Bonjour tout le monde and a very warm welcome to the Good Life France podcast.I'm your host, Janine Mush.I'm British born, but now I feel a bit French.I've had a home in the north of France for more than 20 years.
I'm the editor of a magazine called the Good Life France magazine and a website about France.I write books and explore all over France year round.And when I'm not traveling 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.
Bonjour, bonjour.Yes, indeed, a big welcome to the podcast.I'm 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 radio, where I'm present on the right time slot in the radio station here.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?
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 I love most about living here 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 even have imagined.
So we're going to look into this cultural French topic and we're going to share some of the best places to see the arts as we go.
That sounds like fun and seriously interesting.Let's get arty and join the party. The Good Life France Podcast.Everything you want to know about France and more with Janine Marsh and Olivier Joffrey.
So the French embrace culture wholeheartedly, learning, creating and cultivating knowledge.It's tough to us from the first days of school, actually, the arts and literature are all valued here.
And there is a concerted effort by government authorities to support the arts.And as you say, Janine, this isn't just paintings in museums or sculptures in parks.It goes way beyond that.
really does.I mean, from a lecture by an expert at a local museum to grand public buildings that are preserved and cherished all over France, the French take huge pride in the rich culture and heritage of their country.
There's a very deep-rooted support of the arts in France, and I've often stood in queue for a vernissage, as they're called, a formal preview of an art exhibition, and I've been amazed to see even really 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's a village quite near where I live that's only got about 150 people in it and they have their own museum, a coral museum of all things.
But it's true, 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, osmanian to contemporary.
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 seventh art.
I had no idea what she was talking about, but I soon learned.
It is 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 done to a German philosopher by the name of George William Friedrich 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 an offer 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.
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.
So all these things were what made up arts in Greek antique times.So Egle's work classified five major arts, a perspective that was received with huge enthusiasm in France.They loved it.
But 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 seventh art.
Okay, so we'll run through them in order, starting obviously with the first art, architecture as an expression of culture.It's about buildings that have beauty, fulfill 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 really.
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 that 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 again in December, all being well.
Oh, me too.And 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, official 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.
But 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.I mean, everywhere you go in France, there are statues and sculptures.
Okay, now to the third art, visual arts, paintings and drawings.And God, where do we start?France has literally thousands of museums, including the Louvre, the world's biggest museum with about 400 rooms.
If you were 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 of 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.
The fourth art is music.France loves its music.Pretty much every town has a music venue, concerts, live performances are a way of life, there are music festivals galore, and even a nationwide day of music, the Fête de la Musique, every June.
Yeah, on the 21st.On to the fifth art now, literature, poetry and writing in general.
Oh, that's a topic close to my heart.I practice the art as a writer, and I love that in France writers are really appreciated.
The longest book ever published was by French man Marcel Proust called à la recherche de temps perdu, which means remembrance of things past, has an estimated one point three million words.
And it also has one of the longest sentences, nine hundred and fifty eight words without a full stop.Do you want me to read it to you?
No, no, no, that's okay.Thank you very much, Janine.We'll be here for hours, if you do.Quickly on to the sixth art, the performing arts, which includes dance, theatre, mime and circus.
The art of miming, performing without speaking, is very popular in France.
Which is very strange, as French people just love to talk.
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 and a stripy t-shirt and beret.
perhaps with white face paint and white gloves and deep red lips and painted on eyelashes as well.They are describing a mime artist.
Frenchman Gaspard de Bureau, who was born in 1820, is seen as a father of French mime, but most people know it through Marcel Marceau, I'm sure you know that name, who created the persona Beep the Clown.
You often see mime performed in the streets of French cities to this day.
And now to the seventh art cinema, the art that my French friend mentioned that led me to looking into this whole art classification business.
The cinema is a big part of French culture and filmmaking is considered an art and supported by the Centre National du Cinéma, the National Centre of Cinema. It's claimed that Paris has the highest density of cinemas in the world.
I mean, they just love cinema here.And of course, we have the French to thank for cinema in the first place.
It's true.And it's all thanks to the Lumière brothers, Louis and Auguste, les frères Lumière, who lived in my town here in Lyon.
I went to the Lumière Museum in Lyon a couple of months ago.It was absolutely fascinating.
Yeah, they combined cutting edge picture breakthroughs at the time to create the first film in spring 1895 called Workers Leaving the Lumière 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.
The very first public film screening was in Paris, in fact, on December the 28th, 1895, at the Grand Café It was an absolute sensation.
They later made a film of a moving train and people were said to panic when they saw this moving train coming towards them and ran out the door because it seemed so real.It was only about 50 seconds long.
And actually, reality is there's no evidence that people really stampeded.But nevertheless, 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.They made the very first documentary, which was about Lyon's fire department.They sent teams of cameramen around the world to make and show films.
So movie lovers, our recommendation for the 7th Art, Lyon for its museum, about the Lumiere brothers and Paris for its amazing cinemas.
And one of my tips is if you go there, go to Studio 28 in Montmartre, which is the one that you see in the film Amélie.
Salvador Dali used to go there and the great French artist Jean Cocteau designed the projection room and some of the lights on the walls.And it has a really lovely little garden too.
That's a great tip, Janine.Thank you.Right, on to the 8th art now, the media arts.Radio, television, photography, and I practice the 8th art in my job as a radio presenter.
I think that list should include podcasts too.I mean, they're an art form, aren't they?
And actually, I practice the 8th art too, photography.
Media art 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, they're great, but best place to feel this art, Radio Paris Chanson if I may say so.
my radio station where I play great music that is truly representative of France and the style of chansons, stories in songs, quite a few songs like that you've heard during the Olympics actually.
Right, the ninth art is, and this might surprise you, comics.Yes, comics are a respected art form in France, where this art is called bande dessinée, literally a strip of drawings, but it means comic strip.So in the city of Angoulême,
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.
Thousands and thousands of people turn up for it.And in the street, the street signs are even like comic strip speech bubbles.It's beautiful.
One of the most famous heroes in France is Asterix, who is himself 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, mainly the Romans.
And he is seen as the ultimate Frenchman by many.And it's so popular, these comics, that there is even an Asterix theme park here.
Yeah, I love Asterix.And his little dog as well, Idéfix.
Everyone loves Asterix.He's so funny.
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 humorous storylines, so they called it a comic which sounds like it's not to be taken seriously.While in Europe, it's called bande dessinée, strip art, and is considered a serious art, graphic storytelling.
Right, the tenth art is also a very new one.This covers video games or digital art forms.My favourite place in France for understanding digital art is the Bassin des Lumières in Bordeaux.It's a former U-boat station.
The watery basins are now a huge and incredible art venue.And the first time I went there, I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the art projected onto the walls.It actually made me cry.It was quite an emotional place, I think.
The arts and culture of France are fiercely protected by the Academies of France, which include l'Académie Française, which was set up in 1736 by Cardinal Richelieu to watch over the French language, l'Académie des Inscriptions et des Lettres, set up in 1663 to promote historical and classic knowledge,
l'Académie des Sciences, created in 1666, l'Académie des Beaux-Arts, which has been going on since 1816, and l'Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, founded in 1832.
This is how serious it is, all these academies, all these people watching over and protecting and preserving the arts.It's incredible.
And from the silver screen to literature, the French love to honor 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 are reading a comic or listening to the radio.
I love that these classifications of the arts pretty much makes artists of all of us, from taking photos, to learning how to play a musical instrument, drawing comic strips, painting poetry, pottery, almost everyone practices one of these arts.
We're all artists, but in France, we know it.
Thank you so much for joining us in this exploration of French culture through its appreciation of the arts.We hope you enjoyed it.Join us next time to discover more of France's culture, history and daily life as well.
This is The Good Life France podcast.Oh la la!Le podcast The Good Life France.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 much more.It always amazes us that people are listening in about 150 countries around the world.
Yes, thank you so much, everyone.Wherever you are, we really appreciate it.You've been listening to me, Janine Marsh, and Olivier Joffery.
You can find Oli at parischanson.fr, playing heaps of great music, and 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 a totally brilliant, completely free magazine, which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com.But for now, it's au revoir from me.
The Good Life France podcast.Available on all podcast platforms on thegoodlifefrance.com and on parischanson.fr. The most beautiful French songs of the 40s, 50s and 60s, only on Paris Chanson.
Available on your mobile, smart TV, computer and smart speaker 24x7.Visit parischanson.fr to find out more.That's P-A-R-I-S-C-H-A-N-S-O-N.fr
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