The Louvre

Of course while we were in Paris we visited the Louvre. It was ginormous!! We finally did something right. We bought our tickets ahead of time so we didn't have to stand in that line, only the security line. We also got there early, so we really had a very short wait. We figured out ahead of time where the Mona Lisa was, and since this is the most famous piece of art that people go to see, we went right to her first.
Mona Lisa was very small, in comparison to the other paintings, and under much more glass! We were able to get close easily, which we're told is usually hard to do...so we were thankful. Even as an artist I often go away after looking at paintings wondering what the fuss is about. Yes, I know it was ahead of its time and it is beautiful....but beyond that...well...maybe I am just jaded, who knows.

On the way there we saw Nike (winged Victory) and since that is one of my all time favorite sculptures (I have a small replica in my house) we had to stop and see her first. She is alighting on the prow of a ship.

There were many beautiful courtyards with statues throughout the Louvre

I enjoyed seeing this piece, it is part of the frieze from the Parthenon in Greece

And here is Diana, goddess of the hunt


And Venus, goddess of love...yet another very popular statue (Venus de Milo)




I think my favorite piece ended up being this one; it is the kiss between Cupid and Psyche. The wings were so beautiful and the sculpture had so much movement in it...and it was fully intact!



A hall of more Roman statues....some included the Caesars
These are Caryatids from one of the ancient Greek temples....Caryatids are columns that are sculpted in the form of women.If you looked closely under some arches along a stairwell you could see this room where it looks like they are restoring or caring for the sculptures.
We spent some time in the ancient Egyptian portion, this was really cool...it is a real mummy unwrapped....well, not unwrapped, but uncovered so we could see the wrapping.


The face was so intricate!

Of course we saw a gazillion paintings by all the famous artists. This one was fun: This is a painting of the hall we are currently standing in, of people painting the paintings that are in this hallway. My understanding is that artists used to do just that, to learn techniques, etc., as there were no photographs to copy from!!

A whole wall of Rembrandt...so many of the paintings were huge!
The beautiful cafe outside in the Louvre's courtyard


I think we covered the whole Louvre in about 4 hours....we were able to get really close up to the art and there were very few crowds, so it made it easy! About the time we were leaving it was starting to fill up. Like I said, I think we finally planned something right!