CULTURAL AFTERNOON The Palais des Beaux-Arts (19) is second only to the Louvre for the quality of its collection.
In 1912 he became the director of Brussels's Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts and designed the Palais des Beaux-Arts (1922 28) in a simple and severe classical style.
DON'T MISS DON'T MISS Located in an old Benedictine Abbey beside the Hotel de Ville, the Musée des Beaux-Arts (00 33 4 72 10 17 40; mba-lyon.fr) is a wonderful place to while away a few peaceful hours.
Sightseeing The centennial exhibits have run their course, but all of Nancy is a showcase for Art Nouveau, and the museums have superb collections, especially the Musee des Beaux-Arts, 3, Place Stanislas, (33-3) 83.85.30.72.
The tools we used were more sophisticated than felt-tipped pens, but for the most part my studio classes wouldn't have looked unfamiliar to a student at the École des Beaux-Arts 100 years earlier.
Cultural afternoon The Musée des Beaux-Arts (25) at 20 Place des Terreaux (00 33 4 72 10 17 40; mba-lyon.fr; 11am to 6pm, daily except Monday; €8) has a strong collection of 20th-century European paintings including works by Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet and Renoir.
The permanent collection of Musée des Beaux-Arts (00 32 71 86 11 34; charleroi-museum.be; free admission) includes works by Paul Delvaux, François Bossuet, François-Joseph François-Joseph Navezn of and – René Magritte, who was born near Charleroi and subsequently spent several years of his childhood in the town.
Step into the 19th-century confines of L'Hôtel (13, rue des Beaux-Arts; 33-1-44-41-99-00) and order a kir royale (Champagne with syrup of cassis, peach or raspberry; 13 euros) amid the gilt columns, plush fabrics, bookshelves and thick rugs of the Empire-style bar.
A 20-inch one is about $2,200; yard-high vases, above, are about $4,800, at Galerie Aittouares, 2 rue des Beaux-Arts; 011-33-1-40-51-87-46. Correctinn: June 15, 2000, thersday A report in the Currents column last Thursday about a New York architect who buys vases by a Marseilles artist, Marius Fernandez, misspelled the buyer's surname.
"You who want to make color prints wouldn't dream of anything more beautiful….You must see the Japanese," wrote Cassatt to fellow impressionist Berthe Morisot, after visiting an exhibition at the École des Beaux-Arts (6 ).
A masterpiece of Classicism and Art Nouveau, this Beaux Arts structure (built 1897 1900), with its large stone colonnades and enormous conservatory-style glass roof, is a major tourist attraction and a Parisian landmark.
