Murder and Mystery with a Soupçon of Art History: L’Art du Crime

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Murder and Mystery with a Soupçon of Art History: L’Art du Crime
She is a brilliant art historian and appraiser, who talks to dead artists. He is a hard-boiled cop with a hair-trigger temper that lands him in the OCBC (Office Central de Lutte Contre le Trafic des Biens Culturels – The Central Office for the Fight Against Illegal Trafficking of Cultural Property) as punishment for his insubordination on the general crime squad of the Parisian police force. Unfortunately, he can’t tell a Monet from a Matisse, an enormous deficit for those who investigate art thefts and forgeries.   Captain Verlay and Madame Chassagne on the set of L’Art du Crime, Season 7 in Versailles. Courtesy of MHz Choice/ Doncomm PR The head of the OCBC, Commandant Alexandre Pardo, brings in the Louvre’s Madame Florence Chassagne, PhD, to help the crusty, self-assured detective Captain Antoine Verlay solve a murder attached to an alleged heist of a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting. Fireworks ensue, spicing up this madcap mélange of comedy, mystery, suspense, intrigue, romance, and art history. In France, you can binge L’Art du Crime’s eight seasons on France 2. In the US and Canada, you can binge The Art of Crime’s seven seasons through the streaming service MHz Choice. Everyone can watch the first full season of The Art of Crime’s first three cases for free on Plex.  Edgar Degas, The Dance School, 1878-80, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (public domain)
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Lead photo credit : Actors Eléonore Bernheim (Madame Florence Chassagne) and Nicolas Gob (Captain Antoine Verlay) in L’Art du Crime (France 2, in 2017). Courtesy of MHz Choice/ Doncomm PR

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Beth S. Gersh-Nešić, Ph.D. is an art historian and the director of the New York Arts Exchange, an arts education service that offers tours and lectures in the New York tristate area. She specializes in the study of Cubism and has published on the art criticism of Apollinaire’s close friend, poet/art critic/journalist André Salmon. She teaches art history at Mercy College in Westchester, New York. She published a book with French poet/literary critic Jean-Luc Pouliquen called "Transatlantic Conversation: About Poetry and Art." Her most recent book is a translation and annotation of "Pablo Picasso, André Salmon and 'Young French Painting,'" with an introduction by Jacqueline Gojard.

Comments

  • Sandra Smith
    2025-06-20 02:53:27
    Sandra Smith
    Brava! I can't wait for the new series. My husband even loves it and he uses the subtitles.

    REPLY

    • Beth Gersh-Nesic
      2025-06-22 11:57:15
      Beth Gersh-Nesic
      Thank you so much for this fabulous gift, Sandra. I adore this series. Looking forward to Season 8 streaming in the US.

      REPLY