Musee des Beaux Arts, Angers, Loire Valley, May 25-September 2

French history painting is monumental, heroic and impressive. And it often takes pretty bloodthirsty events as its inspiration. Troy has always been a source of romantic inspiration and the city's vanity, brutal destruction and violence have caught the imagination of artists from the ancient Greeks to French painter Pierre Guerin, who taught Delacroix and on to today's Hollywood moguls.

The recently restored painting of Priam's Death by Guerin (1830-1832) that forms the center of the exhibition is huge, some 14.5 ft by 20 ft. It's surounded by some 60 works from French painters like Jacques-Louis David and Hubert Robert. The exhibition takes the painting as a metaphor for the violence of both historic and contemporary events -- from the 1789 French Revolution to World War I, Guernica and Hiroshima (though you'll have to buy the catalogue to get the full French thesis on that -- in French).

It's an extraordinary period of French painting and the style inspires some pretty strong emotions: you'll either love it or hate it, but it's definitely worth seeing.

If you're in Angers, don't miss the equally impressive Apocalypse Tapestry. It's in the same vein of horrifying events.

Despite all this cataclysmic art, Angers is a really delightful town with some excellent restaurants and a well known reputation for its flowers and parks.

Practical information

Beaux-Arts Museum of Angers
14, rue du musée
Tel.: 02 41 05 38 00
Website
Open Daily 10am to 6:30pm
Admission 4 euros

More on delightful Angers

Guide to Angers

Where to eat in Angers

Terra Botanica Theme Park

If you're at all interested in photography, this is a must. Every year on the first weekend in June, a huge and very popular international photographic event takes over the small town of Bièvres, just south of Paris. This year over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 2^nd and 3^rd, professional and amateur photographers gather for a weekend of exhibitions and a second-hand photographic market on Sunday. And it's all completely free.

It gives everybody the chance to see professionals along with individual stands of amateurs. There are prizes for the best photos awarded by a selected jury to some of the 100 exhibitors.

It started in 1964, and quickly became a real draw. Today it offers a great chance to talk about photography, the latest trends, innovations and practices.

On Sunday over 300 traders gather from Europe, Japan and North America, buying and selling rare piece of equipment, collectors' items, vintage cameras, lens and accessories, vintage pictures and old books.

Practical Information

Photoclub de Paris-Val-de-Bievres
Bievres
Tel.: 00 33 (0)6 84 28 29 76
Website

Getting to Bievres

By train: Regular trains go from Gare d'Austerlitz to Bievres. Take the RER C direction Versailles. It's 14 stops from Gare d'Austerlitz.

By car: Bievres is around 10 miles south of Paris. Take the N118 and exit at Bievres.

More on Photography

Fondation Cartier Bresson in Paris

Best Instant Photos

Be photographed like a star

Every year the French join the rest of Europe to open their museums for a free evening. Called Nuit des Musees, most museums stay open from 6pm to midnight on Saturday May 19th and some particularly in Paris, to 1am. It's a wonderful chance to see many of France's great treasures for free. Many museums lay on special events, so there is a real party atmosphere.

In Calais, the Cite de la Dentelle (Lace Museum) brings in a company of professional comedians to entertain visitors. They'll act out the secret arrival of the forbidden, and therefore smuggled, lace-making machine from England to Calais; the sad occasion when the lace worker Serge was separated from his love, and how tulle can come alive in the hands of  a master.

The Museum of Flanders in Cassel is putting on a show around the theme of Temptations, taking in figures from St Anthony and his demons to the powerful, proud Duke of Burgundy, Phillip the Good. Gluttony, envy, lust...all the temptations are there. It should be interesting.

And down in the south of France, check out the museums in and around Nice.

But wherever you are, check out the local museums. You'll have a very good evening.

Information and locations for Nuit des Musees

Museum Information

Museum Night in Paris

Nice Museum

Calais Lace Museum

Museum of Flancers in Cassel

If you're in the south of France near Toulon, St. Tropez or Marseille, try to get to the 27^th Hyeres Festival de Mode et de Photographie, an important annual event in the fashion and photographic world.

This year's Festival started in April with a competition to select winners from ten photographers and ten fashion designers exhibiting their works and putting their designs onto the catwalk.

Demonstrating its importance, the jury was led by Yohji Yamamoto and included Terry Jones, founder of I-D magazine in London and Olivier Saillard, director of Musee Galliera in Paris. It shows the strength of the fashion industry with big players sponsoring the event and the prizes. It's a pioneering competition giving young designers the chance to show their real inspirations without the market forces that so often stifle - or at least - temper pure talent.

For each competition, hundreds of hopefuls submit their photographs and designs; it's a formidable task to make the final selection that is on show at the current Festival.

The exhition, which includes the work of some of the great names in fashion as well as those selected for the festival, is held at the Villa Noailles --the landmark cubist villa built in the 1920's by Mallet-Stevens. The Villa is worth noting anyway for the changing landmark, exciting exhibitions that are held here throughout the year.

Practical Information

Villa Noailles
Montée Noailles
83400 Hyères
Tel.: 00 33 (0)4 98 08 01 98
Website

Admission free
Open Wed-Sun 1pm-6pm. Friday late night 3pm-8pm.

More on the Region

Guide to Marseille

Top Mediterranean Beaches

Guide to Provence