#56 - Discover the arts in France - Liberté, Fraternité, Egalité, Arty…

In this episode we talk about the Arts of France. And we don’t just mean paintings and sculptures – we mean the official classified arts of France.

You might be surprised to find out that there is an official and surprising classification of the arts that includes some things you might never have imagined (comic books that’s you!) and we’ll share some of the best places to see the arts as we go from a World War II submarine pen in Bordeaux to Claude Monet’s garden in Normandy.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:35 Discover the arts in France
• 16:20 Where to find us

Transcript

Podcast #56: Discover the arts in France - Liberté, Fraternité, Egalité, Arty…

Janine:  Bonjour tout le monde and a very warm welcome to the Good Life France podcast. I’m your host, Janine Marsh, I’m British-born but now feel a bit French as I have had a home in the north of France for more than 20 years. I’m the editor of a magazine - The Good Life France Magazine - and website about France, I write books and explore all over France year-round. When I’m not travelling or writing or looking after my many animals (I have a lot of animals), I love to chat to you on this podcast alongside my podcast partner Olivier.

Oli: Bonjour bonjour – yes indeed, a big welcome to the podcast. I am Oli, I’m French and I guess a little bit British as I lived in England for 20 years. Now I live in Lyon, deep in the south of France where I work in the world of music and radio where I am a presenter on the drive time slot. So that is us – and yes as Janine says we love to chat to you on this podcast. So, Janine what are we going to be talking about today? 

Janine: Today we’re going to talk about the Arts of France. And I don’t just mean paintings and sculptures – I mean the official classified arts of France. One of the things that I love most about living in France is how the arts and culture are honoured, traditions and history revered. But what I didn’t know before I lived here was that there is an official and surprising classification of the arts that includes some things I’d never have imagined. So we’re going to look into this cultural French topic and we’ll share some of the best places to see the arts as we go. 

Oli: That sounds like fun and seriously interesting. Let’s get arty and join the party! 

The French embrace culture wholeheartedly, learning, creating and cultivating knowledge – it’s taught to us from the first days of school. The arts and literature are all valued here and there is a concerted effort by government authorities to support the arts - and as you said, this isn’t just paintings in museums or sculptures in parks – it goes way beyond that. 

Janine: From a lecture by an expert at a local museum to the grand public buildings that are preserved and cherished all over France, the French take pride in the rich culture and heritage of their country. There is a very deep-rooted support of the arts in France, and I have often stood in a queue for a vernissage, a formal preview of an art exhibition, and been amazed to see even very young children standing in line, art and culture is a family affair here. Cities and towns are proud of their museums and galleries and even small towns with small populations often feature museums. For instance there is a village near where I live that has a coral museum – village population 165! 

Oli: Art is everywhere, in every city and every town where many different architectural styles decorate the landscape, from Medieval to Gothic, Renaissance to Romanesque, Rococo to Neoclassic, Haussmannian to Contemporary.

Janine: But now, let’s talk about that official classification of the arts that I mentioned, and I think you might be surprised! When I first came to France, a friend mentioned an exhibition of the ‘7th art’. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I soon learned. 

Oli: It’s true that to the French culture and the arts are as essential to living life well as good food and wine. And in France, the arts are officially classified. This is all down to a German philosopher by the name of Georg Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel who was born in 1770. His thesis stated that art is a uniquely human activity. That the product of this activity or the idea that one has of it deliberately addresses the senses, the emotions and the intellect. He concluded that art is unique to man, distinguishes man in nature and that the activity of art has no clearly defined functions. 

Janine: The origins of categorising art go back to Greek antiquity and the nine muses, the daughters of Zeus and their arts: eloquence and epic poetry, history, lyrical and choral poetry, music, tragedy, rhetoric, dance and choral singing, comedy and astronomy. Hegel’s work classified the five major arts – a perspective that was received with huge enthusiasm in France. Since then, the list has been expanded and the arts are commonly referred to by their place in the list, like my friend talking to me about an exhibition of the 7th art. 

Oli: We’ll run through them in order starting with the First Art – Architecture as an expression of culture. It’s about buildings that have beauty, fulfil a function, and enhance the social environment and more.  They can be religious buildings, commercial, institutional, castles, churches, houses. The first art refers to architecture that can be old or new – prehistoric to modern day. You’re so surrounded by amazing architecture in France, the palace of Versailles, the buildings of Bordeaux, the Flemish facades of Lille, the modern style of Le Havre, the medieval buildings of Sarlat but I think my favourite piece of architecture is probably the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris – and I can’t wait to see how this wonderful building has been restored when it opens in December all being well. 

Janine: Me too – we’ll definitely be doing a podcast on that topic and we’re hoping to be there for the reopening ceremony and to share it with you on the podcast. So, the second art is Sculpture. The word comes from the Latin word sculpere which means to "cut" or "remove pieces from a stone", reflecting the idea of ​​stone modelling that was common in Roman times but the second art includes welded sculptures – and all forms of sculpture. It’s really really hard to choose a favourite French sculpture – there’s the Statue of Liberty which resides in New York – we did a podcast on this a little while ago. There’s Rodin’s Thinker which you can see at the Rodin museum in Paris, and I really love to walk in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, by the Louvre which is packed full of statues and sculptures, as are the city’s bridges, parks, roundabouts… 

Oli: Okay now to the third art: Visual arts – paintings and drawings. And where do we start, France has literally thousands of museums including the Louvre, the world’s biggest museum with about 400 rooms, if you was to look at every piece of art on display in this museum alone, and spend just 30 seconds looking and you didn’t stop for lunch or anything – it would still take you more than 12 days to see it all. Where do we start when talking about the third art in France. Maybe we leave it to Claude Monet who said “Je veux peindre l’air dans lequel se trouve le pont, la maison, le bateau. La beauté de l’air où ils sont, et ce n’est rien d’autre que l’impossible.” English translation: I want to paint the air in which the bridge, the house, the boat are. The beauty of the air where they are, and that is nothing short of the impossible.

Janine: The 4th Art is Music. And France loves its music. Pretty much every town has a music venue, concerts and live performances are a way of life, there are music festivals galore and even a nationwide day of music – the Fete de la Musique every June.

Oli: On to the 5th Art: Literature, poetry and writing in general.

Janine: A topic close to my heart – I practice the 5th art as a writer. I love that in France writers are really appreciated. The longest book ever published was by Frenchman Marcel Proust. Called A la recherche due temps perdu which means remembrance of things past it has an estimated 1.3 million words and it also has one of the longest sentences – at 958 words without a full stop! Do you want me to read it to you? 

Oli: No no, we’ll be here for hours! Quickly on to the 6th Art – the Performing arts which includes dance, theatre, mime and circus. The art of miming, performing without speaking, is very popular in France. 

Janine: which is very strange as French people just love to talk!

Oli: yes well. Mime is an ancient art but French people love it and when you ask people to describe an image of a French person they will often describe a man with a moustache in a stripy t-shirt and beret, perhaps with white face paint and white gloves, and deep red lips and painted on eye lashes – they are describing a mime artist. Frenchman Gaspard Deburau who was born in 1820 is seen as the father of French mime but most people know it through Marcel Marceau who created the persona Bip the Clown. You often see mime performed in the streets of French cities to this day. 

Janine: Now to the 7th Art – cinema – the one my friend mentioned that led to me looking to this whole art classification business. Cinema is a big part of French culture, and film-making, considered an art, is supported by the Centre National du Cinéma. It’s claimed that Paris has the highest density of cinemas in the world. And of course, we have the French to thank for cinema in the first place. 

Oli: It’s true – and it’s all thanks to the Lumiere Brothers, Louis and Auguste who lived in my town – Lyon. 

Janine: I went to the Lumiere Museum in Lyon a couple of months ago – it was absolutely fascinating. 

Oli: They combined cutting edge picture breakthroughs at the time to create the first film in spring 1895 called “workers leaving the Lumiere Factory.” They worked in photography already and their dad saw a machine Thomas Edison had invented which was on show in Paris which people could peep through a hole to see a strip of photos that looked like they were animated, like film.  He told his sons about it and hey presto – they invented film! 

Janine: The very first public film screening was in Paris on December 28 1995 at the Grand Café – it was an absolute sensation. They later made a film of a moving train and people were said to panic and run out the door as it seemed so real. It was only about 50 seconds long and there’s no evidence that people really stampeded but it must have seemed absolutely incredible to people then. The Lumiere Brothers also presented the very first newsreel which was about a French photography conference, and the first documentary - about Lyon’s Fire Department. They sent teams of camera men around the world to make, and show films. So movie lovers – our recommendation for the 7th art – Lyon for its museum and Paris for its amazing cinemas including Studio 28 in Montmartre which is the one that you see in the film Amelie. Salvador Dali used to go there and artist Jean Cocteau designed the projection room and it has a lovely little garden too! 

Oli: Right onto the 8th Art the Media arts – radio, television, photography. I practice the 9th art in my job as a radio presenter. 

Janine: I think that list should include podcasts too – they’re an art form aren’t they! And actually I practice the 8th art too – photography! 

Oli: Media arts is quite a new art on the list and dates to 1941. Did you know that by law in France, at least 40% of the music played by radio stations must be French. We take our arts very seriously here you know, even if we do love American and British music too! Best place to feel this art – Radio Paris Chanson, my radio station where I play great music that is truly representative of France and the style of chansons – stories in songs. 

Janine: Right, the 9th Art is – and this might surprise you – Comics. Yes comics are a respected art form in France where it is called bande desinee – literary a strip of drawings but it means comic strip. In the city of Angouleme in the Charente region there is a world-famous museum dedicated to this art: La Cité Internationale de la Bande Dessinée et de l’Image. And every year at the end of January the city hosts a huge annual comic festival. And the street signs are like comic strip speech bubbles! One of the most famous heroes in France is Asterix, a character in a series of comic books that tell tales of a small Gallic village on the coast of France attempting to defend itself from invaders, namely the Romans. He’s seen as the ultimate Frenchman and is so popular there’s even an Asterix theme park! 

Oli: Comics in France became popular at the beginning of the 20th century when a magazine editor in Paris used a little drawing of characters with words to use as a filler for a blank space and people thought it was great and the practice spread. In America comics generally had humous story lines so they called it comic which sounds like it’s not to be taken seriously. While in Europe it’s called bande desinee – strip art and is considered a serious art – graphic story telling. 

Janine:  The 10th Art is also a very new one, it covers Video games or digital art forms. And my favourite place in France for understanding digital art is the Bassin des Lumieres in Bordeaux. A former U-boat station, the watery basins are now a huge and incredible art venue. The first time I went there, I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the art projected into the walls it actually made me cry. 

The arts and culture of France are fiercely protected by the academies of France, which include L'Académie française, set up in 1736 by Cardinal Richelieu to watch over the French language; l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Academy, set up in 1663 to promote historical and classical knowledge; l’Académie des sciences, created in 1666; l’Académie des Beaux-Arts, which has been going since 1816; and l’Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, founded in 1832.

Oli: From the silver screen to literature, the French love to honour the artists in all forms who have helped to shape their nation, each leaving their own mark on the country’s psyche and how the French consider themselves and the world, whether they’re reading a comic or listening to the radio. 

Janine: I love that these classifications of the arts pretty much makes artists of us all – from taking photos, to learning how to play a musical instrument, drawing comic strips, painting, pottery – almost everyone practices one of these arts, we’re all artists, but in France, we know it! 

Oli: Thank you so much for joining us in this exploration of French culture through it’s appreciation of the arts, we hope you enjoyed. Join us next time to discover more of France’s culture, history and daily life… 

We just want to say a huge thank you to all of you listening to our podcast and to everyone for sharing it too. We really love sharing the France we know and love with you, the authentic and real France with its wonderful history, culture, gastronomy, wine and more. It always amazes us that people are listening in about 150 countries around the world!

Janine: Yes thank you so much everyone, wherever you are, we really appreciate it. You’ve been listening to me Janine Marsh and Olivier Jauffrit. You can find me and a ton of information about France – where to visit, culture, history, recipes – everything France - at thegoodlifefrance.com where you can subscribe to the podcast, a weekly newsletter about France and my totally brilliant, completely free magazine which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com.

But for now, it’s au revoir from me.

Olivier: And goodbye from me.

Janine: Speak to you soon!