We started Thursday at the Tuileries, the giant park in front of the Louvre. We were to give our Paris Museum Passes (one of the best deals in Paris) a workout this day!
Greg at the front entrance of the Tuileries with the Arc de Triomphe in the background.
The Tuileries also contains the Musee Orangerie, which contains Monet's Waterlilies (Les Nympheas). I absolutely loved the Orangerie. It wasn't crowded, and it was easy to contemplate the paintings. It was wonderful to get up close and look at the details. I kept envisioning Monet painting on the canvases and then backing way up to see how they looked at a distance. I would move in close, and the painting looked like nothing but a mess of brush strokes and a riot of color. I would move away, and the painting would come into focus.
Detail of brush strokes of above section:
Detail of brush strokes of above section:
The canvases are huge (over 6 feet high) and curve around the oval rooms. Oval skylights above light them with natural light.
From there we walked through the Tuileries to the Louvre:
Greg and I in front of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel:
With our Paris Museum Pass we bypassed the lines into the Louvre and went straight to the Denon wing of the museum. What can I say about the Louvre? I have wanted to visit since I was in grade school. Seeing paintings and sculpture in person is so different then seeing reproductions. There are many, many works at the Louvre I want to see. It was like being at a massive feast where I only had time to sample a few dishes. Ah, I could spend days here! I took a lot of pictures at the Louvre, but these are some of the better ones.
Winged Victory of Samothrace:
Mona Lisa in her glass coffin:
Cat and dog detail from the Wedding at Cana by Veronese.
Venus de Milo:
The Slaves by Michelangelo:
From the Louvre we walked to the Orsay. It was a nice counterpoint to view some Impressionists after all the classical works we viewed at the Louvre, . Paintings are so much more vibrant and say so much more when you view them in person. I was able to see many works that I have long admired. I have to say that no photograph I have seen does Renoir's Moulin de la Galette justice. The colors were so vibrant in person, the dancers looked as if they were actually twirling. I was able to see the brushwork of many of Van Gogh's paintings. I had a chance to view Whistler's Mother up close. The Louvre and Orsay were like the shrine at the end of a long pilgrimage.
Photography was not allowed in the museum, but I was able to do a quick sketch of a sculpture at the end of our visit while we sat in the cafe enjoying a coffee.
It was a day to feed the soul.
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