The CURATION Of: The Louvre
Visited 09/11/2022
The Louvre in Paris.
Year after year, the Louvre holds the title for most visited museum in the world, welcoming 7.8 million people in 2022. France’s national art museum is famous for housing Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the pinnacle of classical sculpture, Venus de Milo. Once a medieval castle from the late 12th century, then monarchical residence from 1546, the Louvre was officially opened as a museum in 1793 during the French Revolution. The Louvre Palace has undergone multiple architectural reconstructions, with the most recent being the glass pyramid at the centre. Commissioned by the French Government, Chinese-American architect, Ieoh Ming Pei, completed his modernist project in 1989, to assist the general navigation of the museum, while also adding to the French Renaissance architecture. And though controversial at the time, perhaps nowadays people spend more time taking photos outside the museum than in.
So in we go, into the glass pyramid, and down the escalators into the underground lobby. Here you have the option to begin your journey in three wings of the museum: Sully, Richelieu, and Denon. There are also five levels to the building. Reaching skywards, under the centre of the pyramid, was a temporary installation by Cameroonian artist Barthélémy Toguo, The Pillar of the Missing Migrants. These large bundles of decorative African fabrics represent the forced displacement of refugees, and from the outside, it stands tall like a ship’s mast.
First, into the Richelieu Wing, and into the Cour Marly where French sculpture is beautifully displayed under natural light and at varied verticals as intended by the sculptors. The courtyard display in the Louvre mimics their original location, which was in the gardens of the Château de Marly, another royal residence, near Versailles. As such, these sculptures were weathered by natural phenomena, visible in many cases. The architectural and sculptural brilliance of this room felt imposing and inspiring.
Further up the Richelieu Wing lies the former residence of Napoleon III’s Minister of State, preserved as they were since 1861. The Louvre’s history as a palace leaves an extravagant impression of French high society in the 19th century. The golden grandeur’s centrepiece is the chandelier of 180 lights in the Grand Salon.
Over in the Sully Wing with Greek antiquities, Venus de Milo is displayed alone in a decently sized space, despite not in as grand a setting as one would expect. Nevertheless, this goddess of love was sculpted during the Hellenistic period but is now missing both of her arms and left foot. In 1820, the sculpture was spotted on the Greek island of Milos by France’s ambassador and it was immediately taken and gifted to King Louis XVIII, who donated her to the Louvre the year after. With natural light gracing her right side, this sculpture of Venus in particular reinforced her position as the ideal classical beauty. Though recreated many times over, with replicas/reinterpretations able to be found everywhere, the original stars in the Louvre.
Nearby, another Hellenistic sculpture captivates, overlooking the Daru staircase in the most spectacular presentation. The headless herald, Nike, goddess of victory, poses as a figurehead at the front of a ship. Found on the Greek island of Samothrace in 1863, but already broken into many fragments, it has undergone restoration multiple times. The creation of Venus de Milo dates around 150-125 BC, while Winged Victory of Samothrace dates back to roughly 190 BC.
Down the Denon Wing, a studio copy of Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat is on display. Jean-Paul Marat was a leading Montagnard, a political faction during the French Revolution which orchestrated the Reign of Terror. This painting depicts Marat, assassinated by Charlotte Corday, a sympathiser of the opposing faction (Girondins), while he was in a bathtub editing his newspaper. David was a close friend of Marat and this painting immortalised Marat as honourable martyr of the new French Republic. The original can be found in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, where David was exiled later down the French Revolution.
Then into the busiest and largest room in the palace, where paintings from the Italian Renaissance converge into the most famous portrait in the world - the Mona Lisa. Bought by King Francois I directly off Leonardo da Vinci in 1518, it was a part of the royal collections until the Louvre Museum officially opened. Its supreme fame derives from Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile and da Vinci’s name, but the greatest catalyst was its theft in 1911. Lost for two years, its whereabouts was at last discovered after the thief tried to sell it to the director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Vincenzo Peruggia, the culprit of the theft, claimed to be acting under Italian patriotism and believed the painting belonged in an Italian museum. Over the years, the Mona Lisa was subject to all kinds of attacks, including rocks, ceramic cups and cake being thrown, attempted razor blade cuts and spray paint. These events have led to the Louvre having to organise a queue for this one painting, a limited time frame to see it, and personalised protective measures. Visibility of the painting had become so limited that its popularity surged inconceivably, both spiralling the extent of each other. If there were ever to be a painting that sells for one billion pounds, it would be the Mona Lisa.
The Louvre holds paintings which embody the most defining events of French history. Liberty Leading the People is by Eugène Delacroix, himself a leader of the French Romantics. The painting commemorates the July Revolution of 1830, when French monarchy shifted from one house to another. The woman, Marianne, is a national personification of liberty, quality and fraternity. She holds the flag of the French Revolution, the tricolore, and is surrounded by men of all social classes. I sat in front of this painting for a long time, imagining myself as a member of the French public in the 1830s. This painting rallies empowerment in a raw, emotional, visual display.
Along the Grand Galerie, where Italian paintings adorn the walls, these two artworks above intrigued me the most. In Ambrogio Bergognone’s Presentation at the Temple, the greyscale figures contrasted heavily with the bright blues and greens. At first, I thought it might have been the effect of aged pigment losing its colour, but I have learnt that it is actually a painting technique called grisaille, where only monochromatic colours are applied. Its more typical use case is performed by Raphael in Ceres, The Abundance, where the illusory technique transforms a stone sculpture into canvas form. The result here is far more convincing.
These grand, large-scale paintings by Giovanni Paolo Panini were instantly a favourite of mine. I have always appreciated the depth and details of this style of painting and seeing so many in the Louvre left me in utter awe.
And finally, in the last notable room. Of course, the absolutely immense scale of the Louvre cannot all be commented on in one review, let alone witnessed in one day. In Galerie d’Apollon sits the French Crown Jewels and the interior definitely reflects the collection, if not surpasses. The gallery was named after Apollo god of the Sun, at first a dedication to Louis XIV, who identified himself as the Sun King. Eugène Delacroix decorated the roof with his Romantic paintings which overlooks historical diamonds and marvellous hardstone vessels.
Intimate moments and monumental narratives forged throughout French history can be observed and understood in this centuries old building. The curation of the Louvre consists of art history in the most compelling form - colonial, curious and culturally defining. Thus, if you are not overwhelmingly enchanted by its architecture and art, you are probably busy being lost in its unforgiving floor layout or deep in a crowd of other visitors with their heads in their maps and audio guides.
The next three reviews:
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Sir John Soane's Museum, London
‘R.I.P. Germain: Jesus Died For Us, We Will Die For Dudus!’ exhibition, Institute of Contemporary Arts
Yaunt - an abbreviation of my Chinese name
Yaunt Gallery - the end goal