Art Trip in Paris (3)- Centre Pompidou

Get a little bit tired after all the classic paintings/artworks? Visit the French National Museum of Modern Art  inside the  Centre Pompidou for a refreshing.

The building “Centre Pompidou” is absolutely a chin drop at the first sight: rough industry look with bond colorful tubs in red, yellow, blue surrounding its surface which made it not only standing against all other architectures in Paris but also a impossible-missing-spot even from as far as the top of white-domed Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. Besides the museum, Centre Pompidou houses a public library and a music research center as well.

With nearly 60,000 works of art, the French National Museum of Modern Art has the largest collection of modern/contemporary art in Europe and the 2nd largest in the world, after the MOMA in New York. This time we visited  the special exhibition there   called “Elles@centrepompidou” which was mentioned in my previous blog entry. Below are some pictures took on site:

Art Trip in Paris (2)- Museum the Louvre

The Louvre is one of the “must-to-be visited” spots for most visitors  in Paris. Housing 35,000 works of art, the Louvre can be easily overwhelming.  A list of works along with their locations inside the museum might help you to keep the tour  more specific and focused.  Aimed with the “self-guided tour” that instructed by the museum’s website, one can cover most of the masterpieces at Louvre, including the most popular lady in the Museum– Mona Lisa whose fame actually came more from her story being stolen than the painting’s qualities self.

As always, the time  in Louvre goes by too quickly. One of the paintings I studied this time is “the Raft of Medusa” by  Theodore Gericault. It was very impressive of the tragical emotion brought cross the canvas to its viewers by the movement of the figures in this painting, also one has appreciation of the painter’s choice on the true event that this painting based upon.

On the same wall right next to “the Raft of Medusa” is Delacroix’ masterpiece “July 28, Liberty leading the People“. An art trip to Paris could be a good opportunity to learn about a specific artist whom you might not be familiar with before. This time we picked Delacroix. In the following days we visited Delacroix’ museum which used to be his residence while he working on the commissions for church Saint-Sulpice. Sure enough, we eventually walked into the nearby Saint-Sulpice and found Delacroix’ 3 works inside the church on the right side near the entrance.

Tips: 1) to avoid the long line at the Pyramid, get there early  before 9 am or try in the evening on Wednesdays/Fridays when it opens till 21:30.

Art Trip in Paris (1)- Museum d’Orsay

If you like impressionist, then you might enjoy a visit at Museum d’Orsay on 1, rue de la Légion d’Honneur, 75007 Paris.  Located on the left bank of Seine, Museum d’Orsay is supposed to hold the largest collection of masterpieces of impressionist in the world: Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh… you name it.

The Museum’s building self is quite impressive with a very unique  layout inside since originally it was build in 1898 as a train station. Unfortunately, photograph/video inside the entire building is verboten. Currently a special exhibition called “Crime and Punishment” is on displaying.

A art trip in Paris would be very special if you explore  this beautiful and charming city  by following the Masters to discover sites that once appear in their paintings over a century ago. I had my moment while standing at the very quiet site of  moulin de la Galetter  to imagine the  scene created by Auguste Renoir in his “Bal au moulin de la Galetter, Montmartre“: all of sudden everything in that painting became alive, so vivid, as if one felt the warmth of sun and breeze from late spring; lovely music floating in the air;  intimate conversations fading in the shadows…

Tips: 1. Avoid to visit  the Museum on a rainy Tuesday. d’Orsay, as the very few (if not the only) museum that opens on Tuesdays, the waiting line could be very long and inside could be packed when everyone trying to do the same thing.

2. With a Paris museum Pass, go directly to the Entry C at Museum d’Orsay. A Paris museum Pass is helpful to save big amount of time/frustration at most local museums.

3. For a walking tours of the artists’ studios, homes, and the sites they painted, see “The Impressionists’ Paris” by Ellen Williams.

Podcast on ” Dance at le Moulin de la Galette” in Chinese

(pictures above are from Wikipedia)