Today let’s talk about this amazing Paris born artist, who began her career studying math and geometry but later dropped out to study art in various Parisian academies, the academy which is part of the Louvre. In 1937 she married Robert Goldwater and immigrated to the US, where she had 3 children. Her parents worked restoring tapestries, and she always helped them to work on the drawings. She once said her art began when she grabbed a piece of bread and began to sculpt the figure of her father, who she was trying to avoid. Once she finished the sculpture, she amputated all its limbs. From this moment forward she knew that this rather morbid act would define her future career.

Her childhood was difficult. Her father always boasted of her achievements, yet also belittled her, and generally made his children feel miserable. He cheated on her beloved mother (who Louise took care of until her death) with her governess. Her childhood is reflected in many of her works.

Her work includes both painting and sculpture, and she often uses organic materials such as wood, marble, and also steel, bronze and plastic.

Her early work is associated with surrealism, one example is the work “Femme Maison” (1947), which depicts a group of women supported by weak legs, and whose heads are houses, symbolic of the pressures of house and home. Little by little her work began to embark on an autobiographical journey through her troubled childhood, especially after the sixties. One notable work from this period is “Fillete” (1968), which is a large statue of a penis ironically titled “little girl”. This curious sculpture symbol is both amulet and emasculated, as it is hung from the ceiling.

In the 90´s some of her best known works include “Araña” (1994), (spider) or for example “Maman” (1997), a work inspired in the maternal figure. She has various spiders all over the world, the original made in steel and marble, and nine more in bronze.

In 2003 she was awarded the Wolf Foundation prize for the arts in Jerusalem.

If you want to take a stroll though the marvellous city where this unique artist was born and studied, don’t think twice! Rent apartments in Paris and enjoy this romantic and bohemian city.

Let’s celebrate the work of this magnificent painter, grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, as he celebrates his 88th birthday. He and his family emigrated from Germany to England when he was only 11 years old to escape the Nazi regime. Years later he was granted British nationality. He knew from early on in his life that he wanted to be a painter and has often said that he uses painting as a form of reflection.

At the beginning of his inimitable career, Freud dabbled in surrealism and painted mostly plants and people, but soon turned his attention to portraits, nearly all of which were nudes. His nudes are not just any nudes; in fact they are rather peculiar, and often feature subjects with clearly visible yet non-erotic genitals and imperfections. Though he uses neutral colours, his paintings have the provocative effect he desires. He uses people from his milieu as models, mostly friends and family, and very infrequently accepts offers to paint commissioned portraits. Another characteristic of his work is the presence of animals: he is known for painting pets with their masters, and his leggy dog also appears in many portraits.

One of his most controversial paintings is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, which gave people a lot to talk about. He painted her as older than she was at the moment he painted, and by all accounts it was not a particularly favourable portrait, provoking much criticism from the press, although the painting is emblematic of his painting style.

The Pompidou Centre in Paris will exhibit 50 paintings, in homage to this notable gentleman, as well as other graphic works, two movies and personal photography, nearly all of which feature his studio in London. His studio is the principal axis of all his work.

“The studio,” as this incredible exposition is called, traces the evolution of his painting from his first London industrial landscapes that depicted what he saw from his window or garden, and takes us inside his studio to present us his models. Here begins the second part of the exhibit, where the portraits and self portraits figure heavily.

The third part of the exhibit focuses on his interpretations of masterworks of artists like Picasso or Cézanne and finishes with such triumphant works as “Leigh Bowery” and “Big Sue” of which Freud has said he feels totally satisfied and show that painting for him is “meat”. Rent apartments in Paris and don’t miss this fabulous exhibit which runs until the 19th of July 2010.

Restaurants and Fast Food are cheap and convenient ways to get your nourishment. Most places are pretty decent, but the ones that aren’t are enough to put you off your next meal. Before you read the rest of this, make sure you’re not eating! Here are our favourite True Horror Stories of health violations in restaurants and fast food chains. Well, maybe ‘favourite’ is the wrong word…

Chicken Wings with Extras
A recent KFC diner was surprised to find a complete chicken head in their bucket of chicken wings. This one looked like a rooster, as even the comb was intact. The scary thing is that it was coated with the famous eleven herbs and spices and deep-fried along with all the rest of the chickeny goodness. Who checks these things?

Don’t worry, you have nine more
Yep, you guessed it. The number of fingers, or finger parts found in food is the third-most common disgusting thing to be found in food. The first two? Bandages and rodent droppings, with cockroaches coming next on the list.

What’s worse than a cockroach in your dinner?
Half a cockroach in your dinner. Cockroach parts are more commonly found in take-away food than full cockroaches. We hope the rest isn’t inside us.

Special sauce
It’s not just an urban legend. Health departments in the US and UK have documented cases of positive test results for saliva, urine and semen in condiments including pickling vinegar, soups and mayonnaise.So much for restaurant hygiene !

The Two Second Rule
Most restaurants run on very tight profit margins and a piece of steak doesn’t come cheap. A common restaurant health-violation complaint is returning food to the grill after it has been dropped on the floor. Makes a good case for ordering your steak well-done.

We have soap?
Some restaurant-owners have installed cameras to check up on their kitchen staff. Although this is a violation of privacy, some of the interesting results include: Staff who don’t wash their hands even once in an eight hour shift, cooks chopping vegetables on boards still dripping with the blood from the meat before, nose-wiping/toilet-usage without a hand-wash follow-up, one pair of gloves being used for an entire shift (handling money, cooked food and raw meat all with the same pair).

No extra charge…
… For the glass in your meal. One restaurant manager was caught ordering staff to pick glass fragments out of cooked burgers after a plate-glass window was smashed behind the grill. How was he caught? The grill was in plain view of the restaurant and horrified workers and diners ganged up on him.

Salmonella doesn’t come from salmon
More than fifty people contracted food poisoning after one US fast-food restaurant served partially raw chicken in their burgers. Not the same chicken-shop that the chicken-head came from – at least that one was well-cooked.

If dining out in style tickles your fancy, rent an apartment in Paris and spend the savings you make in a delicious French restaurant whose restaurant hygiene and standards are a little higher than these ones.

When we talk about the duality of the Yin and the Yang, we refer not only to the attraction and repulsion of opposites but a whole philosophy and religion from China called Taoism. The Tao, Wu-wei, Fu, Ch’i, Acupuncture, Feng Shui and several martial arts define this wisdom taught by Lao Tseu centuries ago. We take this exceptional exhibition in Paris, ‘The way of the Tao, another path to being’, which brings together 250 works and unedited pieces, to open the doors of the Eastern spirit.

The Tao is emptiness, absence and the source of all existence. It is also the road, route, or the way. It is expressed in nature, thus, to enter into connection with it, you have to be in harmony with Mother Earth. Its symbol is the Taijitu known as the Yin and Yang, the feminine and masculine, the possible and real. This discipline is primarily focused on the individual, in his spiritual life and consciousness. It is also said that its roots have to do with shamanism – a practice that is becoming increasingly appealing to Westerners.

Taoism is twofold: the philosophy, which is based on supreme reasoning (Tao-chi) and the religious (tao-chiao) which focuses on immortality. Both have their origins in the Book of the Way and Virtue, the Tao-to-king (Tao> Via, Tö> Virtue et King> holy book or Dao De Ping. But this is not a religion as the Western world understands it, that is subservient to a single god and creator, but a way of life, which was rediscovered in 1926 with the reprint of some 1,500 Taoist texts that were destroyed during the nineteenth century, now widespread throughout the world. China today has started to rebuild or rehabilitate its many ancient temples.

Maybe you’ve heard of Qigong, the gymnastics practiced outdoors which focuses on breathing or Feng Shui, the art of letting the chi flow throughout the rooms of your dwelling. Chi is a combination of what comes from water, food and heaven. It designates the universal cosmic breath or vital energy of an individual at the centre of the body. It is said that beings are made of chi and tsing, the spiritual light of each individual.

But this philosophy does not stop with books but it has several other avenues of expression: sculptures, paintings, ceramics, bronze, textiles, vases and incense. To discover more things about Taoism, I suggest you visit the exceptional exhibition ‘The way of the Tao, another path to being’ organized by the Grand Palais in Paris from 31st March to 5th July. Some of the finest items from the collections of the Guimet Museum in Paris as well as collections from Europe, U.S. and Taiwan will be on show.

And if you don’t have time to visit this wonderful exhibition, you’ll find your inner peace by renting apartments in Paris. Their affordable prices and along with the fantastic amenities will hopefully dazzle you as much as the Taoist ideology.