Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Exit the room at the far end (past Café Mollien) and go downstairs, where you'll
bump into the bum of a large, twisting male nude looking like he's just waking up after a
thousand-year nap. The two
Slaves
(1513-1515) by Michelangelo are a fitting end to this
museum—works that bridge the ancient and modern worlds. Michelangelo, like his fellow
Renaissanceartists,learnedfromtheGreeks.Theperfectanatomy,twistingposes,andideal-
ized faces appear as if they could have been created 2,000 years earlier. Michelangelo said
that his purpose was to carve away the marble to reveal the figures God put inside. The
Re-
bellious Slave,
fighting against his bondage, shows the agony of that process and the ecstasy
of the result.
Although this makes for a good first tour, there's so much more. After a break (or on a
second visit), consider a stroll through a few rooms of the Richelieu wing, which contain
some of the Louvre's most ancient pieces. Bible students, amateur archaeologists, and Iraq
War vets may find the collection especially interesting.
Nearby:
Across from the Louvre are the lovely
Palais Royal courtyards.
Although the
palace is closed to the public, the courtyards are always open and free (directly north of the
Louvre on Rue de Rivoli, Mo: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre). Enter through a whimsical
(locals say tacky) courtyard filled with stubby, striped columns and playful fountains (with
fun, reflective metal balls). Next, you'll pass into another, perfectly Parisian garden. This
is where in-the-know Parisians come to take a quiet break, walk their poodles and kids, or
enjoy a rendezvous—amid flowers and surrounded by a serene arcade. Bring a picnic and
create your own quiet break, or have a drink at one of the outdoor cafés at the courtyard's
northern end. This is Paris.
Exiting the courtyard at the side facing away from the Seine brings you to the Galeries
Colbert and Vivienne, attractive examples of shopping arcades from the early 1900s.
Step out of the tree-lined, sun-dappled Impressionist painting that is the Tuileries Garden,
and into the Orangerie (oh-rahnzheh-ree), a little bijou of select works by Claude Monet and
hiscontemporaries.Startwiththemuseum'sclaimtofame:Monet'swaterlilies.Theseeight
mammoth-scale paintings are displayed exactly as Monet intended them—surrounding you
in oval-shaped rooms—so you feel as though you're immersed in his garden at Giverny.
Working from his home there, Monet built a special studio with skylights and wheeled
easels to accommodate the canvases—1,950 square feet in all. Each canvas features a dif-
ferent part of the pond, painted from varying angles at distinct times of day—but the true
subject of these works is the play of reflected light off the surface of the pond. The Monet
rooms are considered the first art installation, and the blurry canvases signaled the abstract
art to come.
