year closure and rethought all its displays. Has it gone far enough?
In search of the Venus de Milo – on Milos and in Paris
The statue has been in Paris for nearly two centuries, but does it belong back on the island of Milos?
Christian Boltanski expands his repertoire
The French artist explains why organising a retrospective is like rustling up a meal
The double lives of outsider artists
Vivian Maier took thousands of photographs, but showed them to no one. Why are some artists so determined to keep their work secret?
The many lives of André Malraux
Collector, dealer, novelist, art historian, culture minister, conservationist – André Malraux’s influence still looms large
Has the French culture ministry lost its way?
The French state has always prided itself on its special relationship with culture. But its recent history has been a troubled one
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Wong Kar-Wai gets nostalgic
The director’s sale of unseen footage from ‘In the Mood for Love’ reminds us that the Hong Kong of his films is fast disappearing