Love Photography? Get Thee to Arles!

The Rencontres d'Arles is an international photography expo that takes over the city of Arles each summer with seminars, workshops, gallery shows, open-air projections and more. It's Europe's biggest photo festival and, some say, the most important event of its type in the world. The 41st annual festival opens officially today and runs through Sept 19th.


Over the years Arles has played host to

Don't Miss the Rencontres

My friend Peter Gillespie, who lives near Aix, just returned from Arles raving about this year's Rencontres. If you've never experienced this citywide celebration of photography and graphic arts, Peter says this should be the year. He sent me this short update.As anyone will tell you, summers in Provence are affairs of the heart: a time for day tripping, slow meals under the shade of a plane

Arles Photo Workshops

I've been asked to pass along the word that there are still spaces open in the one- to six-day photo workshops sponsored by the international photo festival known as the Rencontres d'Arles. Most of the workshops are six days long but one is three days and one is four days; there are also three "one day with..." workshops led by heavyweights Duane Michals, Peter Lindbergh and Paolo Roversi. The

"There is Poetry to be Found Here"

There's a great story in today's NY Times about the Romans in Provence: how they lived and what they left behind. To write the piece, the paper's Paris bureau correspondent Elaine Sciolino toured Orange, Nimes, Arles and St. Remy, exploring well-known sites but also some you've probably never have heard of. It's so easy to forget what's right under our noses as we go about our everyday...and

Who Cut Off Van Gogh's Ear?

For more than a century, Vincent Van Gogh has been known as the tortured genius who sliced off his own ear in a fit of madness. But a new study claims that Paul Gauguin actually lopped it off with a sword as the two artists argued over a prostitute. In a new book, German art historians Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans contend Van Gogh let everyone think he had mutilated himself in order to

Arles Photo Workshops

The 40th annual Rencontres d’Arles (www.rencontres-arles.com, info@rencontres-arles.com), a major international photography expo, runs from July 7th to September 13th, 2009. And, as in years past, the Rencontres has organized a series of open-to-the-public photo workshops, led by top photographers, to be held in Arles in conjunction with the festival. The first group of workshops will take place

Michelin Guide 2009

The 100th edition of Michelin's Guide Rouge France was released this week and, as usual, there were cheers and tears.

The Hotel Bristol in Paris and its chef, Eric Fréchon, earned three stars, the only new restaurant to join that elite rank this year, bringing the total number of three-stars to 26. Apparently the Bristol is one of President Sarkozy’s favorite haunts.

Down here in Provence,