Saturday, February 28, 2009

The Louvre



A trip to Paris would not be complete without a visit to the Louvre, the largest museum in the world.



Formerly a palace, the museum is just massive. We were only in one little part of it, and even that was a little overwhelming. There were works of art as far as the eye could see, paintings in elaborate frames, sculptures along the walls, pieces encased in glass. Something would catch my eye, but when I walked toward it to get a closer look, I would be distracted by something else on the way there. It was remarkably hard to focus because there was just so much to see, so much for my eyes to take in.



Of course, one of the main attractions is Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. She is situated in a room off the main corridor of the Denon wing, hung on a half-wall by herself, covered by glass. Unlike the other art pieces we saw, the Mona Lisa was center stage, no other work competing with her. It was almost unreal to be standing before this world-renowed painting that I have learned about in practically all of my history classes throughout the years. She was smaller than I expected her to be, but that didn't detract from her artistry.



As would be expected, there was a large crowd clamoring to get a look at Da Vinci's masterpiece. We were literally elbow to elbow in the crowd, standing on our tippy-toes, until we made our way to the front. The amount of people in general at the Louvre almost detracted from the artwork--the buzz of the crowd, the swarm of people in front of popular, promient pieces was semi-distracting. But I was appreciative of the whole of my experience at the Louvre. To be in the presence of such truly distinguished works of art was enough to make me overlook my dislike of the crowd.

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