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He was a model to me of artistic labor and discipline, even if those early paintings were painfully amateurish. The painting followed me from Amherst to my first job in New York, and on to London and Delhi. IT WASN’T MY intention to start an essay about artistic beginnings with a story of artistic death. I’m especially moved by those first moments of validation by which an artist comes out to himself, as it were. It’s this, the inexorability of the correspondence between an artist and the world, that gives those first steps their magical quality.

Persons: Naipaul, Neil Shah, James Wood —, Zack, who’d, ”, Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna, Elders ”, I’m, ” Gustave Flaubert, “, ” Zack, it’s, Bruce Chatwin, Paul Gauguin, Salman Rushdie, Somerset Maugham, Kathryn Bigelow, Philip Glass, Arundhati Roy, Booker, Joseph Conrad, Conrad, Jacques, ” Conrad, brimming, ’, ’ ”, Clarice Lispector, Benjamin Moser, ” Lispector, Maugham, eludes, Jan van Kessel, Elder, — Pieter Bruegel, —, Rebecca West —, “ Black Lamb, J.R, Hammond, Wells, Rebecca West ”, sloughed, Henrik Ibsen’s, Rosmersholm ”, Karan Mahajan, Salman Toor, what’s, ” Hemingway, Anoushka Shankar, Ravi Shankar, Harold Bloom, Ravi, Uday, René Daumal, Rasa ”, ” Anoushka, Norah Jones, Norah, I’ve, “ Raphael, Rachel Cusk, Italy ”, Perugino, Raphael, Cusk, J.M, Samuel Beckett, Gabriel García Márquez, Thomas Pynchon’s, James Joyce, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Marcel Proust’s, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Read, Emma Kehlbeck, Quinton Kamara Organizations: Amherst College, Elders, Fayerweather, ”, Google, Sunday Times, Somerset, Yugoslavia, The, “, . Locations: Delhi, ”, Massachusetts, Italian, Topeka, Kan, Amherst, New York, London, Patagonia, New Delhi, Torrens, Cambridge, Polish, Ukrainian, Brazil, Flemish, Victorian England, “ H.G, Fairfield, United States, “, East, Lahore, Europe, America, Texas, Side, Manhattan, India, Italy

He was a model to me of artistic labor and discipline, even if those early paintings were painfully amateurish. IT WASN’T MY intention to start an essay about artistic beginnings with a story of artistic death. No one captured the massive cultural and economic disparities of my life in Delhi (and his in Lahore) like Toor. But quite unbeknown to me, Toor’s life in New York had opened up a new vein of material. Not everyone who sees a Michelangelo can go off and paint a Michelangelo.”THERE ARE SO many ways to begin.

This is “Modern Love.” Today, I’m talking to the most famous couples therapist in the world, Esther Perel. esther perelOK. “What Sleeping with Married Men Taught Me About Infidelity” by Karin Jones. [MUSIC PLAYING] “I’m not sure it’s possible to justify my liaison with married men, but what I learned from having them warrants discussion. anna martinWhen we come back, I talk to Esther about the harsh criticism this essay got and why Esther thinks Karin Jones deserves more credit. esther perelThe homewrecker is always a woman because the woman is the one who says yes, and therefore, if the woman hadn’t said yes, then he wouldn’t be able to do it.

Persons: anna martin, ” I’m Anna Martin, I’m, Esther Perel, ”, ” Esther, esther perel, anna martin Oh, Esther, I’d, it’s, you’ve, anna martin You’re, esther perel Yes, It’s, Karin Jones, ” esther perel, you’re, Karin Jones’s “, We’re, anna martin Wow, ” “, anna martin Esther, Karin, anna martin Oof, “ I’m, messaged, ’, couldn’t, we’ve, they’re, esther perel Ha, I’ve, anna martin Right, hadn’t, wouldn’t, anna martin Huh, there’s, doesn’t, anna martin So, anna martin We’ve, esther perel Hi, Anna Organizations: The New York Times, of Affairs Locations: “, Belgium, Flemish, Spanish, London, United States

☆ Flower Arrangements Are Reaching New Heights
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Alice Cavanagh | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“I have so much admiration for florists who can make haphazard, wild arrangements,” says Miguel Yatco, 30, the floral artist behind the Brooklyn-based studio Agos Muni. If last summer saw the culmination of a trend for sprawling, low-lying floral landscapes, Yatco’s work represents an aesthetic about-face. But these works are also defined by their height, their long stems often extending above or through equally elongated vessels. Compared to the bouffant-like silhouettes of Bosschaert’s assemblages, Boutemy’s were narrow, continuing the line of the cylindrical Venetian bubble-glass vases that held them. “Rigor and clarity are the most important things,” Boutemy says, and an elongated shape means “each flower remains visible and each gives strength to another.”

Persons: florists, ”, Miguel Yatco, Agos Muni, Jacqueline Sullivan —, Thierry Boutemy, Ambrosius Bosschaert, ” Boutemy Organizations: Flemish Locations: Brooklyn, York, Paris, Brussels, Wan

☆ Palazzo Vilòn: Incredible historical mansion opens to overnight guests in Rome
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Silvia Marchetti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Featuring multiple suites, all filled with artistic masterpieces, Rome’s 17th-century Palazzo Vilòn is sheer luxury. And now, Palazzo Vilòn can be all yours for 25,000 euros ($26,665) per night if you opt for the “buy-out” offer. Palazzo Vilòn offers a rare chance to travel back to a time when noble families ruled the Eternal City. Today, Palazzo Vilòn is believed to be Italy’s most expensive historical retreat. Despite all the grandeur, Florio stresses that Palazzo Vilòn is not a museum brought back to life.

Persons: CNN — It’s, Vilon, Sala di, Mattia Aquila, Borghese, Vilòn, it’s, –, ”, Palazzo Vilòn, Samuele Florio, Florio, ‘ It’s, Italy won’t, “, It’s Organizations: CNN, Michelin, Mirrors Locations: You’re, Campo Marzio, Europe, Rome, Italy, Vilòn, Italian

☆ The Latest Trend in Luxury Hotels? No More Lobbies
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Jordi Lippe-Mcgraw | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HISTORICALLY, lavish lobbies telegraphed luxury to hotel guests in bold type. Consider the Four Seasons George V in Paris, a circa-1928 slice of the good life. Adorned with dinosaur-size chandeliers, 12,000-bloom floral arrangements and antique Flemish tapestries, its opulent entrance has long epitomized globe-trotting grandeur. Lately, however, travelers are striding into high-end hotels to find…no lobby at all. These properties claim that jettisoning the grand entrance and front desk provides a more personal sense of “coming home.” But is the trend genuinely luxe or just stingy minimalism masquerading as “elegance”?

Persons: George V Locations: Paris

It has since emerged that the attacker had been ordered to leave Belgium in 2021. Bernard Clerfayt, a Brussels minister who is also the mayor of the Brussels borough where the killings took place, called for de Moor's resignation. Official figures showed that only 5,497 of the 25,292 people who received an order to leave Belgium in 2022 have respected it. Despite the attack, Belgium is one of the better performers when it comes to deportation. Theo Francken, a lawmaker from the right-wing Flemish nationalist party N-VA, said Belgian authorities should be stricter with criminals and radicalized individuals.

Persons: —, Ulf Kristersson, Alexander De Croo, De Croo, ”, “, ” De Croo, Kristersson, Vincent Van Quickenborne, Nicole de Moor, Frédéric Van Leeuw, Bernard Clerfayt, de Moor's, ” Van Leeuw, didn’t, Jesper Tengroth, Samira, Theo Francken, ” Nils Duquet, It’s, Raf Casert Organizations: Sweden’s, Belgian, ”, Authorities, Premiere, Swedish Migration Agency, European Union, Flemish, Flemish Peace Institute Locations: BRUSSELS, Swedish, Brussels, Belgium, Belgian, Sweden, Nigerian, Africa

☆ An astonished family discovered that a painting that decorated their living room for decades was a Van Dyck that could be worth millions
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A family discovered that a painting hanging on the wall of their home could be worth millions. The painting was a genuine Anthony van Dyck and had been on their wall for decades. A Madrid art company authenticated it as a van Dyck last year, per the report. AdvertisementAdvertisementA previous van Dyck paintings to go to auction at Sotheby's sold for £8.3 million, which is about $10 million, according to the auction house's website. Born in Antwerp, in what is now Belgium, van Dyck went on to become a royal court painter for the English monarch Charles I.

Persons: Anthony van Dyck, Jesus, Saint Barbara, —, van Dyck, El País, Consuelo Durán, El, Van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, Charles I . Organizations: Service, El Locations: Jaén, Spain, Flemish, Andalucía, Madrid, Seville, El, Antwerp, Belgium

☆ At Edinburgh Fringe, Small Shows With Big Ambitions
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Houman Barekat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In a smart revival of Cyriel Buysse’s Flemish classic, “The Van Paemel Family” by the Antwerp troupe SKaGeN, the actor Valentijn Dhaenens sidesteps this difficulty by playing all the play’s roles. Mr. van Paemel is slavishly loyal to the landowner for whom they all work, and believes organized labor is a scourge. This eerie visual texture, neatly complemented by the doleful tones of an accordion, made for a memorably unique aesthetic. The standout Fringe show was Lara Foot’s stylish adaptation of “The Life and Times of Michael K.,” J.M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning 1983 novel about the struggles of a poor man during a fictional civil war in South Africa.

Persons: Van, Valentijn Dhaenens, van Paemel, Lara Foot’s, Michael K, ”, Coetzee’s Booker Organizations: SKaGeN, Handspring, Company Locations: Antwerp, South Africa

☆ Put a Louvre Masterpiece on Your Wrist
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Nazanin Lankarani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The enameled dial of a new custom watch by Vacheron Constantin depicts grimacing soldiers and their lunging horses, all engaged in deadly combat. Unveiled in May, it is the Swiss watchmaker’s reproduction of “The Fight for the Standard” from the “Battle of Anghiari,” a 1603 drawing by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens that is kept — behind the scenes, and viewable by appointment — in the Department of Graphic Arts of the Louvre in Paris. “This timepiece is the first in a new program called ‘A Masterpiece on the Wrist’ we have developed with the Louvre,” Christian Selmoni, the watch brand’s director of style and heritage, wrote in an email. “We invite clients to choose from a catalog of works defined with the museum, and we will reproduce the artwork on the dial of a unique watch.”

Persons: Vacheron Constantin, grimacing, Peter Paul Rubens, —, ” Christian Selmoni, “, ” Organizations: of Graphic Arts, Louvre Locations: Swiss, Anghiari, ”, Flemish, Paris

☆ EU and Belgium invest $1.6 billion in chip technology firm Imec
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, July 7 (Reuters) - The European Union and Belgium's regional Flemish government will together invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in Belgian chip technology firm Imec, the Flemish government said on Friday. Imec will use the investment to expand its "clean room" test facility with the most advanced equipment and processes, the company said in a statement. Von der Leyen, who was visiting Imec, stressed the EU's stance that it should de-risk its supply chains for chips. While Von der Leyen did not directly address China's planned curbs on exports of strategic metals widely used in the semiconductor industry, she said the EU should reduce its dependency "on too few suppliers from East Asia". ($1 = 0.9195 euros)Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Imec, Jan Jambon, Ursula von der Leyen, Alexander De Croo, Von der Leyen, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Mark Potter Organizations: European Union, Flemish, European, Belgian, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, East Asia

☆ Stolen 16th century Vasari letter returned to its Italian home
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A handwritten letter by Renaissance artist and historian Giorgio Vasari is returned to its owners during a ceremony at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy, June 29, 2023. Carabinieri/Handout via REUTERSROME, June 29 (Reuters) - A handwritten letter by Renaissance artist and historian Giorgio Vasari has been returned to its owners in Tuscany more than 20 years after it was stolen, Italian police said on Thursday. The letter was dated March 18, 1566 and is believed to be worth around 20,000 euros ($21,760). Vasari, who is regarded as the first art historian, was born in the central region of Tuscany, where he served the Italian banking family and political dynasty the Medici, in Florence. In the letter, Vasari disclosed the painter's fees as well as commenting on the progress of his works.

Persons: Giorgio Vasari, Vasari, Medici, Jan van der, Giovanni Stradano, Federica, Keith Weir Organizations: Uffizi, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Florence, Italy, REUTERS ROME, Tuscany, Arezzo, London, Brussels, Belgian

☆ Spain’s new $185m Royal Collections Museum is finally opening
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Al Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

There are just three works, among the 650 on display, signed by female artists, Leticia Ruiz, director of the Royal Collections, told CNN via phone. Luisa Roldan's 1692 sculpture “Saint Michael the Archangel Defeating the Devil (El Arcángel San Miguel venciendo al demonio)" will be on display for the first time at the Royal Collections Gallery in Madrid, Spain. The exhibit starts with the Hapsburg monarchs’ royal collections — located near the old city wall exhibit — and then one level below, the Bourbon dynasty collections. On a floor below that are the temporary exhibitions, which start with carriages from the Royal Collections and some on loan from other institutions, Ruiz said. A third of the museum’s 650 items will be rotated annually back to the royal palaces and other Patrimonio sites and replaced with other items from their collections.

Persons: Frank, Emilio Tuñon, Luis Mansilla, Velazquez, Caravaggio, Goya, Cervantes ’ “ Don Quixote, ”, Ana De la Cueva, Saint Michael the Archangel, Luisa Roldan, Leticia Ruiz, Ruiz, —, Luisa Roldan's, Miguel venciendo al, Roldan, ” Ruiz, “ It’s, Diego Velazquez’s “, “, Caravaggio’s, Salome, Saint John the Baptist, de la Cueva, De la Cueva, Isabel the Organizations: Madrid CNN —, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Patrimonio Nacional, CNN, Royal Collections, Royal, Spain’s, Patrimonio Locations: Madrid, Spain, Spanish, Campo, Miguel, Bourbon, Royal Palace

☆ Rubens painting ‘lost’ for centuries could sell for $7.7 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A Rubens painting lost to history and misidentified for almost 300 years has re-emerged with the help of X-ray analysis and could now fetch up to £6 million ($7.7 million) at auction next month. Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens completed “Saint Sebastian Tended by Two Angels” more than 400 years ago. X-Ray analysis revealed Rubens' changes to the painting. Sotheby'sAnalysis revealed changes beneath the final painting as Rubens sculpted and molded his design to perfection for the first time. Initially, for example, Rubens painted Saint Sebastian facing the other way while he omitted another arrow piercing the saint’s right thigh in the painting’s final form.

Persons: CNN —, Rubens, Peter Paul Rubens, “, Sebastian, George Gordon, Sotheby’s, ” Gordon, Ambrogio Spinola, “ Ambrogio Spinola, …, Spinola, ”, Gordon, Laurent de la, Saint Sebastian, “ Rubens Organizations: CNN Locations: Flemish, Italian, Italy, Antwerp, Missouri, French, Rome, London

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic pledged to "practically disarm" his country, with the government quickly launching a month-long amnesty for illegal weapons. Political opponents - who have long demanded tighter arms controls - call the move a populist step that cannot solve Serbia's illegal weapons problem, while organising mass protests against the violence they say permeates society. Prices of illegal weapons on the 1990s black market in Serbia were as low as $10 for a hand grenade and $150 for an assault rifle, and many were smuggled outside the country. Between 2012 and 2016 Serbia registered a total of 10,061 gun-related crimes, neighbouring Albania 6,815 and Bosnia 5,616, SEESAC's data shows. Duquet said that while the situation in Serbia was not comparable to the United States, which has far more frequent mass shootings, the country's latest attempt to disarm may form a useful precedent closer to home as war rages again in Europe.

☆ ‘Antigone in the Amazon’ Review: The Drama Is Brazil’s Land War
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Laura Cappelle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Arriving after so much political action, the play feels like an afterthought. In “Antigone in the Amazon,” two Flemish actors from NTGent, Sara De Bosschere and Arne De Tremerie, address the audience at regular intervals, explaining the tricky process of making the show and the ethical issues it raised. At one point, they are shown onscreen performing a scene from “Antigone” for the residents of a remote Amazonian village, who sit in a circle around them. I occasionally wondered the same thing about “Antigone in the Amazon.” Still, it is a more balanced, effective production than “Orestes.” Two Brazilian performers, Frederico Araujo and Pablo Casella, join the Flemish cast onstage. A third, the Indigenous activist Kay Sara, was supposed to join them and play Antigone, but we are told early in the show that she had “decided to go back home, with her people.”

☆ Dusty painting hidden behind door turns out to be Brueghel 'masterpiece'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Yiming Woo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A man looks at the painting "Le paiement de la dime" (The Payment of the Yearly Dues) by the artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1636) before its auction at Drouot auction house in Paris, France, March 27, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesPARIS, March 27 (Reuters) - A rediscovered painting of Flemish 17th-century painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger, for years hidden in a family house, will be presented for auction in Paris on Tuesday and is expected to fetch 600,000 ($647,340.00) to 800,000 euros. "I found this painting [in the house], behind a door in the television room," de Lussac told Reuters, calling it one of the biggest surprises in his career. Brueghel the Younger, whose father Brueghel the Elder died when he was only five, didn't use one of his father's compositions for this painting as he usually did but did revisit the popular theme of the village lawyer. ($1 = 0.9269 euros)Reporting by Yiming Woo, writing by Charlotte Van Campenhout, editing by Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Belgium bans TikTok from federal government work phones
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) - Belgian federal government employees will no longer be allowed to use the Chinese-owned video app TikTok on their work phones, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Friday. "That is the reality," the prime minister said in a statement. "That's why it is logical to forbid the use of TikTok on phones provided by the federal government. The European Commission and the European Parliament last month banned TikTok from staff phones due to growing concerns about the company, and whether China's government could harvest users' data or advance its interests. Belgium's Flemish regional government on Thursday announced it would restrict the access to TikTok on its staff's phones, and other regional governments were urged by De Croo to apply the same rules.

☆ This startup is using precision fermentation to make plant-based food taste better. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Paleo used to secure $12.8 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Belgian startup Paleo just raised $12.8 million to make plant-based food taste better. A European foodtech startup cofounded by a former Belgian senator has just raised 12 million euros (around $12.8 million) to make plant-based food taste better. The proteins are a form of heme, which has been deemed key in unlocking a meaty look, taste, texture, and aroma for plant-based food. Paleo will sell its products to other plant-based food companies so they don't have to develop it in-house. "The main challenge now in the plant-based food space, it's taste, and that's exactly where we offer a solution," he said.

☆ An oil painting that was discovered in a farm shed covered in bird droppings is a rare piece of art expected to sell for up to $3 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An oil painting found in an upstate New York shed covered in bird droppings was discovered to be a rare piece of art. The work was identified as a live study by famed painter Anthony van Dyck dating back to the 17th century. The painting is expected to sell for between $2 million to $3 million, Sotheby's said. The sketch, which is believed to date back to between 1615 and 1618, was a study for Van Dyck's painting, "Saint Jerome with an Angel." Roberts, who bought the piece for $600, previously described his collection as "an orphanage for lost art that had suffered from neglect."

☆ Italy police seize Rubens masterpiece after fraud investigation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Italian police said on Friday they had seized a painting on display by the 17th century Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens after a fraud investigation into its owners. The masterpiece, called "The resurrected Christ appears to his mother", was part of a "Rubens in Genoa" exhibition in the city's Doge's Palace. The oil painting, almost 2 metres high and 1.5 metres across, was ensured for 4 million euros ($4.27 million). This third figure was absent from an earlier version of the same work by Rubens but there's no suggestion that the painting is fake. ($1 = 0.9374 euros)Reporting By Gavin Jones; Editing by Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Black Friday faces green backlash in Belgium
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Jakob Van Calster | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

That?s why today - on Black Friday - we are closed and we are giving nature a hand." REUTERS/Christian LevauxGHENT, Belgium, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Black Friday deals have prompted a backlash in Belgium where some businesses rejected promotions and chose to close for the day or even offered to repair used clothes for free. At the Xandres clothing store, in the Flemish city of Ghent, a sign on the window read "Green Friday - closed on November 25 - get your clothes repaired for free". On Friday company staff were fixing customers' clothes at the company's headquarters. In coming days, customers can collect their repaired clothing at the company's stores.

☆ So much cocaine is being seized by customs in Belgium that the country's incinerators are no longer able to keep up
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Belgium has seized so much cocaine at its ports that it can't incinerate it fast enough, a minister said. Antwerp's port is expected to have seized 110 tons of cocaine by the end of the year. The port of Antwerp is on track to seize 110 tons of the drug this year, Flemish broadcaster VRT reported. "We have already found some new capacity where several tonnes of cocaine have already been destroyed," Van Quickenborne said, per VRT. The port of Antwerp — Europe's second-biggest port — in recent years has became the continent's largest entry point for cocaine, Reuters reported back in 2018.

☆ Women priests, homosexuality, not closed debate in Church, German bishop says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VATICAN CITY, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A leading German Catholic bishop on Saturday contested the Vatican's view that debates about women priests and homosexuality were closed, saying they will have to be confronted in the future. "As far as the ordination of women is concerned, for example, (the Vatican's) view is very clear, that the question is closed. The Catholic Church teaches that women cannot be priests because Jesus chose only men as his apostles and that while same-sex attraction is not sinful, homosexual acts are. "Popes have tried to say the question (of women priests) is closed but the fact is that the question exists. Many young women say 'a church that refuses all of this cannot be my church in the long run,'" he said.

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