Visual artist Mickalene Thomas seems to have artwork everywhere, from the Moody Arts Center in Houston to the Brooklyn Museum and Paris.

One morning in June, Mickalene and her partner and muse, Racquel Chevremont, joined me at Albertine, the French bookstore on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The three of us talked at length about how Mickalene reinterprets famous French paintings; about the visibility of black women in the arts; Mickalene and Racquel's love for Dior and French butter; and the role that Paris plays for African-American artists.