MONA LISA IN THE CROWD. and other Paris, France Things to Do Tips

Mona Lisa smiling at the crowd.

At the beginning of the sixties I visited for the first time Le Louvre.
There was no pyramid; the facades of the Louvre were of a dirty grey colour as most of the buildings of Paris. No queue at the entrance of the museum. We were only four visitors in front of Mona Lisa. I returned in the nineties; the pyramid was standing there as well as the queues. We were more than forty to admire Mona Lisa.
In the spring of 2005, I was again in the Louvre where the Joconde had just been installed in a new bigger room (Wing Denon, 1st floor, room 6). By curiosity I went to this new room to find inside and around a crowd of about 400 persons.
In 40 years there had been a hundredfold increase of visitors to Mona Lisa!

I abandoned and went to the Richelieu wing with on the 2nd floor the collections of the Dutch and Flemish painters. I was almost alone and could admire in all quietness (room 38) two Vermeer "The Lace maker" and "The Astronomer" and one painting of Pieter de Hooch.
Shall I add that there are only few museums in the world which have two Vermeer's.
On the first floor I paid a visit to the tapestries of Brussels with the famous "Hunting's of Maximilien".
A bit before the closing time I returned to the room of La Joconde which I could finally approach.
I was amazed at the Mona Lisa's bad look; she showed a greenish complexion; or is it the effect from the thick glass panel which protects her?
I read that the Joconde would need a restoration; the wooden panel bends. But who in France will dare to make the decision to remove Mona Lisa from the Louvre for a restoration?
By her attraction on the world tourism, Mona Lisa represents an important part of the GNP of France!

No mystery anymore.
Experts of the University library of Heidelberg have found a book belonging to Agostino Vespucci, an acquaintance of Da Vinci. A note in this book indicates that Mona Lisa was Lisa del Giocondo wife of Francesco del Giocondo a rich merchant of Florence.

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Address: Wing Denon, 1st floor, room 6
Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

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Musée d'Orsay: Musée d'Orsay - Monet "La pie - The magpie".

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Updated by breughel

on Jan 20, 2009

Orsay - Claude Monnet "La pie".

About 270 VT members made comments here on the magnificent collections of the museum of Orsay and the ancient railway station which shelters them. I will just visit one painting of Claude Monet which on each of my visits made my hart bounce and my eyes shine with pleasure.
It is a rather large painting called "La pie" (the magpie) of a winter landscape painted in 1869 at the beginning of his career and which for that reason is exposed on the first floor among the pre-impressionists.
At first this painting attracts the glance of the visitor by its almost white monochromy. But quickly we realize that the snow is not white - white does not exist - she shows nuances of grey, blue, yellow with some lines and dark spots in brown or black.
There are the warm tones in the sunny part of the landscape and the cold tones in the shadow.
On the barrier, there is the magpie …
A so fascinating beauty deserves the journey to the Musée d'Orsay.

Monet was an excellent painter of snow scenes and painted some 18 in the area of Argenteuil.

Open 9.30 - 18 h (on Thursday 21.45 h). Closed on Monday.
Tickets can be bought from 9 h on.
Price 8 €. Reduced 18 - 30 yr 5,50 €. Free less than 18 yr

===========================

Prčs de 270 VT membres se sont exprimés ici sur les magnifiques collections du musée d'Orsay. Je me contenterai de visiter un tableau de Claude Monet qui est pour moi un "coup de cśur". Il s'agit de "La pie" un assez grand tableau d'un paysage enneigé peint en 1869 soit au début de sa carričre et qui pour cette raison est exposée au rez-de-chaussée parmi les pré-impressionistes.
Ce tableau attire le regard du visiteur par sa quasi monochromie blanche. Mais rapidement on réalise que la neige n'est pas blanche - le blanc n'existe pas - elle présente des nuances de gris, de bleu, de jaune avec quelques lignes et taches sombres en brun ou noir. Il y a les tons chauds dans la partie ensoleillée du paysage et les tons froids dans l'ombre.
Sur la barričre, il y a la pie…
Une beauté aussi captivante mérite plus que le détour, elle mérite le voyage.

Monet, qui excellait dans les scčnes avec neige, en a peint 18 dans la région d'Argenteuil.

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Address: Ground floor - rez-de-chaussée (section 18)
Directions: Métro: line 12, Solférino station; RER: line C, Musée d'Orsay station
Website: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/

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Louvre: Géricault "Le Radeau de la Méduse".

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Updated by breughel

on Mar 9, 2007

Louvre - Géricault "Le radeau de la

Méduse"

by breughel , 1 more photos

Congratulations; you followed my tip "Mona Lisa in the crowd" and thanks to your height over 1.90 m, weight of 100 kg and your practice of rugby or football you were able to approach "La Joconde" the goal of your quest for the "Holy Grail".
After the immobility of Mona Lisa you might like to discover the movement of the 19th century with the Romantic school as expressed by Théodore Géricault and his famous large painting (5 x 7 m.) "Le Radeau de la Méduse".
The terrible story of the wreck of the French frigate "La Méduse" is a real one (1816) and Géricault put a lot of realism in his painting.
From the 150 man on the raft only five survived and it was said that there was cannibalism!
No doubt that Géricault expressed a paradox: how to make a strong painting of a hideous motive, how to reconcile the art and the reality? He refused the constraints of the classic standards and looked for a more free way of painting. He used morbid, macabre colours, illustrating the death. Unfortunately, for the conservation of this painting, Géricault used dark pigments based on bitumen which don't dry well and, by passing through the paint layers, cause cracks and a general darkening effect.

The horror of this subject fascinated and divided critics when it was shown at the Salon of 1819 as well as it does now in contrast with the placid Mona Lisa.

For the full story of the "Méduse" I recommend (in French):
www.paranormal-fr.net/dossiers/radeau-de-la-meduse.php

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Address: Denon wing, 1st floor, room 77.
Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

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Louvre: Géricault - "Chasseur ŕ cheval chargeant".

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Updated by breughel

on Mar 9, 2007

Louvre -Géricault - "Chasseur ŕ

cheval chargeant".

by breughel , 1 more photos

After the horrors of the "Radeau de la Méduse" it is nice to halt in the same room 77 for this splendid "Officier de chasseurs ŕ cheval de la garde impériale chargeant" (officer of the cavalry of the imperial guard charging) full of movement by the same Théodore Géricault. The rearing horse was painted after a study of antic horse sculptures.
This brilliant and large (3,50 x 2,60 m) painting dates from 1812, Géricault was only 20 and this was his first work. It represents the in that year still victorious army of Napoleon.
At the Salon of 1814, in Paris occupied by the troops of the Coalition, Géricault exposes his second work "Cuirassier blessé" next to the first one. In a striking contrast with the first one, this painting represents a cavalry officer going away from the battle.
His face turned to the slaughter that he has just left, translates the confusion, the defeat.
Both paintings were not a commercial success; they were only sold after his death.

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Address: Denon, 1st floor, room 77
Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

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Louvre: CLAUDE LORRAIN Ideal-Landscape paintings

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Updated by breughel

on Aug 26, 2007

Louvre - Lorrain "Port de Mer au

Soleil Couchant"

by breughel , 4 more photos

Once you have seen a painting of Claude Lorrain (real name Claude Gelée, 1600 Lorraine-France - 1682 Rome) you can't miss his works in any museum over the world.
His paintings are so typical with ideal landscapes and a poetic rendering of light. His landscapes contain classical ruins, often a coastal scene with boats in a seaport. It are idealized harbour scenes flanked on one or both sides with palaces. Tall ships ride at anchor. Light, however, is the key feature of the seaport pictures. Its source is often a visible sun just above the horizon or sometimes hidden behind a vessel or building at dawn or at sunset; his paintings are illuminated by the orange, gold shining sun. Claude Lorrain for the first time in art used the sun as the means of illuminating a whole picture. This use of light from the sky above the horizon enforces the effect of recession in depth.

In the 17th c. landscapes were a minor art in Italy (on the contrary of the Netherlands); prized subjects were religious or mythic scenes. To feed the need for noble themes Claude Lorrain included mythological or biblic personnalities but they are small, almost lost in the landscape which was his main interest.
The Louvre shows 9 paintings in wing Richelieu of the 250 which reached us. 2nd Floor, room 15.

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Address: Le Louvre, Aile Richelieu, 2nd floor, room 15
Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

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Musée d'Orsay: RENOIR - Les danseurs.

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Updated by breughel

on Aug 28, 2007

Orsay - Renoir "Danse ŕ la Ville"

by breughel , 2 more photos

Le musée d'Orsay comporte une belle collection d'śuvres de d'Auguste Renoir dont deux grands tableaux de danseurs m'ont impressionné dčs ma premičre visite.
Il s'agit de "Danse ŕ la campagne" et "Danse ŕ la ville" (1883) appartenant ŕ la deuxičme période appelée "Ingresque" ou "sčche" parce que le dessin se fait plus net, le contour plus précis que dans sa premičre période "impressionniste" (1864-1883). En cette année Renoir écrit "J'étais allé jusqu'au bout de l'impressionnisme et j'arrivais ŕ cette constatation que je ne savais ni peindre ni dessiner." Etonnant cette remise en cause de ce maître de l'art impressionniste.
Il en résulta trois tableaux de couples de danseurs dont deux ici au musée d'Orsay, salle 39, le troisičme ŕ Boston.
J'ai été particuličrement séduit par ces couples danseurs. L'homme penché en avant murmure des choses tendres ŕ l'oreille de sa compagne; elle, belle femme aux cheveux d'un roux naturel, se tient bien droite. L'on sait qu'il s'agit de Suzanne Valadon qui fut également modčle de Puvis de Chavannes, de Toulouse-Lautrec et devint elle-męme peintre et mčre du peintre Utrillo.

Aprčs sa courte période "ingresque" de 1883 ŕ 1890, Renoir entre dans sa période "nacrée"
Le terme désigne bien la forme, couleur, lumičre et volupté de cette période pendant laquelle il peint de nombreuses "baigneuses".
Dans la męme salle 39 se trouvent deux trčs beaux tableaux de sa période nacrée: "Jeunes filles au piano" (1892) et "Grand nu" (1907).

Renoir fut un peintre trčs prolifique: plus de 4000 tableaux!

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Address: Musée d'Orsay, niveau supérieur 5, salle 39
Directions: Métro: line 12, Solférino station; RER: line C, Musée d'Orsay station
Website: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/

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Musée d'Orsay: RENOIR - The dances.

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Updated by breughel

on Aug 11, 2008

Renoir "Danse ŕ la Campagne & Danse

ŕ la Ville"

by breughel , 1 more photos

The museum of Orsay contains a beautiful collection of Auguste Renoir's works among which the two large paintings with dancers impressed me from my first visit here.
"Dance in the country" and "Dance in the city" (1883) belong to the second period called "Ingresque" or "dry" of Renoir. The drawing is more net, the outline more precise than with his first "impressionistic" period (1864-1883).
Renoir wrote "I had gone up to the end of the impressionism and I arrived to the observation that I did not know how to paint or draw." Amazing this questioning by a master of the impressionistic art!
He painted three couples of dancers among whom two are here on display in the museum of Orsay, room 39, the third is in Boston.
I was particularly seduced by these couples of dancers. The man leaning forwards murmurs soft things to the ear of his partner; she, beautiful woman, red-haired, follows with elegance the movement of the music (a waltz?).
We know that she is Suzanne Valadon who was also a model for Puvis de Chavannes and Toulouse-Lautrec and became herself a painter and mother of the painter Utrillo.
After his short "ingresque" period from 1883 till 1890, Renoir enters his period "nacrée - pearly" The term represents very well the shape, the colour, the light and the sensual delight of this period during which he paints numerous "baigneuses - the bathers".
In the same room 39 are two other beautiful paintings of his pearly period - "période nacrée"
"Jeunes filles au piano" (1892) and "Grand nu" (1907).

Renoir was a very prolific painter: more than 4000 paintings!

NOTE : In July 2008 "Dance in the Country" was not at Orsay but travelling around the world.

Open 9.30 - 18 h (on Thursday 21.45 h). Closed on Monday.
Tickets can be bought from 9 h on.
Price 8 €. Reduced 18 - 30 yr 5,50 €. Free less than 18 yr.

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Address: Musée d'Orsay, upper floor, room 39
Directions: Métro: line 12, Solférino station; RER: line C, Musée d'Orsay station
Website: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/

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Louvre: Le Louvre - Avoiding the queues.

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Updated by breughel

on Apr 12, 2009

Queuing in the rain 1

by breughel , 4 more photos

The longest queues are at the Pyramid main entrance. Not funny when it is raining as you can see from my photos nr.1 and 2. Avoid this entrance.
There are underground entrances by the Galerie du Carousel (99 rue de Rivoli) with a connexion to the Metro station and by the Carousel gardens. There are also queues but at least you will remain dry. In this underground Galerie du Carousel you will find a Tourist Welcome Centre where you can buy your 2, 4 or 6 days museum pass.

As I always buy a Paris Museum Pass, I enter by the Passage Richelieu for groups and visitors with museum pass. Go straight to the security control and don't get mixed up with the groups standing there.
Another point is to get there close to the opening at 9.00 h. The longest queues are between 10 and 12 h. Absolutely avoid the first Sunday of every month; the entrance is free and the queues start well before 9.00 h.
Once you are in you have to buy your ticket and you might well be queuing again!
My photo nr 3 shows the Napoleon Hall with the ticket desks at 17 h. in August 2007 on a Wednesday when the museum is open until 21.30 h.
Of course the length of the queues depend on the season: high season at the museum is spring and summer, less crowded later. In 2007 there were 8,3 millions visitors.
Good luck - bon courage!

NOTE 1°: It is now possible to buy in the main Metro stations and RER A a "Billet Louvre" at 9,70 € which gives priority entry to the museum via the Passage Richelieu and the Carrousel Gallery and so avoiding the queues.
For full info go to www.ratp.fr (the site of Paris public transport) then "discover Paris" and "Louvre".

NOTE 2°: Entry by the PORTE DES LIONS.
I had heard about this entrance located at the end of the Denon wing near the Seine with the Pont Royal and the Quai des Tuileries but I had not tested this entrance (see map n° 4 and photo n°5). On my last visit to the Louvre (July 2008) I went out at 11 h and back in by this entrance at 11.30 h and there was no line and only few visitors entering here. You can buy your entrance ticket here without queuing and reach La Joconde by a short cut (see my new tip).

Another question: how much time does one need to visit Le Louvre?
There are 3 options:
1° The one day program. This is for well trained joggers. They will see it all but look at nothing. (The difference between the French "voir" and "regarder").
2° The program for amateurs of art and history. They need 2 or 3 days to see it all and look at the best art works.
3° Connoisseurs need 2 weeks. I'm following that program over a 20 years period. The problem with me is that on my spaced visits I forget what I saw the years before and I start again the grand tour. I'll never finish with Le Louvre!

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Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

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Louvre: Photography at Le Louvre - CHANGES.

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Updated by breughel

on Jan 20, 2009

Effect of flash on a varnished

painting.

The Louvre has a sound policy for photography and filming. The "rčglement" is found on www.lelouvre.fr > Visit > Aids & Amenities > Amenities.
Changes occured in 2008 as you will read from following text:

Rčglement de visite du Musée.

Une nouvelle rédaction de l’article 33 du rčglement de visite concernant l'autorisation de photographier dans les salles du musée vient d'ętre adopté par le Conseil d'administration :

"Dans les salles des collections permanentes, les śuvres peuvent ętre photographiées ou filmées pour l’usage privé de l’opérateur.
L’usage des flashes, et autres dispositifs d’éclairage est prohibé.
Dans les salles d'expositions temporaires, il est interdit de photographier et de filmer.
Il est également interdit de filmer et de photographier les installations et les équipements techniques"

Museum photography policy

The museum's board of directors has recently (2008) adopted a new Regulation regarding photography in the museum:

"Still and video photography is permitted for private, non commercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection.
The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited.
Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries. The same restrictions apply to the photographing or filming of technical installations and equipment."

This is an important change because previously photography and filming were prohibited on the first floor of the Denon wing at the galleries of Italian (includes Mona Lisa), Spanish and French (large-format) paintings as well as the Apollo gallery in the same Denon wing. Elsewhere photography and filming was allowed even with flash although this was discouraged.

I never use a flash because many paintings are behind glass or are varnished what reflects the flash light; same for all objects protected by windows.
The exhibition rooms at Le Louvre are rather dark so that you have to adjust the ISO sensitivity of your photo apparatus. Further problem are the windows or lights reflecting on the exhibited objects.

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Address: Musée du Louvre
Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

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Museum Passes: 2, 4 & 6 days Paris Museum Pass

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Updated by breughel

on Apr 12, 2009

4 days Paris Museum Pass