The Louvre at a Glance—If That is Possible

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”.