Portrait of Sarkozy painted by his father could sell for €14,000

Pal Sarkozy the father of the French President is staging an art exhibition in his hometown of Budapest and one of his works, a portrait of his famous son, is featured on the front page of this morning’s Aujourd’hui en France. The exhibition will also be shown in Paris from the 24^th April. The paintings have a price tag ranging from €3,000 to €14,000.

 

Another of his works is a painting of Carla Bruni. In the background is a piano with a rose on top. Questioning about the significance of the rose, Pal Sarkozy told the paper, ““This rose symbolizes a number of things. Firstly, it demonstrates the love Nicolas has for his wife. It also symbolises my son’s increasing openness to left-leaning ideas.  The rose is the symbol of the Socialist Party.”

 

This morning, we also looked at an article in the art section of the right-leaning paper Le Figaro, entitled “How far can contemporary art go?” No, it’s not a reference to the First Father’s exhibition! Rather, it looks at the annual Monumenta exhibition at Paris’s Le Grand Palais just off the Champs Elysées. This year, the artist exhibited is Christian Bolanski whose installation features tons of used clothes with background sound consisting of a thumping heart.

 

Many of those who visited to exhibition are not impressed – more than the organizers anticipated. Art expert and academic Jean-Louis Harouel is critical of the extent to which contemporary art seems to have no limits:

 

“Contemporary art is a sort of secular religion…the artist is almost sacred

This wonderful being is seen to be in contact with divinity or with great cosmic forces... His genius allows him to access transcendental realities and permits him to reveal key truths about humanity and the world. He is perceived to have magical power. This superhuman status confers upon the artist a despotic power.”

 

 

Libération: Are the police unnecessarily arresting minors? Last week, four 14-year-olds were held by the police for 10 hours in their pajamas after a minor scuffle. The paper criticizes the ‘Loppsi’ bill which aims to strengthen police powers with regard to juvenile delinquency and permits a curfew for minors under the age of 13.

 

La Croix: “Iranian authorities face off on all fronts”

 

Le Monde: “A guide for the perfect Iranian demonstrator”