Last night, I ventured to the Eiffel Tower. Ticket in hand, I waited the extremely long line to get to the elevator to the 2nd floor. Although, the wait was alleviated by watching giant groups of colorful Asian tourists talk to one side of me, while listening to Americans from Wisconsin talk on the other.
Let's just say, I was laughing so hard on the inside.
Anyway, I get to the second floor, and before me is the city of Paris lit up. And then, I hear a giant gasp. I forgot, it was 10! And at each hour, the tower just sparkles with blinking lights. I was standing there, so mesmerized by what I saw. This was definitely one of my "I'm in Paris, France!" moments. As I walked down the tower (so many steps), all I could think was, "I can't leave I can't leave I can't leave."
And today, I had the brilliant original plan of spending this raining day at the Louvre. Unfortunately, a bunch of tourists decided to do the same thing. Oh well.
I got in for free which put me in a very agreeable mood. I then decided to see the biggies: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace. That, plus Coronation of Napoleon, Liberty Leading the People, numerous works by Delacroix, Reubens, Fra Angelico, Giotto, Vermeer, Da Vinci, Napoleon III's rooms, some beautiful crown jewels, numerous objets d'art.
I even lucked out on seeing many portraits used in my Fashion class, and I saw some of the French crown jewels which of course were stunning.
Well, folks, seeing all of that was overwhelming, but incredibly special and wonderful. For some reason, I didn't find the need to take pictures. There's something about a museum, versus a cathedral or chateau, that I think warrants you to look at things more actively than usual. I find it's more special to go to a museum, find a work of art, and just look at it. Find what you think makes it special, and take that with you. And, 9.99/10 times, if and when you return to a museum, that work of art will still be there.
And, on a more reasonable level, the pictures you take of the art NEVER look at good as the one in the books sold by the museum. I was tempted to buy one, but I refrained. If by December it's something I really want, I can easily go back and buy one. You don't need to get a ticket to go to the bookstore, so it's not an issue at all.
But while seeing great works was impressive, I had more fun turning a corner and discovering a painting I've liked, but never knew was at the Louvre. I got so excited when I turned the corner and found the original Hans Holbein the Younger's painting of Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife. This painting was the same one Henry VIII saw. I was as giddy as a schoolboy.
And I was struck by two of the numerous religious paintings I saw.
One was in the Northern Europe paintings wing, and it was a painting of Christ being taken down from the cross. What was so different was that you saw Christ, limp and dead with grey-blue skin. You look around, and everyone else has the glow of health, except one other person: His mother. Mary is shown fainted in the arms of St. John, tears down her face, eyes closed, but her skin grey-blue just like Jesus. I thought it was very eerie, but a powerful connection between mother and son. As He died, a little piece of her did too. I've never seen Mary portrayed as being dead like that before.
The second one I really liked was Pierre Mignard's La vierge aux raisins, The Virgin of the Grapes. (Here's the link to the painting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mignard_vierge_raisins.jpg)
What I loved about it was that, they both have a little grin. And it just strikes me as a realistic painting of Mary and Jesus as a child. He actually has the expression of a precocious, even mischievous little boy playing hide and seek with his mother's clothes. She appears calm, but I notice a little grin on her face as she hands him the grapes. They just appear as incredible human and relatable: no halos, no angels, no radiation of heavenly light. Just a mother and son in the intimacy of home.
Don't I sound like I know what the hell I'm taking about? It surprises me too!
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