While planning my visit to a special exhibit about Rembrandt at the Detroit Institute of Arts, I discovered the DIA had partnered with the Louvre on it — a French connection.

Since joining TheFrameworks, I’ve become more conscious of Detroit’s connection to France. One of our biggest clients is a French company, Dassault Systèmes. I even have the tremendous pleasure of working with two French colleagues here in the Detroit office.

Remembering some of my local history lessons, I hit Google to track down some more interesting connections:

• The city of Detroit was born from a French fort and missionary outpost called Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit, founded in 1701. The original settlement was named after Riviere D’etroit, which means “River of The Strait” in French.

• During the late nineteenth century, Detroit was nicknamed the Paris of the West because of its architecture and open public spaces.

• One quadrant of the flag of Detroit honors France with gold fleurs-de-lis on a white field.

• Major streets in Metro Detroit carry French names like Dequindre, Beaubien, Cadillac and Lafayette.

• According to the French-American Chamber of Commerce, operations for about 300 French companies are located in Michigan. Additionally, other French companies do business in Michigan in industries such as automotive, aerospace, retail, luxury goods, food and wine products, high technology and medical products.

• French-American architect Paul Philippe Cret designed the Detroit Institute of Arts. One of the most renowned and respected art museums in the world, the DIA’s collection contains famous works by many French artists, including Monet, Degas and Matisse. Currently, through a partnership with the Musée du Louvre and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” is appearing at the Detroit Institute of Arts through 12 February. It demonstrates that in posing an ethnographically correct model and using a human face to depict Jesus, Rembrandt overturned the entire history of Christian art.

These artistic, cultural and industry connections to France are only a portion of the significant ties metro Detroit holds to Europe, so it’s no surprise TheFrameworks saw the area as a great place to open its U.S. office.