By Emma Krasov, photography by Yuri Krasov
While it is never too late or too early to visit France and enjoy everything L’Hexagone has to offer, 2010 seems especially rich with art events, music fest anniversaries, and hotel openings for all budgets and all kinds of travelers. Let me start with something near and dear to a Russian soul – an exhibition called "Russian Operas at the dawn of the Ballets Russes 1901-1913” in the town of Moulins, Auvergne - the former home of Coco Chanel. The exhibition presents 130 costumes from Sergei Diaghilev’s revolutionary ballets and runs through May 16. The first ever Normandy Impressionist Festival in the “Cradle of Impressionism” from May through September will include art exhibitions, music, dance, and literature celebrations tied to the Impressionists and their work. This would be a wonderful trip for those going to
art college. The festival opens with the Rouen Fine Arts Museum exhibition "A City for Impressionism: Monet, Pissarro, Gauguin in Rouen" June 4 – September 26. The long-awaited architectural masterpiece designed by Shigeru Ban Architects (Japan) and Jean de Gastines (France) Centre Pompidou-Metz opens in May. The inaugural exhibit will present nearly 500 works of contemporary art.
The prestigious "Jazz à Juan," the oldest continuously-running jazz festival in Europe, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary from July 14 to 25 with world-class performers, including Marcus Miller, Keith Jarett, Carlinhos Brown, David Sanborn, and Manu Katché. Meanwhile, thanks to renovations at Musée d’Orsay, two major exhibitions, "Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay" and "Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay" are heading to the de Young Museum in San Francisco (yey!) Each exhibition will include approximately 100 paintings from the Musée d’Orsay’s permanent collection and feature nearly 40 artists including Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Rousseau, Seurat, Sisley, Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh and Vuillard. Musée d’Orsay will remain open during the renovations, despite the absence of several hundred key pieces of art. Courchevel, the largest ski station in the world, recently welcomed a dozen monumental sculptures by Dali, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of the artist. Installed in the heart of Courchevel 1850 through April 25, at an altitude of 2,659 meters, the sculptures have transformed the ski station into a in the sky. The sculptures are accessible both to skiers and non-skiiers, thanks to the cable cars of Chenus and of Vizelle. Along the Seine River in central Paris, the bright green Cité de la Mode et du Design, designed by Jakob + MacFarlane, is due to open soon, with restaurants, cafés, a concert and club venue, shops, the Insitut Français de la Mode fashion and management school, and a riverside promenade. All of the above is just a sampling of the grandiose cultural program unfolding in France this year. More info at: franceguide.com. Look for great deals at recommended hotels all over France: majestic-barriere.com; residence-vallorcine-mont-blanc.com; lepetitniddesophie.fr; casahonore.com; hotel-particulier.com; chateauderoussan.com; ducotedesolivades.com; lapropos.com; hotel-martinez.com; cavendish-cannes.com; nh-hotels.com; hotel-bristol.com; raffles.comle-mathurin.com; paris-hotel-gavarni.com; hidden-hotel.com; astotel.com.
While it is never too late or too early to visit France and enjoy everything L’Hexagone has to offer, 2010 seems especially rich with art events, music fest anniversaries, and hotel openings for all budgets and all kinds of travelers. Let me start with something near and dear to a Russian soul – an exhibition called "Russian Operas at the dawn of the Ballets Russes 1901-1913” in the town of Moulins, Auvergne - the former home of Coco Chanel. The exhibition presents 130 costumes from Sergei Diaghilev’s revolutionary ballets and runs through May 16. The first ever Normandy Impressionist Festival in the “Cradle of Impressionism” from May through September will include art exhibitions, music, dance, and literature celebrations tied to the Impressionists and their work. This would be a wonderful trip for those going to art college. The festival opens with the Rouen Fine Arts Museum exhibition "A City for Impressionism: Monet, Pissarro, Gauguin in Rouen" June 4 – September 26. The long-awaited architectural masterpiece designed by Shigeru Ban Architects (Japan) and Jean de Gastines (France) Centre Pompidou-Metz opens in May. The inaugural exhibit will present nearly 500 works of contemporary art. 
The prestigious "Jazz à Juan," the oldest continuously-running jazz festival in Europe, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary from July 14 to 25 with world-class performers, including Marcus Miller, Keith Jarett, Carlinhos Brown, David Sanborn, and Manu Katché. Meanwhile, thanks to renovations at Musée d’Orsay, two major exhibitions, "Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay" and "Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay" are heading to the de Young Museum in San Francisco (yey!) Each exhibition will include approximately 100 paintings from the Musée d’Orsay’s permanent collection and feature nearly 40 artists including Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Rousseau, Seurat, Sisley, Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh and Vuillard. Musée d’Orsay will remain open during the renovations, despite the absence of several hundred key pieces of art. Courchevel, the largest ski station in the world, recently welcomed a dozen monumental sculptures by Dali, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of the artist. Installed in the heart of Courchevel 1850 through April 25, at an altitude of 2,659 meters, the sculptures have transformed the ski station into a in the sky. The sculptures are accessible both to skiers and non-skiiers, thanks to the cable cars of Chenus and of Vizelle. Along the Seine River in central Paris, the bright green Cité de la Mode et du Design, designed by Jakob + MacFarlane, is due to open soon, with restaurants, cafés, a concert and club venue, shops, the Insitut Français de la Mode fashion and management school, and a riverside promenade. All of the above is just a sampling of the grandiose cultural program unfolding in France this year. More info at: franceguide.com. Look for great deals at recommended hotels all over France: majestic-barriere.com; residence-vallorcine-mont-blanc.com; lepetitniddesophie.fr; casahonore.com; hotel-particulier.com; chateauderoussan.com; ducotedesolivades.com; lapropos.com; hotel-martinez.com; cavendish-cannes.com; nh-hotels.com; hotel-bristol.com; raffles.comle-mathurin.com; paris-hotel-gavarni.com; hidden-hotel.com; astotel.com. 
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