Paris, France Part 2: Art

I like art, but I don’t always like an artist’s most well-known painting. Paris has a lot of well-known works by a lot of well-known artists, many of which I was forced to study in my collegiate art history courses. They also have a fair amount of other stuff that doesn’t get as much attention, which is what I most gravitated toward at the three art museums I went to (the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Centre Pompidou).

First up, the Louvre. Everyone I’ve ever talked to has mentioned how impossible it is to try and see the whole thing. That was fine, because I didn’t really care to spend my Friday night looking at Etruscan antiquities or tapestries from the Middle Ages. Okay, so that’s a bit flippant, but the truth is that I was most interested in the paintings and was seriously underwhelmed by them. For example, I like da Vinci but have never been too interested in the Mona Lisa. Therefore, seeing it in the, er, oil was all the more anticlimactic (the thing is small).

Despite all of this, it was good to have the experience of being there — plus, Friday nights after 6pm are free to young adults under 26 so Maggie and I didn’t have to pay or stand in line to get in. And in Paris they must figure there’s no way they could police so many people, so photos are allowed (without flash).


I.M. Pei’s glass pyramids


the inner courtyard


inside


taking people taking pictures of famous paintings is as much fun as taking pictures of the paintings themselves!


Winged Victory


thoroughly unimpressed (but I was there!)

The next day I spent the afternoon at the Musée d’Orsay which is a little more my speed: lots of impressionism and related movements. I enjoyed the collection a great deal, though the rooms where the really famous stuff is (i.e. Monet and Van Gogh) were a little claustrophobic for my taste.

Here are some highlights:


the museum is housed in an old train station


“Enigma” by Gustave Doré


A room from the Art Nouveau collection


A bed from the Art Nouveau collection – this is what my parents’ guestroom needs


The disciples on the road returning from meeting the resurrected Jesus; appropriate for Easter weekend






Whistler’s Mother and friends


I really like this Cézanne – the texture alone is beautiful


great Seurat

I spent Easter Sunday afternoon taking in my favorite of the three museums, the Centre Pompidou for modern art. In addition to their expansive contemporary art collection, they have an amazing range of art from the modernist era onwards. I don’t know how many hours I spent there, but I do know it was worth the hour wait to buy tickets.




A couple exterior shots


Fibonacci crocodile. ’Nuff said.


I think this guy pairs with the Orsay’s polar bear quite nicely


Picasso’s “Guitarist”






The Juan Gris pieces (above three) were my favorites of their cubism collection


Beautiful Alexander Calder mobiles, beautifully displayed


sweet Magritte




The Bauhaus room


And finally, a lovely piece by Kupka

All in all, I really enjoyed the works and found more than a little inspiration to keep me going for another few months.

To come: Montmartre and Easter dinner