something else good to see in Paris

Very delighted to be reminded of this show of the Stein Family collection, at the Grand Palais. HERE. Hat tip, Troi.

I often have the following strange experience, and there may be some Lacanian explanation for it in terms of the Big Other. I’ll read about something that sounds incredibly good to see, visit, or attend. But then it completely slips my mind until someone else mentions it, and then suddenly it takes on overwhelming reality and becomes a kind of imperative. Now that Troi has reminded me of this, my reaction is: “What on earth was I thinking, letting this slip from my memory within a few minutes?” Somehow it has become an intersubjective fact, whereas before there was a sense in which I didn’t really believe my own reading of the newspaper story about the show. I believed it, but also didn’t quite believe it.

That only happens a certain portion of the time, but the portion is considerable enough that it’s a bit uncanny.

Sure, who would want to miss a show of artworks collected by Gertrude and Leo Stein in Paris in the early 20th century? Their taste and judgment was generally outstanding, as is well known. They didn’t always appreciate everything they should have appreciated, yet their assessments were quite often on the mark.

In the end, good taste is probably the most important thing to have, and none of us has quite enough of it.