We spend one full day at the Louvre Museum. 652,300 square feet of treasures from prehistory to the 19th century. The monument holds 35, 000 works of art in all. Of course I couldn’t look at every one of those, but I did seek out my favorites. The Louvre is the most visited art museum in the world and now I can say I have been a visitor.
The museum is centrally located in Paris along the banks of the River Seine. Getting to the Louvre is easy but once you are in you need to decide to make a plan or just wander if that is what you truly like. I had written down the locations of some must see pieces before I went to Paris so I firstly headed off in a pursuit of those. After I saw the works I had been waiting for I took the time to get lost and just see what presented itself to me.
Here they are:
Venus de Milo
Liberty Leading the People, Eugene Delacroix, 1830
Some works of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
The Lacemaker, Johannes Vermeer, 1669-70
The Winged Victory of Samothrace
Mona is such a celebrity I had to wait several minutes inching forward ever so slowly just to get a look at her.
Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, 1503-1519
Her crowd awaits!
Outside the Louvre is a work of art as well. There are so many statues on the building to admire as well as the glass pyramid built in 1988.
After making sure I was able to find my favorite works I took much time just winding through the maze that is the Louvre. There are three wings Sully, Denon, and Richelieu. When you are in the central lobby directly underneath the glass pyramid there are people buzzing around at every angle. You can pick up a map in one of several languages to make your trek somewhat manageable. Once you enter a wing you realize just how much there is to see and just how overwhelming it can be. There are many places to sit along the journey of discovering the Louvre which was very helpful for me as I had very sore legs that day. I made sure to take periodic breaks so that I could better enjoy myself. I stopped being preoccupied with having to see and appreciated every work of art and just tried to relax being surrounded by all the beauty, history, and culture. Some places of the museum were very crowded while others were very calm. In those calm moments I opened myself up to the energy that the paintings could offer.
The museum is centrally located in Paris along the banks of the River Seine. Getting to the Louvre is easy but once you are in you need to decide to make a plan or just wander if that is what you truly like. I had written down the locations of some must see pieces before I went to Paris so I firstly headed off in a pursuit of those. After I saw the works I had been waiting for I took the time to get lost and just see what presented itself to me.
Here they are:
Outside the Louvre is a work of art as well. There are so many statues on the building to admire as well as the glass pyramid built in 1988.
After making sure I was able to find my favorite works I took much time just winding through the maze that is the Louvre. There are three wings Sully, Denon, and Richelieu. When you are in the central lobby directly underneath the glass pyramid there are people buzzing around at every angle. You can pick up a map in one of several languages to make your trek somewhat manageable. Once you enter a wing you realize just how much there is to see and just how overwhelming it can be. There are many places to sit along the journey of discovering the Louvre which was very helpful for me as I had very sore legs that day. I made sure to take periodic breaks so that I could better enjoy myself. I stopped being preoccupied with having to see and appreciated every work of art and just tried to relax being surrounded by all the beauty, history, and culture. Some places of the museum were very crowded while others were very calm. In those calm moments I opened myself up to the energy that the paintings could offer.