Musée du Louvre

Today's foray into tourism was to the Louvre. Before you think it is all play and no work around here, I should say that this week is exceptional. After tomorrow (Giverny), no more outings for the whole group until the end of the program when we go to Chartres (hooray, j'adore). We assembled at 7:45 to make our way from Cité U. to the center of town where the Louvre is. Tram to Porte d'Italie then Métro (pink #7 line) to Palais Royale-Musée du Louvre. Easy schmeezy and since it was early on a Saturday morning the trains were not crowded. A tour guide had come to escort us on the journey and get us to the right place in the museum, then she turned us over to 2 of her colleagues for the actual tour. Real talk: I have always pooh-poohed guided group tours. I tend to suspect that a lot of people just want to say that they've been to the Louvre and don't really want to learn anything or experience anything while there. There's something perfunctory about following a guide around as they hustle through the museum with a little flag on a stick. (Experiment: hold up a flag on a stick in the Louvre. See if anyone follows you.) BUT I had also never been on a group tour through any major attraction like this. The Louvre is so enormous that it can be overwhelming, so it actually helped to have the guide (ours was a Londoner named Julian) sort of "editing" the museum for us. He was very knowledgable but also very funny, so it was not too didactic or perfunctory. 

We saw a little bit of Renaissance art, a little bit of Roman sculpture--notably the two pieces by Michelangelo that the Louvre holds--a little bit of 19C French painting (I have seen two of David's "Coronation of Napoleon" this week), and a little bit of Italian painting including, of course, the Mona Lisa (La Joconde in French). More real talk: I do not understand the Mona Lisa hype although I understand it better after today. Julian told us that when she was stolen in 1911, her image was widely advertised in hopes that someone had seen her--like kids on milk cartons! So when she was found in Italy three years later and returned to France, her image had become famous and people came to see the original. So her fame has more to do with saturation than with some abstract artistic value. That's a bit of a relief to me--I'd begun to worry that my aesthetic judgment was impaired. I have chosen a different Leonardo (the Louvre has 4) as my favorite, "La Belle Ferronnière." You will have to Google it yourself because I can't seem to embed links via the Blogger app. I just love how serious and skeptical she looks. Maybe it's natural that I am always drawn to paintings of women, though I also like some portraits of men if they have interesting expressions or poses. 

I found out by accident today that I love Caravaggio and also Georges de la Tour. Finding la Tour's "The Card-Sharper" required some hiking but it was worth it and I also saw 3 or 4 of his other works, including a breathtaking depiction of the Holy Family and a slightly creepy (in a good way) one of Jesus and St. Joseph. (The Louvre will make you wish you'd been brought up Catholic just to understand the paintings better.) "The Card-Sharper" was extra fun to see because the other version of it is in the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas and I saw it when I lived in Dallas. So now I have seen them both! I also got to look at some medieval Islamic art, some Mesopotamian sculptures and clay tablets, and the Code of Hammurabi. The Code of Hammurabi is five thousand years old if my math and my memory are correct. Stand in front of that for a few minutes and consider what you've accomplished this week by comparison.

My brain could have stayed all day but my legs, feet, and stomach were ready to leave so I walked a couple blocks away from the Louvre in search of a café that wasn't (a) packed and (b) expensive. When I found one I got seated right on the edge of the terrace in a perfect spot, lots of fresh air but out of the sun. I ordered a sandwich and a demi-pression (Kronenbourg 1664, my default French beer) and then had a coffee. If there is more enjoyment available for €12,60 I can't tell you where to find it. Perfect weather, nice waitress, a cute dog nearby: maximum classic Parisian good time per square meter.

A quick stop for postcards and then back to Cité where I took a disco nap, ate some leftover Chinese, and am about to meet my colleagues and go out for a while. I must acknowledge that I am way behind on posting pictures but that can't be remedied till Monday, I'm afraid. But if I don't post some soon they will pile up and become utterly unmanageable! 

Stay tuned for an update from Giverny tomorrow afternoon. À bientôt!