Patricia has a wealth of knowledge about French grammar, vocabulary, literature, culture, history, and more, which she shares with us in her series Le saviez-vous? (Did You Know?)
Difficulty: Advanced
France
L'Espace à Vendre gallery had an exhibition of works by Lucien Murat, who juxtaposes a wide range of materials on top of salvaged tapestries.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Maxime Duveau explains his art at his solo exhibition, which is based on photographs he took in San Fransciso and Los Angeles. He uses an interesting charcoal drawing technique he calls "masking."
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patricia reads "À une passante" (To a Passerby), a classic poem from Charles Baudelaire's collection Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil).
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patricia introduces the famous French animated series Il était une fois (Once Upon a Time), which follows a time-traveling family through the high points of human civilization and into the future. We have several episodes available on Yabla, which you can find here, and more coming soon!
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patricia recites a famous poem by Jacques Prévert called "Barbara." The poem is set in Brest, a town that was devastated by German bombs in the Second World War.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Maxime Duveau held a solo exhibition at the Espace à Vendre gallery in Nice. The show included large-scale drawings in charcoal based on photos that he took in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
We Are The Painters is a duo of artists, Nicolas Beaumelle and Aurélien Porte, who rework classical subjects such as landscapes and the Madonna in their experimental approach to painting. Their recent exhibit in Nice was spread over three locations.
Difficulty: Advanced
France None
Maude Maris is a thirty-seven-year-old artist whose work could be described as hyperrealist. She combines photographic impressions with sculpture by layering colors and paint to create a three-dimensional effect.
Difficulty: Advanced
France None
Bertrand Baraudou manages a contemporary art gallery located in the heart of Nice called Espace à Vendre (Space for Sale). Beautiful paintings are exhibited across three different locations.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Discover the unique street patterns of Old Nice, which benefit from the Mediterranean wind and provide an ingenious and efficient cooling system for the neighborhood.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
The artist Henri Matisse lived in a beautiful building, the Palais Caïs de Pierlas, in the Old Nice neighborhood. He captured the neighborhood's colorful atmosphere in many of his paintings.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Victor Hugo is best known for his novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables, but he also wrote numerous poems. In this video, Patricia reads an excerpt from his poem "À l'Arc de Triomphe," in which he pays tribute to the city of Paris.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Karine Rougier describes the many influences she draws on in her art practice—sixteen millimeter films, poetry, Flemish painting, tribal masks, the ocean, and more.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Karine Rougier invited several artists to participate in her exhibition revolving around the poem "Heart Piece" by Heiner Müller. All the paintings and sculptures are linked together by a common theme, as she explains in this video.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Karine explains her creative process and her techniques. She works with wood, rocks, old postcards, stamps, and much else. The result is a mix of surreal creations that will intrigue the eye and puzzle the mind.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
The Espace à Vendre (Space for Sale) gallery in Nice recently presented Karine Rougier's exhibition "Les sables mouvants" (Quicksand). Rougier is an artist who works with various media, including ancient engravings, postcards, and even rocks.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patricia recites Louis Aragon's heartbreaking poem "Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux" (There Is No Happy Love), which has been set to music by a number of famous singers. You can listen to Françoise Hardy's version here.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
In this video, you will learn about the famous poet, novelist, and journalist Louis Aragon, who lived in the twentieth century. Many of his poems were set to music by famous French singers such as Georges Brassens, Léo Férré, and Jean Ferrat.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patricia sheds a new light on the renowned fable by Jean de La Fontaine, "The Cicada and the Ant." Maybe the cicada isn't such a bad character after all....
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Patricia recites one of Jean de La Fontaine's most famous fables, "La Cigale et la Fourmi" (The Cicada and the Ant). After spending the entire summer singing instead of storing food, the cicada is starving come winter. She hopes her neighbor the ant can help her....
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
In this video you will hear a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, the most famous fable writer in French literature. "Le Chêne et le Roseau" (The Oak and the Reed) is a lesson in humility. The humble reed belies an inner strength that the oak does not possess. The oak's unbending nature proves to be its downfall.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Jean de La Fontaine's fables are all-time classics that have been in the French school curriculum for many years, at all levels. It's safe to say that every French person knows at least one of his fables.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Part two of this video on "La Marseillaise" explains how it evolved from a song of war and freedom to its current status as the French national anthem. The fact remains that it still stirs up controversy for its violent content, which some find offensive.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patricia discusses the history of the the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise," explaining how the song traveled from the Rhine region to Marseille, where it earned its final name.
She even sings a few lines of the song for us!
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
In this video, you will learn the history of the French flag. Once it was completely white, the color of the French royalty, and now it's blue, white, and red. The French flag has recently been tainted with controversy by nationalist groups who have appropriated it as a symbol of their own causes.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Patricia brings to life Baudelaire's famous poem "L'horloge" (The Clock). The poet laments the passage of time and life's inevitable conclusion: death. Aside from the gloomy message, this poem is also an invitation to seize the day and enjoy all that life has to offer, including this poem!
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patricia introduces one of France's most renowned poets, Charles Baudelaire. His major work, Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil), is still the most studied poetry collection in French schools and was as much a source of controversy as admiration in his day. Baudelaire's love affair with his muse, actress Jeanne Duval, was a main source of inspiration for Les Fleurs du Mal.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Where does the expression on n'est pas sorti de l'auberge (we aren't out of the inn) come from? Find out its meaning in this video.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
The Carnival of Nice is famous around the world for its colorful parade of floats covered in flowers. You can even participate in a "battle" of flowers that are grown in abundance in the region.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
This episode of "Le saviez-vous?" (Did You Know?) is about French gastronomy. You will learn a lot of useful vocabulary relating to food, and you can look forward to sampling delicious dishes.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
It's been said that Paris is the most romantic city in the world. In this video, you will discover the origin of the word "romantic" and learn about the romanticism movement, which originated not from France as one might expect, but from England and Germany and later took hold in France.
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