Another beautiful building, another beautiful garden, another beautiful little museum: the Musee Picasso in Paris is in the Marais alongside a small public park that was full of lycee students when my husband and I were there recently. We saw a special exhibition juxtaposing Picasso’s work with that of Alexander Calder. The two artists knew each other, but not well; however their work carries on a dialogue. Sometimes, the Calder stabiles and mobiles seem to derive from Picasso’s paintings and drawings and push the expression further ahead. I actually thought some of the Picasso works looked a bit heavy and stodgy next to some of the Calders. But at other times, the reverse was true: it seemed as if the Picassos were the more avant garde.

I was inspired by the sunlight in the elegant house and the contrasts between the classical building details and the very modern artwork. The levity of brushstrokes and the emotion achieved in what appears to be simple wire work inspires me as I work on new jewelry designs. The challenge is to create beauty and expressiveness without density.