Letter from Paris: October 23, 2024 News Digest

Art Basel Paris — the French edition of the renowned international art fair — took the city by storm last week, with international art dealers praising the energy and vibrant creative scene. Some 195 galleries set up in the Grand Palais, newly restored to its original Art Nouveau splendor. The inuagural edition of the fair, which replaced the long-running FIAC art fair, then the awkwardly named Paris+ par Art Basel, lured the ultrarich to town. “Americans flocked to the city in droves,” reported The New York Times, and the displayed works were at “price levels never seen before at Paris’s fall art fair.” ArtNet points out that “White Cube sold a $9.5 million Julie Mehretu, and Hauser and Wirth has a Kazimir Malevich priced at several times that.”
The surroundings of Notre Dame cathedral are set for a green revamp, announced the city of Paris in a press conference recently. Set to begin next year, the project will add 1,800 square metres of green space and 160 trees, while the underground parking area will be transformed into a visitor space, connected via promenade to the Seine. After an incredible restoration project following the 2019 fire, the cathedral will reopen on December 8. An online (free) ticketing system will be put in place to handle the crowds.

Artistic rendering of the newly redesigned exterior of Notre Dame. Studio Alma pour le Groupement BBS
A tragic incident on the streets of Paris has shocked the populace. An SUV driver is facing murder charges for deliberating hitting and killing a cyclist, following an altercation near the Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement. Multiple witnesses described the violent act— the driver, whose teenage daughter was also in the car, was arrested immediately at the scene. On Saturday, people gathered in demonstrations of support for the cyclist at Place de la République. The city of Paris has sought to transform the capital with miles of new bike paths, in recent years. But, as reported by France 24, “tense standoffs between cyclists and drivers have become increasingly common as the heavily congested capital strives to become one of Europe’s most bikeable cities.”

Cycling in Paris.
President Macron is the latest to join the fray over the Netflix hit show “Emily in Paris.” In season 4, the heroine — an American expat working as a marketing executive in the City of Light — moves to Rome. The French president told Variety that the country “will fight hard” to keep the show from relocating: “We will ask them to remain in Paris, ‘Emily in Paris’” in Rome doesn’t make sense.” As reported by CNN, “Following the French president’s comments, Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri posted a tongue-in-cheek response on X, writing: “Dear Emmanuel Macron, don’t worry: Emily is doing great in Rome. And one can’t control the heart: let’s let her choose.” Gualtieri added in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter Roma: “Doesn’t President Macron have more pressing matters to worry about?” Gualtieri said: “I would like to believe, at least I would like to hope, that Macron was joking, because he ought to know that a production company like Netflix does not take orders from heads of state or make decisions based on political pressure.”
Don’t miss our article, “Why Do People Love—And Hate—Emily in Paris So Much?”

Photo credit: Emily in Paris/ Netflix
Intense rainstorms across southeast France have caused major floods, and the region is suffering widespread damage. Global warming is triggering heavy downpours that are highly unusual. This flooding is the worst seen in decades, and there’s a risk of it becoming more frequent because of climate change.
Meanwhile hands off Doliprane! There’s been major backlash over plans for drugmaker Sanofi to sell a division to a U.S. private equity firm. (Opella makes the paracetamol brand Doliprane, among other medications.) In the latest news, according to The Guardian, “the French government has warned a US private equity firm… that it faces penalties of more than €100m if it does not keep production and jobs in France.”
Six Russian soliders who deserted the army and fled the war in Ukraine have been given temporary entry permits to France, where they will apply for political asylum. As reported by The Guardian, human rights activists state this is “the first major case of a group of deserters being admitted to an EU country.” They initially fled Russia into Kazakhstan in 2022 and 2023.

Doliprane. Image: Ptyx / Wikimedia commons
Last but not least: A gang of thieves selling counterfeit wine has been busted in France and Italy. Fabricating fake labels of famous French wines, they sold poor quality wine at full market price (up to €15,000 for each bottle) to international wine traders. The suspected ringleader is a 40-year-old Russian national. As reported by the BBC, “Wine fraud has existed since wine was invented. Until a few years ago, in France, it was at a fairly manageable level – a few dedicated experts counterfeiting labels and wax seals in order to pass basic wine off as something fancier. But over the last decade, things have changed. The prices fetched by the best grand crus on the world market are now so high – thousands of pounds a bottle – that it has become profitable to conduct the fraud in a much more organised way. The centre of this kind of fraud is said to be Italy. That is because they have the wine know-how there: artisans who understand labelling and old bottles and corks; and also a criminal underworld that is prepared to invest.”

Wine bottles. Photo: Keita Kuroki / Flickr
Lead photo credit : Grand Palais. Photo: Julien Chatelain/ Flickr
More in Art Basel Paris, biking in Paris, emily in paris, Grand Palais, notre dame