Musée du Louvre (Peintures)

One of my big artistic endeavors during my stay in Paris is to see as many museums as humanly possible.  According to Wikipedia, Paris has around 150 museums.  Since I'm only going to be here for 75 more days, the chances of me seeing all of them looks pretty slim.  But time management aside, the most challenging part is trying to see as many as I can for free.  Unfortunately in not being a European Union citizen under 26 years old, or a student, or anything of significance to these museums, I do not get the benefit of free admission, and tickets can get pretty pricey (12 euros for the Louvre... WHY).  I understand they need financial support, but there's only so much I can do.  So far I've found two ways around paying full admission:  1) almost all museums are free on the first Sunday of every month, and 2) the Louvre is free for everyone under 26 on Fridays from 6pm to close!  Hence why I've been to the Louvre twice now.

Our first visit was kind of a disaster.  I had been warned about how massive this museum is, but I figured I could handle it without planning ahead... I was wrong.  The amount of art in there is overwhelming to say the least (the museum has four floors, three wings, plus courtyards and stairwells that contain art...), and going in there blindly made it difficult to absorb anything.  After that I told myself I would do my research before my next visit.

This past weekend was our second visit to the Louvre, and this time we dedicated our day to their painting collection.  The Louvre's Department of Paintings encompasses European works spanning from the 13th century to 1848, and can be largely divided into three sections: Northern European, French, and Italian/Spanish.

We started in the Northern European section because that's my favorite.  I think you can tell by how many pictures I took.

"The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin" by Jan van Eyck, Flemish, 1390

Before I went, I made a list of paintings I had to see (yep, I was paranoid), but this piece above was one of the many random paintings I discovered, and it actually turned out to be one of my favorites.  David called it the "Twilight of Paintings" because of the ridiculous amount of supernatural things in it, but I prefer to look at it in a more respectful light.  Here is the full painting:

"Perseum Rescuing Andromeda" by Joachim Wtewael, Dutch, 1611 - via

"The Lacemaker" by Vermeer, Dutch, 1669

"The Three Graces" by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Germanic, 1535

"Two Monkeys Stealing Fruit from a Basket" by Frans Snyders, Flemish, 1800

"Large Bouquet" by Jan van Huysum, Dutch, 1724

Up next, French paintings:

"Gabrielle d'Estrees and One of Her Sisters" by unknown artist, French, 1594

"The Bather" by Ingres, French, 1867

"The Turkish Bath" by Ingres, French, 1862

detail from "The Bolt" by Fragonard, French, 1777

This little painting below caught my eye when I was walking through the French artists.  If you remember wayyyy back when I started this blog, I wrote about a painter named George Stubbs, and this is one of his pieces!  Well, sort of.  This is actually a master copy made by Theodore Gericault, the man who made The Raft of the Medusa.  I guess Gericault will do.

"The Raft of the Medusa" by Theodore Gericault, French, 1818

detail from "Massacre at Chios" by Eugene Delacroix, French, 1824

"Death of Sardanapalus" by Eugene Delacroix, French, 1827

detail from "Oath of Horatii" by Jacques-Louis David, French, 1784

detail from "The Young Martyr" by Delaroche, French, 1855

And finally, Italian and Spanish paintings.  This area was the most challenging part of the museum to get through because everyone flocks towards the Mona Lisa.  We tried our best to fight the crowds, but I think next time we'll avoid this wing...

"The Virgin of the Rocks" by Leonardo da Vinci, Italian, 1483

Goya!!!

"The Countess of Carpio" by Francisco Goya, Spanish, 1828

And here's the Mona Lisa. Can you see it?

"Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci, Italian, 1503-17

Woo!  So this was probably 1/100th of the art inside the Louvre.  Now I only have Egyptian art, Near Eastern art, Greek/Etruscan/Roman art, Sculptures, Asian/African/Oceanic art, and Islamic art left to go!