More than 100 years ago Picasso and Apollinaire experienced how the Mona Lisa by Leonardo disappeared at the Louvre. Both were potential culprits because their iconoclastic, anti-museum point of view was very well-known, but not only that, they also knew the perpetrator who stole sculptures at the Louvre before.

The theft of the Gioconda was committed by the Italian Vicenzo Peruggia who after he built the Frame for this painting decided in a heroic act of patriotism to give Leonardo’s masterpiece back to Italy.

And although Apollinaire and Picasso were innocent there is a connection between the theft of the sculptures and the influence that this incident had on the work of the artists. In the case of Picasso this meant a farewell to the forms of expression up to this point to a new language in images that was first reflected in Les demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). It doesn’t come as a surprise that Picasso once said that good artists copy whereas the greatest steal.

Eugenio d’Ors writer with a very odd background said that everything that wasn’t tradition is plagiarism especially after there were so many fantastic movies dealing with this topic.

And these connections are a topic of discussion once again after the discovery of 271 paintings, drawings and color prints by Picasso from 1900 til 1932. There value is estimated to be at about 60 million euros. An electricion who used to work for the artist claims that they were all gifts by the painter.

Picasso Museum

5 Rue Thorigny

75003 Paris, France

Paul Oilzum

In this case there is no sign of plagiarism but for theft. To rent apartments in Paris might be a good opportunity to unravel this mystery. But maybe you are content to visit the Picasso Museum in Paris to admire his work.

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Translated by: salome antigone
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Gunther von Hagens work begins where the life of others ends. His bizarre sculptures, made of plasticillin and cadaver, are the morbid result of his artistic and scientific project culminated in his controversial exposition “Body Worlds.” A rather dark presentation of human bodies in all different kinds of positions and postures: Riding a horse, playing chess and even having sex.

Of course von Hagens had to deal with a lot of public criticism and outrage, but this never kept him from continuing his project. One of his latest projects is the launching of an online store that sells body parts. You can purchase for example a whole body for 69 615 euros, a head for 22 015 euros and a human brain is a steal at only 4165 euros.

The most bizarre is that many people are willing to give their bodies to him after they pass to be prepared, shown in expositions or even be sold. Death remains a taboo in society that not many people talk openly about because we can’t stand the thought of being buried and eaten by worms. Others might have financial reasons in mind to not leave their family with the cost of a burial.

Although the work of this scientist causes outrage and appal people are fascinated and his exhibitions have been a huge success and his most recent project will probably be just as successful.

Heloise Battista

Rent apartments in Paris where you will find some of the most beautiful cemeteries. For example the Pere Lachaise cemetery where legends like Jim Morrisson, Chopin and Marcel Proust are buried.?

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Translated by: salome antigone
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One might argue that the railway stations of the nineteenth century are still one of the key fields of the body of modern cities. It is difficult to resist the attractiveness of a place where everything is bustles with constant traffic and movement. People come to town and leave. Coming from or going to other towns, other countries, other lives, leaving intangible stories written in the air that are plasma inhabited by ghosts of all those who have ever walked through the space. Because the nature of these stations, ghostly souls are like deposits that build the echo of the industrial sounds into a symphony with stories of love, heartbreak, exile, hope, pain, desire …

In this sense, aided by the monumentality of its architecture, inspiring awe akin to that aroused by the large temples, on many occasions la Gare du Nord has been compared with Gothic cathedrals. Like these imposing buildings, it used the latest and most revolutionary architectural techniques of the time. The God of the new cathedral was not expressed, however, by a vertical ascent reaching towards the divine light, rather, by horizontal expanses serving the practical necessities required by the constant flow of people and goods without which the industrial revolution would have been impossible. This station is the apotheosis of the advent of the religion of money.

The Gare du Nord is perhaps more accurately, a non-place, after all it is inhabited by no-one, and anonymity is in its nature is given the bustle that continually flows through. It is estimated that about 180 million people pass through annually, each one leaving their spectral mark. By serving as a point of arrival in a beautiful city which represents the industrial social legacy of which we are the direct heirs, it seems to share a certain aura of a pilgrimage that connects it at some level with buildings like the cathedrals of Santiago and Canterbury. Like these, it is however also essentially a liminal space between two worlds, that metaphorically and symbolically may remain a bridge between heaven and earth.

Perhaps this essential quality never been better expressed than in La Maman Et La Putain, the memorable Jacques Eustache film in which  the protagonist takes his date to eat in the station restaurant, his favorite place, a  border between two worlds ( day and night, the countryside and the city ….) which he likens to the heart of Murnau’s films.

Here Verlaine and Rimbaud crossed paths unwittingly, and Alice de Janzé shot her herself and her lover in one of the most scandalous crimes of passion of the early 20^th century…

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Paul Oilzum

If you rent apartments in Paris do not miss this amazing building.?

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Translated by: salome antigone
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Travelers in should visit the old Cimitiere du Sud, better known these days as the cemetery of Montparnasse. Go at mid afternoon, and enjoy  a fine cigar on the bench with an elegant, old, Scandinavian  woman, savoring the intoxicating aroma of eventual death by smoke next to the simple and beautiful tomb of Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.

Perhaps she will tell you the disturbing story by Guy de Maupassant about the middle-aged sea captain who believed he had seduced a blonde lady in distress he found in tears at the grave of a sea captain, only to realize weeks later upon seeing her again in the cemetery in front of another man’s tomb that he was indeed one of her victims. This Scandinavian woman then confesses to being one of her offspring, and offers to accompany you to see the grave of Maupassant himself. You will have to decide if you choose to accompany her or not.

In the lovely cemetery of Montparnasse,  you will find the tombs of many authors who wrote extensively about death: Baudelaire, Banville, Beckett, Ionesco, Cioran, Cortázar, Vallejo, Duras and Sontag are all buried here, and more than likely having wild parties together in the void. Included in the Jewish section,  you will find the late, great Serge Gainsbourg, whose small family grave is always covered with flowers, stuffed animals, subway tickets, shopping lists, Gitanes packets, bottles of spirits and many more heartfelt and playful offerings renewed every morning without fail.

Visitors who explore the streets of the bohemian Paris of the interwar period or evoke the figure of Marie de Medicis in the Luxembourg Garden, whose heads are awash with images of Fragonard with unutterable nostalgia for the long lost past, or who inadvertently step on the surface that covers the overwhelming Catacombs of Paris between the sixth and fourteenth district of the city, who wander around with their visions of the Sorbonne and Galuoises cigarettes, should stumble upon the double monument to be found in Montparnasse, a secret and incomprehensible space whose limits may only be perceived from beyond the grave.

Paul Oilzum

When you escape the long bony fingers of the grim reaper, have no fear as you will rest in peace in  apartments in Paris , which are checked by ghost-busters regularly.

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Translated by: salome antigone
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The Reina Sofia in Madrid presented an exhaustive exploration last summer of the five years that laid the foundation of the most decisive key artistic movements of the sixties (pop art, minimalism, conceptual art, Fluxus.) in the magnificent exhibition New Realisms: 1957-1962, now  the Pompidou Centre coincides in its interest in this artistic moment, with anretrospective on Arman running until January 10^th, 2011.

The museum pays special attention to the new realists, presenting a  comprehensive retrospective of French artist Arman and also focuses on such figures as the critic Pierre Restany and the artists Yves Klein and Jean Tinguely, among others, known for their association with the New Realism group and perhaps some of the most important artists of the past 50 years.

Heavily influenced by Dada and particularly the work and person of Marcel Duchamp, who, despite decades of having been retired, found renewed ascendancy over the new avant-garde artists thanks to a famous conference of delivered in Houston in 1957 which inspired the artists of New Realism to escape the impasse that seemed to have condemned art to herald the most extreme representatives of Abstract Expressionism. The emotional and individualistic excesses of this last trend, embodied to perfection in Jackson Pollock, were refuted by the new realists, who turned their attention to lyricism, irony and the banal, common objects and things in the world of their time.

Within this trend, Arman was perhaps one of the most inspiring and European artists. Among other prestigious works, the famous exhibition of Klein “Le Vide”, which, as its name suggests, had a completely empty space, Arman responded with Le Plein (1960), which filled the space with the contents of several trucks garbage, thereby continuing the work of deep and painful beauty started with Poubelle, glass cabinets full of different sized objects found in garbage cans. His collections of identical or similar objects such as spoons and forks, bottle caps, or metal combs also became famous, evincing a fullness which distanced itself from the repetitive serial order of American minimalism. Or his glowering, real “action-sculptures” which tried to capture the moment when an object was violently destroyed by focusing on the decorative pattern produced by the precise relationship between the resulting fragments

The Pompidou offers us the opportunity to learn in depth to this master of accumulation and assemblage and appreciate the full extent of his poignant relevance. Over 120 works and revolving around seven thematic areas can be seen at the exhibit.

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Paul Oilzum

Rent apartments in Paris and see reality through a new lens.

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Translated by: salome antigone
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According to a study by one of the most important Latin American universities, love can last, at most, 4 years. What  remains afterwards is a feeling of attachment to the company of one´s partner.

For many people just starting a new relationship, delusions that love lasts a lifetime and everything will come up roses indefinately are common. Over time many realize that love is a many thorned rose, and that maintaining passion in a relationship is not always easy.

Now a group of specialists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, one of the largest in Latin America, revealed that the feeling of being in love lasts a maximum of four years and is a “state of temporary insanity.” Yes, the experts did make sure to clarify that emotional attachment and sexual attraction are not necessarily linked. Their main focus was romantic infatuation of the sort that  activates chemicals in the brain that occupy all neurons and drive the person wild with erotic lust and emotional angst.

Georgina Montemayor Flores, the expert who led the investigation, said that when a person falls in love, areas of the brain are activated that control emotions but that this brain activity also has an expiration date.

For most people the length of time that these variations in brain chemistry can sustain themselves is four years, or until you meet someone else who ignites your deepest romantic passions. After four years together, what remains is an  attachment to the company, memories and projects you may share with your mate.

Many say they love more than one person at a time but, at least according to this study, this is impossible. The psychological condition of intense love can reach the heights of obsessive compulsive disorder, hence Montemayor said that you can only love one person at a time.

MiLK

If you would like to ensure that your love defies the odds and lasts longer than 4 years, just rent apartments in Paris for a romantic getaway.?

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Translated by: salome antigone
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