Hello again! It’s been quite a while, but I finally feel like myself again. To celebrate, I finally decided to tackle the Louvre. To be honest, the Louvre always intimidated me, since it was so humongous. Thankfully, I had a friend: Antione, a French student from Sciences Po who studied at Worcester State last year to show me the way.
This wasn’t just any ordinary trip to the Louvre, however. There was a limited-time fashion exposition, where famous fashion designers such as Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Gucchi, and many others made historically inspired high fashion. The exposition stretched all the way from the 4th century to the late 19th century, covering the Byzantines, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Louis XIV, and the Belle Époque. Historical artifacts and art pieces from the time periods were also present, which gave an insight into the creative inspirations the clothing designers drew from. Of course, there were some that were too avant garde for my tastes, but most of them were quite beautiful. One of my favorites was from the Renaissance period. The dull red feathers that made up the collar and the dark beige dress were very pretty, and the inspiration it drew from the tapestries of the Hunts of Maximilien was plain to see.
After finishing the exposition, Antione had to leave, so I was left on my own. My first thought was, of course, to go see the Mona Lisa (in french, La Joconde). Thankfully, there are signs around the entire museum pointing in its direction, so it wasn’t too hard. In order to get there, I had to pass through the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sections. The Egyptian section was particularly interesting to me because, even though I knew what hieroglyphics are and had seen them in media depictions before, it had suddenly dawned on me that, once upon a time, they were actually legible texts that people could read. The ancient artifacts I was admiring from behind a glass window were originally parts of greater structures and were actually able to be read by people 4,000 years ago. I suppose it’s one of those things you only actually appreciate when you see it in person.
At last, I made it to the Mona Lisa. And it was…kind of underwhelming. That’s not to say that it was bad by any means; I was excited to see it, but it was very small, and kind of basic. It is just a portrait of someone, which is a very common type of painting, which I already saw at Versailles, Petit Palais, etc. That, combined with the sea of tourists who seemingly only had eyes for it and none of the other paintings, kind of dulled the effect. In my opinion, there were infinitely more interesting paintings to be seen elsewhere, such as Pandemonium by John Martin. I was especially struck by it, since it had a completely different aesthetic and focus than other paintings. Most paintings I saw had the human figure as the main centerpiece, and the background was either natural landscapes (forests, seas, etc) or buildings. In Pandemonium, however, the main focus is on the landscape, which depicts Satan in hell rallying his armies of demons, with the giant palace of Pandemonium looming in the background. The scene was represented with such a sense of scale as compared to other paintings, and the infernal landscape was a unique departure from the floral or stoney settings of previous paintings. The artist did a particularly good job depicting the rivers of fire and lava running across the ground, how the fumes rose and filled the sky with smoke, and how massive the palace was.
I will definitely have to return to the Louvre at least a few times before I leave. In my estimation, despite staying there for 7 hours, I probably only got to see a fourth of the total thing. It was a crazy experience, and not one I will forget anytime soon!
