Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art upcoming auction - A pleasure for the eyes

Sotheby's employees pose with Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's 1895 pastel on board version of 'The Scream' at Sotheby's auction house in central London Photo: AFP/GETTY (taken from The Telegraph)

We went to visit the Auction House Sotheby's on Saturday. Just for the pleasure of the eyes. And it was such a treat. One of the four famous "The Scream" painting by Edvard Munch is on view for the upcoming auctioning on May 2nd. So we actually went to take a pick at the painting. But there were so many other beautiful things o see. I actually joked with my husband saying that we were fortunate not to have the means to buy anything, because I wouldn't be able to choose the one that I would like to see hanging in my living room. Although I have to confess that if I had to choose I would probably go for the Sleeping Girl Lichtenstein, one of the Chagall and a Picasso. They would all look great at home.

If you are in town, you should definitely find some time to take a look at what's on sale. The auction will take place on May 2nd, at 7pm, at the New York location.

P.S.: Sotheby's has a Free App for the iPad, in which you can download most of their catalogues. They come full of details about the most important pieces being auctioned and there are even some videos with comments from specialists. Very interesting. 

The Weekender - time flies

Vince Time Lapse: Birth to 9 years in 2 min. from Frans Hofmeester on Vimeo.

When watching this video the only thing that I kept thinking was that time really goes by so fast. I always thought this kind of thinking so cliché and now I can't help but to think that way all the time. F will turn 5 in July and I feel that the last five years elapsed in just 2 minutes like this short film.

We have a birthday party to attend on Sunday and we are going to try this new restaurant. Other than that, no plans for the weekend so far.

Have a good one!

Cultural day: Nolita + LES

Here's a new tour to add to my great collection of guided tours around NY (the first two were in Chelsea and Williamsburg). Always curated by my super tuned guides Ana Strumpf and Gisela Gueiros. The objective was mainly to stroll around Nolita and the Lower East Side of Manhattan to understand a little bit more of those so cool neighborhoods and discover some of the trendiest and most interesting stores around. 

If you've had the opportunity to walk around the region, you've probably noticed the amount of different stores, restaurants, cafes that are concentrated in just a few blocks. And, at least for me, it is very difficult to know what is worth looking at or not, unless someone points the right places. I found fascinating to see those kind of new lifestyle concept stores where they sell a little bit of everything (from shoes, to soaps and what not). Since I know that I don't have the right "eye" for that, I need a little help on that matter and it was great.

So our tour today started in Nolita with a nice brunch at one of the local cafe/restaurant called Bread, and then we headed to all sort of cool stores:

• Creatures of Comfort

Picture below: panel made by Confetti System

• Le Labo - a fragrance store in which you can find the "Gramercy Hotel" perfume for instance

• Aesop - skin/hair products from Australia, using only natural components. I bought a little set to test their products, but the coolest thing in the store is the design. The walls are all made of thousands of newspapers piled up. 

• Love, Adorned - lifestyle concept store
• John Derian - very charming home-accessories store 

• Doyle & Doyle - vintage jewelry 
• Tommy Guns - we passed in front of this really cool hairdresser of the Lower East Side.
• Moscot - a New York institution. It's one of the oldest optical shops in Manhattan. It's been managed by the same family for four generations now and they sell all kind of vintage frames. The store looks like a museum. 

• Tenement Museum store - the museum tells the story of immigrants and how they lived when they arrived in Manhattan. Most of them first settled in the Lower East Side of the island. We didn't have time to take a tour, but it's definitely in my priority list of things to visit in the city. The shop is a great place to find nice souvenirs of New York (not as cheesy as the ones sold in Times Square).
• Earnest Sewn - trendy clothing store, specialized in high-end jeans.

We also entered the Sperone Westwater Gallery, mainly to see the design of the building. The gallery was projected by the English architect Norman Foster and is worth the visit. 

We finished the tour in the middle of the Lower East Side, with a nice cup of coffee, surrounded by amazing pictures from Michael Halsband, at Lost Weekend - a new concept of coffee shop that is also an art gallery (hence the exhibition) and sells lifestyle accessories (like hair products, books and bags).

A great toy!

A friend of mine recommended me this toy for my kids. She guaranteed that it would be hours of great fun. She was right. The kids get all excited watching the marbles going down and trying to guess where they'll fall. There are several brands and different configuration as well (check some of them here). I bought a relatively small one, because I wasn't sure the boys would like it, but now I wish I had bought one with more pieces. It's still a lot of fun!

Books of the week: Peter and the Wolf

Unfortunately, we missed the Lollipop Concert this weekend. I wasn't organized enough and when I called all the shows were sold out. However, we didn't stay without listening to Sergei Prokofiev. As soon as I found out that we wouldn't be able to go to the concert, I remembered that a couple of years ago I had bought this version, of the classic tale of Peter and the wolf, adapted by Janet Schulman that came with a CD, in which the story is narrated along with the original music composed by S. Prokoviev. 

Each instrument or family of instruments of the orchestra represent a character of the story. This is all explained at the beginning of the book and the CD, so it makes it really easy for the children to follow the story and pay attention to the music. F liked it so much that we ended up having breakfast both Saturday and Sunday listening to Peter and the Wolf.

Death of a Salesman - Too good to be missed

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Willy Loman, in the play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller and currently directed by Mike Nichols

The story is depressing. At the end of the play, the actors are so depleted of energy that they can barely stand in front of the also exhausted public to receive their well deserved "standing ovation". It's indeed a very good production.

The play is so intense, so well interpreted that you, as a spectator, end up participating in the suffering of the characters and that is why you're completely washed out at the end. You actually want the tragedy to end, but at the same time you are curious to know how those people found themselves in that situation. It is so real, so well played, that is almost as if you were living the whole drama under your skin. As if you became one of them.

According to my husband they screamed too much. I agree with him. At some point it was unbearable and I just wanted to ask them to stop arguing. But I don't think it's an exaggeration of the actors, I think it's part of the play. They want you to feel uncomfortable with their pain and their choices in life. You almost feel like a voyeur. You shouldn't be in their house, looking at their problems. Don't you have your own back at home? Why are you judging them? 

The actors are fantastic. I already admired Philip Seymour Hoffman for his work on screen, but seeing him on the stage was priceless. In my opinion, he's by far one of the best actors of the moment. And Linda Edmond is so credible, she makes us feel that acting is easy. 

Death of a Salesman, directed by Mike Nichols is currently being played at Ethel Barrymore Theater, here in New York and I definitely recommend to buy the tickets early because they are selling fast and the play only goes until June 2nd. 

The Weekender - Reflexions

Réflexion from Planktoon on Vimeo.

If you're a woman, you've probably already felt like this before. This short film is fantastic.

Any plans for the weekend? We are going to see the play "Death of a Salesman", by Arthur Miller, starring Philip Saymour Hoffman. It's suppose to be excellent.

There's also another Lollipop concert this weekend. And the theme is one of my favorite ones: Peter and the Wolf. So I'm probably taking the kids to listen to some Prokofiev.

Have an excellent weekend!

Spring in New York

One of the most enjoyable time of the year here in New York.

The Disney World experience - Part II

The Goods:

• The kids faces and reactions;
• Under our children perspective, it was actually kind of fun;
• I've never been to a real safari, but the one in Animal Kingdom was very nice. And, according to the family who was right behind us in the van and who had gone on a real safari last year, it was very well done;
• The fireworks - I'm always mesmerized by them;

The Bads:

• Too many people - lines for everything;
• The food was absolutely disgusting;
• I don't understand adults going by themselves (I mean without any kids with them). There's no "magic" whatsoever to justify this trip. You live the so famous "magic" that Disney tries to sell through the eyes of the youngsters. Besides they were just taking space and making the lines longer. Really, who wants to ride "Peter Pan's Flight", "Snow White's scary Adventures" or event worst "It's a small world" if you are older than 10 years-old? It just doesn't make sense to me...
• The average weight of the people there. Unbelievable!
• The service was also a disappointment. I was maybe expecting too much.

I guess I have more negative points than positive ones. All in all, we had a good time.

Books of the week - Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

The Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is one of the most fantastic initiatives I've ever heard. It's a program that sends free books, on a monthly basis, to all eligible children. If you live in the U.S., in Canada or England and you have young children (under 5 years-old), you can enroll them in the program.  It may take some months though before they start receiving their books.

We received our first book yesterday: The Little Engine that could, by Watty Piper. And I was extremely pleased. The book is a classic story and it is the same quality as the one I linked above or any other bookstore.

We are now looking forward for our next book!

The Disney World experience

We survived!
I'll post more about it later, with more time.
Have a great week!

A story for Tomorrow - an inspiring video

We're going away for a few days. We're certainly not going on such an inspiring and fantastic journey as the one presented on the video above. We're heading to Orlando - Disney World more specifically. 

I think that for the kids it's going to be fun. However, wish me luck, for this is not really my ideal vacation (we were more and less "forced" to it, since we have a wedding in Orlando). 

Like a very wise friend of mine told me once and I'm going to steal her expression: I suffer from "people phobia".

Recent museums' visits

1- Cindy Sherman; 2- Print/Out; 3- Diego Rivera; 4 The Steins Collect; 5- The Ungovernables

I haven't had much time to write here lately and to share my cultural outings. So I've decided to dedicate this post to all the exhibits I have been in the past month, and, if you care, of course, my take outs.

• Cindy Sherman - I love artists retrospectives, because you can see the evolution of the artist throughout the years and understand him/her a little bit better. The first time I saw Cindy Sherman's work, it was many years ago, when I first visited the permanent collection of the MoMA. I was a teenager, so still trying to redo the whole World, contesting everything and thinking that nothing could shock me. The good thing about getting older is that you realize that some things will never change (and you actually don't want them to change) and that some other things have changed and are the way they are because they were part of an evolution. I still don't really like Cindy Sherman's clowns series (this is maybe more personal, because, since I was a child I just hate clowns), but I've became pretty fond of her work. As soon as you realize that for each and every photograph she's been the photographer, the actress, the hairstylist, the make-up artist, the stylist and what not, you just can't ignore her talent. Cindy Sherman's retrospective is being presented at the MoMA and it goes until June 11th. 

• Print/Out - Very interesting exhibit about prints. However, I felt a little bit lost and overwhelmed with the amount of information. There were prints literarily everywhere. It's one of those exhibits that need to be revisited many times and preferably with someone who knows well on the subject. I went with a group of friends and a guide. It was really helpful and I would love to go back with more time. Also showing at the MoMA and it runs until May 14th.

• Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art - Loved it. I wrote a post about the exhibit. If you are in New York, run for it, because it only goes until May 14th.

• The Steins collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde - wonderful exhibition at the MET, about the art collection of Gertrude Stein, her brother Leo and Michael and Michael's wife Sarah. The exhibit is rich on details about their story and their relationships with artists like Picasso and Matisse and how they discovered new talents. It's incredible how they knew all the best artists of the 20th century. The exhibit that shows works from Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picabia, Bonnard among others, is on display until June 3rd. 

• The Ungovernables: 2012 New Museum Triennal - not really my thing. The kind of contemporary art that I have a hard time understanding and that I can't usually link to the "message" of the artist. The exhibit reunites about 34 young artists from countries that used to be colonies and it goes until April 22nd.

I still have a lot of exhibition to catch up. But I'm glad I had time to see all the ones above, because they were all really worth the visit (apart from the "The Ungovernables").

If you have the opportunity to see one of the, I really hope you'll enjoy them as much as I did!

Books of the week - Nursery rhymes

F has been learning and playing around the traditional nursery rhymes at school. And even though we were already familiar with them and had a couple of books at home, I decided to buy a new one. This version is quite complete and nicely illustrated by Scott Gustafson. The book was recommended by F's teacher when we went to visit Books of Wonder with the school, which is a very nice children's bookstore here in New York.

Every night, F asks to read one or two nursery rhymes. I can't complain, I think is great. And they say nursery rhymes help to improve children's vocabulary and, of course, is a great memorizing exercise. 

P.S: If you have babies and you are completely lost (as I was when F was born) with the traditional English songs for children, I really recommend this book. It comes with a very nice CD with the most popular songs and in the book you'll find 80 nursery rhymes, explained with a lot of humor. The first part of the title, Humpty Who?, couldn't have been more appropriate for me, given that I had to sing this song every week in our mommy and me swimming class and I had no idea who that Humpty Dumpty was. Having received a French education, I grew up with La Fontaine's Fables, as opposed to, the Mother Goose rhymes. Never too late to learn new things...

Indoor picnic for breakfast

The day is absolutely gorgeous today here in New York. The kids wanted to have a picnic this morning, however I didn't have time to take them to the park. The solution? An indoor picnic. They helped preparing everything, we put our blanket on the wooden floor and that's it. Sometimes, we just need a little imagination (and lots of patience) to entertain the little ones.

Have an excellent week!

Happy Easter!

Have a great chocolate egg hunt!! Happy Easter!

Books of the week - The Story of the Easter Bunny

This week I bought to the kids this very nice story about how the Easter Bunny started to exist. It's very simple, with nice illustrations and it nicely fed my children's imagination. They are now anxiously waiting for their Easter eggs.

Preparing for Easter

We've been busy coloring our eggs this week. We used this non-toxic, all natural coloring kit do dye the eggs. And with some additional touches here's the result!

New York is just special

From top left hand corner: Jazz at Lincoln Center, Puss in Boot at Puppetworks, Central Park, ceiling decoration at McNally Jackson's bookstore's cafe, New Museum

Everybody agrees that New York is a special city, right? Whether you like the city or not, there is always something to do and that's true for any taste or age.

Nonetheless, a lot of people still find it hard to believe when I tell them that I would probably never find the kind of life that I have here, somewhere else. To which I usually hear back that New York will always be there and that I could come and visit often. True. But, what those people don't get, is that the things they can enjoy when they come to visit (even if they come often), I can have them everyday, all year long, without having to wait for a trip.  

Last weekend, for example, some of our activities included a puppet show* at Puppetworks in Brooklyn, a visit to the New Museum, a jazz concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center featuring Wynton Marsalis and his band, not to mention the restaurants and the simple strolls around town admiring the blossoming trees (although the weather wasn't great). And I'm not talking about a special weekend or anything, this is normal for us. Where else can you have all this, with the same variety, the same quality, at the tip of your fingers all the time? 

My weeks are also usually full of various activities. I get to talk and be with different people as well. This is something that I think is really hard to find somewhere else. Maybe in Paris or London or a place that I don't know (but would love to)? Certainly not where I have lived before. 

I'm organizing my week with the kids now. As always, there is too much to do and not enough time. New York is just special.

Have a great week!

* We went to see Puss in boots and I really recommend it. They are having their last presentation next Saturday, April 7th. If you can, don't miss it!