Thursday, May 8, 2008

May 8


A view of the Louvre from inside the Orsay. Paris is so filled with artistic masterpieces that you can throw a rock from one museum to the next. And a lot of it isn't even in museums



Fabulous sculpture & art everywhere you look, just lyin' about the place, as Eddie Izzard would say.


This was the most amazing installation in the Pantheon called Leviathan Thot, which I totally lucked into on my visit in October 2006. This? Was unbelievable. Huge and spooky and almost irresistibly touchable (I did not. I didn't wish to be hustled ignominiously out of the Pantheon.), it took up much of the main chamber and poor little ol' Foucault's Pendulum was dwarfed by comparison. The artist's name is Ernesto Neto, and the sculpture is made of what looked like the pantyhose of Gargantua, sewn together and filled with tiny styrofoam beads.

More from inside the Pantheon:



As we wended our way to the top of the Pantheon (the view from which is not to be missed -- there are not a lot of places to be that high up in central Paris), we passed many little secret alcoves and nooks. This image still haunts me -- a room full of spare sculpture parts, tucked away and waiting for... what? This image is much brighter than it was in real life, a flash was necessary to get any of the detail. A dark room filled with shadowy gestures and secrets.


All photos mine.

2 comments:

La Belette Rouge said...

I love the first photo. The art and architecture of Paris are so absolutely stunning. But, they are made even more so by the frames from different vistas. Really lovely shots.

Leif Hagen said...

Love the photo of the Louvre from Musee d'Orsay! C'est formidable! Bonjour d'EAGAN daily photo