Paris in Bleu Blonde Rouge
The wonderful art and history of Paris and France
Episodes
40 episodes
The Creation of Christian Dior
On April 18, 1946, Christian Dior was walking down the Rue Saint Honoré and stumbled upon a cast-iron star at the edge of the sidewalk. During WWII, Dior worked for the Lucien Lelong fashion house alongside Pierre Balmain, negotiati...
The Meridian & Gnomon of the Eglise Saint Sulpice
On the first day of each season at true noon, inside the Église Saint-Sulpice, the sun hits a small hole in the window high above the south transept, and on the spring and autumn equinox, it hits a brass marker just inside the altar. <...
Anne of Austria and her Summer Apartments of the Palais du Louvre
Anne d’Autriche was born on September 22, 1601, 425 years ago today. The wife of Louis XIII and the mother of Louis XIV has emblazoned her story into the history books, but it’s a set of rooms within the Louvre that really makes her legacy shin...
Henri Desire Landru, the Blue Beard of Gambais
Henri Désiré Landru was born on April 12, 1869, in Paris, near the lovely Buttes Charmant. As a child, he seemed destined for a life in the church, but his path took a sharp turn along the way. In 1912, at was the start of the Great...
The 1792 Theft of the Crown Jewels
In September 1792, over five nights, thieves broke into the Garde-Meuble and stole thousands of France's Crown Jewels. Of course, there is the “Heist of the Century” that hit the Musée du Louvre on October 19, 2025, but it pales in...
Saving the Louvre
In 1939, as Hitler came knocking on the door of France, the keepers of the great art of Paris sprang into action. While Hitler’s art-loving henchmen headed to Paris with a shopping list of must-have pieces of art, the treasures of the Musée du...
The Liberation of Paris
There are many events that truly altered and changed the entire trajectory of hundreds of thousands of people's lives. Every five years, we mark the rounded anniversaries of the Armistice, VE Day, D-Day, and the Liberation of Paris. While the c...
The Theft of the Mona Lisa
Six days a week, for 115 years since her theft, more than 30,000 people a day push and shove to snap a photo or selfie with the Mona Lisa, and most have no idea why they even need to. On a hot Sunday, August 20, 1911, at around 4 pm...
The Birth of the Musée du Louvre
On August 10, 1793, the Musée Central des Arts de la République was opened. You may know it as the Musée du Louvre. Art was not a stranger to the Palais du Louvre and going back to the 16th century, François I first held a few of hi...
The Vow of Louis XIII & Notre Dame de Paris
On February 10, 1638, Louis XIII officially proclaimed the Virgin as the “special protector of the kingdom of France”. After 23 years of marriage, Queen Anne d’Autriche was finally pregnant, and Louis XIII vowed his kingdom to the Virgin ...
Liberty Leading the People & the Three Glorious Days
The most recognized painting by the Romantic master Éugene Delacroix, La Liberté Guidant le Peuple le 28 Juillet 1830, depicts the event of this day, 196 years ago. Painted in 1830 for the Salon of 1831, the painting commemorates the Paris upri...
Napoleon's Looting of Art
Napoleon has carried the brunt of most of the blame for the looting of art from Italy and other European countries, but not all of it lies on his shoulders. The looting of art from country to country isn’t a new idea. It all started...
The Death of Marat, the Painting & the Event
On July 13, 1793, Charlotte Corday talked her way into the apartment of writer Jean-Paul Marat and plunged a knife into his chest while he soaked in the bath, killing the Voice of the People within seconds. It was a pivotal moment ...
The Raft of the Medusa
Few paintings in the Louvre are as unforgettable as The Raft of the Medusa, but behind Théodore Géricault's masterpiece lies one of the most horrifying true stories in French history.In this episode, we uncover the disastrous 1816...
How the First Balloon Flights Inspired the Paris Olympic Vasque
When the giant silver Olympic balloon rose above the Jardin des Tuileries during the Paris 2024 Games, it instantly became one of the city's most unforgettable sights. But in Paris, almost nothing exists without a connection to the past....
The Affair of the Poisons
Poison, black magic, royal mistresses, and murder at the highest levels of French society—welcome to one of the most shocking scandals in French history.In this episode, we dive into the infamous Affair of the Poisons, the dark conspirac...
The Birth of a Legend, Mona Lisa
She is the most famous painting in the world, and everyone has an opinion of her. Are there better paintings in the Louvre? Sure, but she also deserves every bit of fame she has garnered for many reasons. Sadly, because of the chaos that surrou...
The History of the Pont Neuf, Yesterday & Today
Pont Neuf wasn’t just the “new bridge,” it was so much more. Sure, it was the first in stone, without houses, the widest and the longest, and the first to have sidewalks in Europe. It was also the first celebrity monument in Paris. People trave...
The New Windows of Notre Dame and the Repeated Destruction of History
The debate surrounding the new stained-glass windows of Notre-Dame de Paris has reignited a familiar question: how much of the past should be preserved, and how much should be reimagined? In this episode, we explore the controversia...
The Restoration of Delacroix's Capture of Constantinople
The last restored large-format painting by Eugène Delacroix has finally returned to the Pompei red walls of the Salle Mollien at the Musée du Louvre. Since 2019, the Louvre has been restoring the king of the Romantic movement's paintings. ...
The 1887 Sale of the French Crown Jewels
The jewels of the French Crown were never just glittering ornaments. They were symbols of power, legitimacy, dynasty, and empire. For centuries, they adorned kings, queens, emperors, and empresses, surviving revolution, theft, exile, and war. B...
The Tragic End of Good King Henri IV
On May 13, 1610, after finally giving in, Henri IV watched his wife, Marie de Medici, be crowned as the queen of France in the Basilique Saint Denis. The next day, his life would endIn this week's episode, we look at the trag...
The Final Days and Return of Napoleon
On May 5, 1821, 205 years ago, at 5:49 pm on the remote island of Saint Helene, Napoleon Bonaparte took his last breath at the young age of 51. Between 1814 and his final day in 1821, Napoleon was exiled twice. Toss in Waterloo in t...
