Chers Amis,

One of the best things about leaving a city is getting to come back and visit, like reconnecting with an old friend. It had been a year since I’d seen her but Paris was just as beautiful as I remembered.

I finally got to visit Merci, the boutique that I see written up more than any other in French fashion magazines, where everything is terribly overpriced and understatedly cool.
http://trendland.com/merci-parisian-concept-store/#

Everyone is talking about the retrospective on American painter Edward Hopper at the Grand Palais but access is complicated with several hour lines outside and presale tickets’ slotted entry times sold out weeks in advance.

Hopper like so many other artists enjoyed a rite of passage in Paris but early oil paintings of the Seine don’t bear much resemblance to his familiar work. After meeting his wife Josephine, she exclusively posed for his female portraits. My favorite pieces in the collection were Soir Bleu, which initially suffered critical reviews, and Hotel Room, which one can concoct many a narrative to explain.
http://www.grandpalais.fr/grandformat/exposition/edward-hopper/

I also stopped by Artcurial. One of my favorite bookshops in Paris, it's the kind of place you can loose yourself in for hours paging through glossy art and fashion books. Set on the Champs Elysees in the most imperial of buildings, even walking through the lacy wrought iron gates makes you feel important.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art178713.asp


Take care,
Melissa Demiguel, French Culture Editor