The View of the Louvre from a Window |
The Louvre used to be the biggest palace in
the world. Francois I had visions of
grandeur and so renovated the existing fortress in 1546 to create the most
awesome “home” he could. He also started
the Louvre’s art collection: the Mona Lisa first hung in his bathroom.
Even by modern standards, the Louvre is an
enormous building, covering 60,600 m2. The palace occupies six
city blocks and is four stories tall. When
we first walked into the Louvre’s courtyard (more like a park) the giant glass
pyramids rose out of the flagstones and shimmered in the sunlight (or they
would have if it hadn’t been grey and drizzly).
Through the glass, the wings of the palace stretched around the square
and continued seemingly forever. Given
the Louvre’s palatial origins, the rooms are organized in no logical manner
from a tourist’s perspective, which makes navigation fairly difficult.
Chamber of Statues |
It took us less than one minute to get lost. We had a very loose plan of what we wanted to
see, so we entered one of the five wings and started walking in the general
direction of the Greek Antiquities. We
ran into our first dilemma when there was a staircase that was marked differently
than on our map. The stair signs said to
go up, and the map said to go continue on the same floor. We chose to ascend the stairs. From that point on, we ignored the map and
just followed the signs. Amazingly, we
saw each masterpiece on our “list” even with our haphazard explorations.
Man by Michelangelo |
First we found the Greek and Italian sculptures.
We saw the first carved nude woman, and
the first carved unclothed man. As my
mum said “one artist clearly preferred women and the other men”. Most of the statues we saw were reproductions
of statues that were carved originally in 300 BCE. Even so, the reproductions were about 2000
years old. We were viewing 2000-year old
fakes! Apparently, there used to be a trade
(2000 years ago) in reproductions of famous statues. The originals would have been made in metal,
so they were frequently melted down and recycled over the course of
history. The reproductions, made in
stone, have survived. Lucky us and
archaeologists who study the statues to infer clues about ancient fashions and
customs.
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss |
I love statues. I love the way the artists carved cloth so
that it appears to flow, the way each hair has minute details, and how the
white marble seems to shine from the surrounding museum gloom. The people portrayed are always beautiful
(because they were usually gods) but often seem to have a vacant
expression. I don’t know if this is
because gods are above human emotion or if this is because capturing the soul through
facial expression is the hardest of all.
This means that I look at the faces to
determine the skill of the sculptor, whether renaissance or ancient. Some are perfectly chiselled but austere and
empty. Other faces, like those carved by
Michelangelo, are filled with emotion. Character
seems to burst from the lines of the cheek and mouth. Pain, joy, sorrow, and character shine from
their sculpted faces and bodies.
A Close-up of "The Intervention of the Sabine Women" |
We of course saw the classics: the Mona Lisa,
the Winged Victory, and many others.
However, I found it hard to connect to the most famous images when the
paintings were protected by three inches of bulletproof glass and there was a
barricade between the images and me. I
like being able to stand up close the paintings so that I can see and examine individual
brush strokes. If the paintings weren’t
priceless I would also like to stroke them and feel their magic with my
fingers. Don’t worry, I haven’t ever
done this. My favourite moments at the
Louvre were when I found a person who seemed captured in paint, or when the sun
came through the clouds and illuminated the marble of “Psyche Revived by Cupid's
Kiss”.
1 comment:
Hi Gavia,
Here I am in Mendocino reading about the Louvre. What fun! I love your descriptions of your pathway through that vast space, and I am reminded of my visit there many years ago, before the artwork was covered up and even before it was roped off! Sorry to hear you couldn't have a really intimate experience with those amazing artworks.
I lived and went to art school in Paris during my senior year at college. I lived in the 13th arrondissement.
Thanks for keeping this current. I look forward to reading more. Please send love to your family for me.
And love to you, Erica
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