The rain pattering on the skylights in my penthouse apartment made me roll over and go back to sleep for three more hours! I must have needed that. Once up, and with no sign of abatement, I trudged out with umbrella in hand. It was a good day for another museum. But, alas, it is yet another public holiday in France... Pentecost. Out of my fourteen days here, seven of them have been holidays or weekends, which means crowds. I say, Go to Work, France!
I was bound for L'Orangerie Museum just inside the Tuileries. Huge queue. I stood an hour or longer in the rain determined to go, since I had made the trip and was dressed for the weather. Once inside, I was not expecting the number of paintings/artists. I knew it housed the huge lily pad/pond paintings of Monet but the Renoirs! Cezannes! Gaughin! Modigliani! Matisse! es. I am in reverence.
Monet's exhibit here is an experience. He planned this museum with these paintings in mind. The two rooms are oval shaped and the paintings are curved, four of them in each room, with one on each curved side. The total square footage of these 8 paintings is larger than the square footage of my home. natural light is filtered through ceiling openings. An exquisite effect.
This is a good video to watch if you want to see the rooms and how these paintings are displayed. Very unusual!
Representation from L'Orangerie: The captions will have to be added when I get home. ( I was very surprised that photography was allowed in all but the Monet part of the museum. I also noticed that all the paintings had glass protection. I guess that is why the public can get up close enough to touch.)
Wow! That video is great you can see ow the paintings were rounded. Looks like sleeping is a good idea, you probably needed it with all this running around your doing!
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