paris: artwork

i've never taken any kind of art class, or art history, but i've always been in tune with the humanities so it was exciting to see so many original paintings that i recognized while in paris.

musee du louvre

dare i say . . . the louvre is overrated?

i don't know. i just had a hart time enjoying it because:

1. 

too crowded. 

i like my museums quiet. if i find a piece i like, i like to sit in front of it, quietly, taking it in. not possible in the louvre. you're constantly dodging people, or your view is being interrupted. not to mention the noise. and all those really major pieces, mona lisa, venus de milo, winged victory, you have to fight a crowd of 50 to get a peek at them.

2.

too hot.

apparently the louvre doesn't make enough money off the 10 euro the charge the 5.5 million visitors per year to turn on the air conditioning. which, to be quite honest, makes me question their ability to preserve all those works of art. like i said, i haven't taken any art classes, but i'm pretty sure climate control is part of art preservation . . . 

3.

it's like a maze.

when we decided we wanted to leave, i took us 45 minutes to find our way out.

kind of ridiculous.

4.

too big.

it feels less like a curated collection of the finest things and more like a hoarding of any and every piece of artwork they could get their hands on and they just happened to get a few good things in the process.

at any rate . . . these are some of my favorite pieces from the louvre.

la jeune martyre by paul delaroche

la joconde by leonardo da vinci
(not really a favorite but it just seems wrong not to include it)

the intervention of the sabine women by jaques-louis david

la liberte guidant le peuple by eugene delacroix

venus de milo

romeo et juliette by theodore chasseriau
(i've never seen this before but i just fell in love with it)

le verrou by jean-honore fragonard

musee national de l'orangerie
really small. you can see it all in less than an hour.
but it's awesome.
monet designed the museum space himself. first you walk into a pure white room to decompress, then you continue into two larger rooms that have large, three paneled monet paintings that almost completely encircle oval rooms. i really like monet. his pictures relax me.
downstairs there is a small exhibit of impressionist paintings.

musee d'orsay
if you only go to one museum in paris, go to musee d'orsay.
hands down my favorite.
(except they won't let you take any pictures . . . booo)
a manageable collection. you can see it all in about two hours. not as crowded as the louvre. art grouped together in a way that makes more sense. highlights for me were the extensive collection of monet, degas, renoir, and van gogh. and one klimt. not the kiss, but exciting none-the-less.
plus that have that giant clock, which makes me feel like in the curious case of benjamin button.