Work by a number of great French painters went on view in Dublin for the first time this week. Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger and Alexander Calder head the list of artists in the exhibition, which was opened by the French ambassador, Gabriel de Bellescize, at the Private Collector Gallery in South Frederick Street.
"The links between us are so close," said de Bellescize as he viewed the work on show, which includes that of one Irish artist, Graham Knuttel, and 17 living French artists as well as French greats from the past. "It means that we are part of the same family."
Frédéric Lemoine, one of the Paris-based artists who attended the opening, along with artists Thierry Diers and Bruno Schiepan, encouraged viewers to touch his work, which is made of slate, iron, zinc, wood and wax.
"Generally in galleries, you can't touch," he said. "But I like that you can see with your hands. Your fingers are your eyes and your imagination. Feel the hot and cold material. It's also an interpretation of the coast where I sail."
Lemoine began painting many years ago because "my mother said I was a great artist", he added with a smile.
"I wanted to have work by the most famous deceased French artists along with a cocktail of living artists," said Jim Donovan, the exhibition's co-curator with his wife, Linda.
As part of the opening, the gallery lined up the red-headed musical duo, Rua (Liz Madden and Gloria Mulhall), to give a surprise rendition of Le Marais for the French ambassador. "There is a place where my heart longs to be/ Dans la cité des lumiéres, c'est Paris,/ Ribbons of colour as visions float by,/ Cobblestone streets in the heat of July," crooned the couple to the shy ambassador. Rua's next big gig is the Lisdoonvarna Festival in the RDS, Dublin, on Saturday, August 30th.
The exhibition runs until next Wednesday.