Cardinal Galleries (504.522.3615) is a welcome respite for art lovers from the tourist traps and debauchery of Bourbon Street. Come in and take a look at the wonderful figurative and more abstract works from the Italian painters (Bruno Paoli, Andrea Stella, Giampaolo Talani, and others) that this small gallery has in its stable. Take your time and observe closely the women Paoli paints (and the ever-present blurred or partially obscured male figure lurking in the background) and you slowly get sucked into his little world of psychological intrigue. And this artist, now in his late eighties, has an uncanny knack for making you believe he somehow knew exactly what his female subject was thinking as he painted her. Stella's work is a little more abstract than the others, but he has an interesting technique of fusing gold and copper particles to the painted canvas.
The paintings here are very expensive and, quite frankly, beyond the means of most, but just because you aren't going to order anything doesn't mean you can't come in and look at the menu.