Musée du Luxembourg & Lucas Cranach

After closure for a year and a 2.75 million-dollar renovation, Paris’ Luxembourg Museum reopened earlier this month with the first ever retrospective of the works of Lucas Cranach, a major painter of the German Renaissance. The exquisite portraits, elegant nudes, drawings and engravings in Lucas Cranach and His Time illustrate the ties of the artist’s work to those of his European peers, and offer a chance to understand the complexity of Cranach’s time in history (1472-1553).

Details:
Through May 23, 2011
The Musée de Luxembourg
19 rue de Vaugirard
Open daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Closed Christmas Day and May 1.
For advance ticketing:
www.museeduluxembourg.fr/en/ticketing

The Cristal Room Baccarat

Paris diners in search of a glamorous environment can enjoy a superb meal at the headquarters of famous Baccarat crystal. The Cristal Room Restaurant is a wonderland of designer Phillippe Starck’s imagination—from rustic brick walls and pink upholstery to glittering Baccarat chandeliers, candelabras, gilt mirrors and, of course, impeccable table settings crowned with sparkling glasses and goblets. The menu is haute French cuisine, the wine list rises to every occasion, and a special bubbly is the obvious indulgence. The Baccarat Gallery Museum, which takes up an additional four rooms in the mansion, displays more than 500 objects, including legendary masterpieces, limited editions and commissioned works. The “factory” room informs visitors on the four-element process of producing some of the world’s finest crystal.

Cristal Room Baccarat
1 Place des États-Unis, Paris
Hours: Every day for lunch and dinner
Reservations: 01.40.22.11.10

The Baccarat Gallery-Museum: Open every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day, 9 – noon, and 2 – 6 p.m.

MONDRIAN at The Pompidou

The intriguing Piet Mondrian and his groundbreaking artistic movement he called Neoplasticism —De Stilj or “The Style”—is the focus of a fascinating exhibit at the Pompidou Center in Paris. Influenced by Picasso and Braque during the height of their Cubist period, Mondrian took the geometric concept one step farther, making shapes on a grid with primary colors, along with black and white, the focus of his movement. The Pompidou showcases the artist’s work and its evolution from his time in The Netherlands and Paris, London and New York. The exhibit runs through March 21, 2011.

Hours: Every day (except Tuesdays & May 1) 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased online at
http://billetterie.cnac-gp.fr/reservation_effectif.asp