The Art World in Paris - April 1874 Part 11

How do you feel when you enter any museum? The largest ones, like the Met in NYC, The British Museum in London, and most of the Smithsonian Museums on the Mall in Washington, D. C., can give anyone pause because they are so humongous and labyrinth.

Can you guess the largest museum in the world? It's the Louvre in Paris, France! It has over 8 million square feet of marble flooring, magnificent hallways, and mammoth-sized ceilings. It's a must-see if you're ever in the City of Love and Light. When visiting this past May, I rarely heard English being spoken in it because there was a cacophony of languages (of course, French) from around the world. Thankfully, the builders and architects knew how to accommodate millions of visitors yearly (and it was still packed with time tickets).

When I enter one of the biggies, all pretenses melt away, and I am captivated by not only the art, sculptures, and ancient works but also the building itself, as mentioned above. I get so excited and intrigued by just about everything, which can be overwhelming that I have to limit my time to about three hours, tops. If I go over that time allotment, I can't process what I am seeing any longer.

That is why museum exhibitions are so valuable to the art lover. One can see a "show," enjoy it immensely and then maybe leave or pop into a small gallery on the way out. This way, one can feel refreshed instead of overwhelmed by sensory overload.

Continuing on with three more Impressionist paintings from the Masters from the show at the Musee d'Orsay in May 2024- 1) Gustave Callebotte's "The Floor Scrapers; 2) Monet's "Le Bassin d' Argenteuil, and 3) Van Gogh's "Fritillaires un Vase" (Flowers in a Vase).

Vive Le France French Impressionist Paintings!

PS—One of my favorite "small" museums is the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D. C. It is steps away from the White House. The grand staircase is my favorite for many reasons (it's free and dedicated to contemporary craft), plus it all comes into full museum mode when you ascend the red carpet to the second-floor galleries. I haven't been in it in a while, so posting about it will hopefully get me in soon!

bSoleille!

Terri