Thursday, July 19, 2012

Art, art, and more art

Well, I think I've been sufficiently cultured after the last few weeks and especially after a visit to two more museums here in Paris - at least in the art category if nothing else. Honestly, I can't even keep track of everything we've seen as far as art is concerned, and you usually aren't allowed to take pictures to remind you later of what you saw.
We set out to explore the Musèe Rodin and the Musèe d'Orsay. First up was Rodin. I'm not that artsy (I enjoyed my Humanities through the Arts course freshmen year -that's about the extent of my art knowledge), but the Musèe Rodin was nice because it's small, it has the largest collection of the sculptor's works, the gardens and cafe are really nice, and you weren't pushed through the whole thing by a large crowd (ever tried to see the Mona Lisa?).
We saw A LOT, but no pictures were allowed inside. Thanks again, Google for the next two pictures. These were my favorites from inside. "The Kiss" was highly controversial in 1888 when Rodin created it (as were many of his other works).




My other favorite was "Hands of Lovers"




There were so, so many more, but if you care to look up Rodin, we probably saw it. Then we headed out to the garden to see the monuments - where you can take pictures. We saw "The Thinker"




"The Gates of Hell" - the monument he worked on his whole life




"Balzac"




"The Burghers of Calais"




And so many more. I'm sure if I were some kind of art major I would have been beside myself, but I'm not, and I wasn't. It was beautiful, and I'm glad we saw them while we could though. I really liked the flowers - Nature is the best kind of art (besides music, of course), I think.
Here's what I like - one of the pretty roses, the Thinker, and the Eiffel Tower. We also enjoyed lunch in the garden at the cafe.




Next, we headed to the Musèe d'Orsay. The art majors would be jumping for joy. I liked that it used to be an old train station that was going to be torn down - I'm glad they didn't destroy it because the building was beautiful. It was also cool to see so many Monet, Manet, Luce, Renoir, Gaugin, Degas, and Van Gogh's all in one place. I can appreciate their tremendous skill, and the works really are beautiful (for the most part, anyway -come on, even you art lovers know some are just weird).
Outside the Orsay




Inside the Orsay. Isn't the building beautiful?








Lady Liberty








And another great view from the top




Oh right, the paintings we went to see. Well, no pictures of my own of those, but here's a few of the many that we saw.








Mom would like this one for her house. Any takers want to donate a few million?








I'm thankful for the chance to see these beautiful things, but I think I'm done with Paris' museums of art as far as this trip is concerned!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Rue des Irlandais,Paris,France

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