My friend Chris came to visit from Cincy with his guidebooks and a plan. That made it really easy for me to show him around and still enjoy myself. For those of you who are thinking of coming - please do your homework, and know what you want to see.
Chris wanted to see the Vermeers in the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, but since I had already been to the Tower, I thought about skipping it. I am really glad I didn't. You can't believe the view, but also the amazing architecture that went into that temporary exhibit for the World's Fair! I tried to get some good shots, but I think Chris's were better. I will ask him if I can use them for the blog.
Then we went to the Louvre, which is open until 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday nights. What a treat. There were very few people there after 7, and it was if we had it all to ourselves. Randy and Cindee will remember that I showed them this great view of Paris from one of the west facing windows. Well this time, we were there just before sunset, and the view was fantastic. I hope you can find all three arches, the Eiffel Tower and the IM Pei pyramids in this photo.
Another interesting feature of our Louvre walk, was the contemporary exhibition inserted into the permanent collections. I might have been surprised to see the Grim Reaper's tool of death hanging on a clothesline in the collection of burial stones, or the very real looking man with a (fake) microphone on a boom appearing to capture the noise of the Marly horses; however, I was just in Cincinnati, and had the great pleasure of seeing the Tony Luensman exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum.
I have to tell you, Tony's interactive pieces were much more enjoyable than the static pieces being used at the Louvre. For instance, Tony has a field of grass with a statue of a naked man in the center, and the grass moves, as though it is blowing in the breeze. At the Louvre, the artist, whose name I never found, planted real plants, in pots around some of the statues in the Marly Court, but everything was static. Interesting, but not engaging, and not nearly as powerful as Tony's tribute to a favorite poet. Though of course in both cases the statues were naked. That's kind of a ho-hum thing for Parisians, but still maybe not for Cincinnatians.
Congratulations to Tony Luensman and the Cincinnati Art Museum for one-upping the Louvre, at least in my humble opinion.
