The forecast is for rain today and so we headed indoors. Today we went to the Louvre. The greatest art gallery in the world, the mecca for all art lovers, the holy grail of all things art related … or so we have been led to believe. We know that it was originally a Palace and a fortress built in 1190, and it was first opened as a museum in 1793. What we didn’t realize was just how huge the Louvre is. At the time the museum was opened it held about 2,500 pieces, it now has in it’s possession over 350,000 pieces. So a visit requires some co-ordination, or we liked to think of it as a ‘battle plan’, particularly when we consider just how many visitors pass through here every day.
We arrived early to beat the crowds and the queues, and we were glad that we did. We entered the museum through the main entrance which is highlighted by the unmistakable glass pyramid (see the De Vinci Code). The security above ground was similar to what we have experienced at the other major tourist sites in this city, army personnel patrolling in groups of three, with automatic weapons at the ready. Coming from our little Island paradise this sounds pretty heavy, but you do get used to it, and wonder where they are if you can’t see them.
Our first mission was to get to the Mona Lisa before the crowds, so we did a quick sprint to get there. She was there as we had expected, she was bigger than we had been led to believe, inside a bullet proof glass case, and roped off so that you cannot get within five meters of her. In that respect it was a little disappointing, but we can confirm that she does look 83% happy, but about what, one cannot be entirely sure. To see a piece of art like this, that we have read so much about, is truly incredible. But our appreciation would have been more complete, if we had been able to view her in more detail, rather than from what seemed like the other end of the room.
By comparison the rest of the museum was quite intimate, being able to get right up close and personal with amazing pieces of art. The scope of art that this gallery displays is amazing. Covering Italian, French, German, Flemish, Dutch, paintings covering the period from the mid 13th Century to the mid 19th Century, Sculptures, Objects d’art, Roman and Egyptian antiquities, arts of Islam, Africa, etc, etc. The list was impressive. We spent over eight hours here and only saw a little over half of what there was to see.
Some of the rooms and galleries seemed to display a lot of work that was very same-same, but then you appreciate the time that these were done in. A period of countless Chateaux being built and so much of this could almost be considered as commercial art, wallpaper, wall coverings for those Chateaux. We were also amazed by the gems of brilliance that we saw, fascinating paintings by artists that we have never heard of before. It makes you wonder why these artists are virtually unheard of, when others whose work by comparison seems rather average, gets so much attention. Once again we ask the question, who decides what is art, what is brilliant and what is not?
Whenever viewing the great works, the scale is always a surprise. Some that you expect to be large, are small, others that you expect to be small, are not. Some of the works that we saw today, defied scale altogether. There were works here that were larger than the flat that we had, with no exaggeration. Absolutely huge. You would need a palace to hang them in. We saw the Venus de Milo, with all her missing bits, and agreed that she was beautiful despite them. Standing there under the spotlight, at the end of the hall, we couldn’t help but be impressed.
Summing up at the end of the day we agreed that the Louvre isn’t the ‘be all and end all’ of art galleries. It is huge and very impressive, but we felt that it might suffer a little from its size. Because there are so many pieces, there are very few pieces that actually get the attention that they deserve. Because there was so much, it was almost like visual overload, and we found that we were just cruising through, past pieces that we would have given more attention in a smaller gallery. Also, covering the period that it does, it didn’t include many of the artists works that we love so much. The Louvre has its niche and it leaves these to other galleries, which is perhaps a good thing.
After the mind stimulation of the day we decided we needed to go for a walk in the cold air and stumbled upon yet another great old church. Upon entering we found once again that there was a service in progress. After listening for a few minutes to a service in a language that we had no comprehension of, we still agreed that this is a nice church, with a great atmosphere. On a cold night like this, it was particularly pleasant to stand on top of one of the warming grates around the peripheral of the church. On emerging we found ourselves in a wonderful garden, albeit in the dark. But then we were in for a surprise. We found that we were walking on top of a subterranean, three level shopping complex of massive proportions. So down we went, and got completely lost in the city within the city.
We arrived early to beat the crowds and the queues, and we were glad that we did. We entered the museum through the main entrance which is highlighted by the unmistakable glass pyramid (see the De Vinci Code). The security above ground was similar to what we have experienced at the other major tourist sites in this city, army personnel patrolling in groups of three, with automatic weapons at the ready. Coming from our little Island paradise this sounds pretty heavy, but you do get used to it, and wonder where they are if you can’t see them.
Our first mission was to get to the Mona Lisa before the crowds, so we did a quick sprint to get there. She was there as we had expected, she was bigger than we had been led to believe, inside a bullet proof glass case, and roped off so that you cannot get within five meters of her. In that respect it was a little disappointing, but we can confirm that she does look 83% happy, but about what, one cannot be entirely sure. To see a piece of art like this, that we have read so much about, is truly incredible. But our appreciation would have been more complete, if we had been able to view her in more detail, rather than from what seemed like the other end of the room.
By comparison the rest of the museum was quite intimate, being able to get right up close and personal with amazing pieces of art. The scope of art that this gallery displays is amazing. Covering Italian, French, German, Flemish, Dutch, paintings covering the period from the mid 13th Century to the mid 19th Century, Sculptures, Objects d’art, Roman and Egyptian antiquities, arts of Islam, Africa, etc, etc. The list was impressive. We spent over eight hours here and only saw a little over half of what there was to see.
Some of the rooms and galleries seemed to display a lot of work that was very same-same, but then you appreciate the time that these were done in. A period of countless Chateaux being built and so much of this could almost be considered as commercial art, wallpaper, wall coverings for those Chateaux. We were also amazed by the gems of brilliance that we saw, fascinating paintings by artists that we have never heard of before. It makes you wonder why these artists are virtually unheard of, when others whose work by comparison seems rather average, gets so much attention. Once again we ask the question, who decides what is art, what is brilliant and what is not?
Whenever viewing the great works, the scale is always a surprise. Some that you expect to be large, are small, others that you expect to be small, are not. Some of the works that we saw today, defied scale altogether. There were works here that were larger than the flat that we had, with no exaggeration. Absolutely huge. You would need a palace to hang them in. We saw the Venus de Milo, with all her missing bits, and agreed that she was beautiful despite them. Standing there under the spotlight, at the end of the hall, we couldn’t help but be impressed.
Summing up at the end of the day we agreed that the Louvre isn’t the ‘be all and end all’ of art galleries. It is huge and very impressive, but we felt that it might suffer a little from its size. Because there are so many pieces, there are very few pieces that actually get the attention that they deserve. Because there was so much, it was almost like visual overload, and we found that we were just cruising through, past pieces that we would have given more attention in a smaller gallery. Also, covering the period that it does, it didn’t include many of the artists works that we love so much. The Louvre has its niche and it leaves these to other galleries, which is perhaps a good thing.
After the mind stimulation of the day we decided we needed to go for a walk in the cold air and stumbled upon yet another great old church. Upon entering we found once again that there was a service in progress. After listening for a few minutes to a service in a language that we had no comprehension of, we still agreed that this is a nice church, with a great atmosphere. On a cold night like this, it was particularly pleasant to stand on top of one of the warming grates around the peripheral of the church. On emerging we found ourselves in a wonderful garden, albeit in the dark. But then we were in for a surprise. We found that we were walking on top of a subterranean, three level shopping complex of massive proportions. So down we went, and got completely lost in the city within the city.
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