Paris in a Hurry? Can You Skip the Louvre?

 

 

 

When we were in Paris in June, the city was mobbed with tourists. Granted, Paris is always a popular destination, but the pent-up demand occasioned by COVID has made it more so and it looks like the crush will continue until late if the fall. 

 

 If you are going there and you have a limited amount of time, I have a possible time-saving recommendation: Skip the Louvre. That might seem blasphemous, but it really depends on your personal art tastes. If you’re not a fan of Neoclassical or ancient art and can live with not seeing the Mona Lisa, you can devote your time to other attractions in the City of Light.

 

First of all, if you decide to go, absolutely book tickets. If you don’t, there’s a very good chance you won’t be able to get in. Even if you book ahead, plan on standing in very long lines to get in–30 minutes or longer than what it says on the ticket. Dump your water bottle as you can’t take in liquids. (You can refill it inside if you can find a place to do so.)

 

Second, know that the Louvre is one of the most irrational museums in the world. You will enter via the giant glass Pyramide, once considered an atrocity by some, but it’s pretty spectacular and can be seen even if you don’t enter. Let’s say you want to make a beeline to the first level of the Richelieu Wing, where the Mona Lisa is on view. First, you’ll have to climb stairs as you’ll enter on Level 0. (There’s also a -1 level.) If you enter Gallery 700, you’ll next enter 701, and 711 is off it. If you mistakenly continue to 702, you’ll go down a set of stairs to get to 703 and then you’ll see Winged Victory along the way, but good luck getting to 704 to continue a sequential journey; there is no 704. Gallery 705 involves a circuitous jog and you’ll have to retrace to get to 706, then (you guessed it!) you come 708. And so it goes. In other words, even if you know where you want to go, you’ll have trouble getting there. The Louvre can be utterly exhausting.

 

Regarding the Mona Lisa, know that it’s quite small–30” x 21” (77cm x 53 cm) and you’ve probably seem better reproductions of it than you’ll see in person. That’s because you can’t linger in front of it. There is a very long line for those who must snap a selfie of themselves in front of Da Vinci’s enigmatic painting. Ironically, most selfie-takers grin like hyenas in front of a subject who might not be smiling at all! In theory, you can’t use a selfie stick, though you might be able to get away with it before the guard yells non!  You can speed the process by getting into one of the non-selfie side lines. You won’t get a front-on view, but you’ll see it just as well can and snap a shot or two before the crowd muscles you out of the way.

 

The campus is staggering in size and merely walking into the courtyard and the Tuileries Gardens will explain the off-with-their-heads phase of French Revolution. The term conspicuous consumption doesn’t even begin to get it! There’s not enough art in all of France to fill all of the buildings, so three sort-of-connected wings make up the collection. The Richelieu is the main one, plus the Sully and Denon wings. The Louvre is indeed filled with treasures–including the French crown jewels–but of a sort.

 

As noted, the bulk of the paintings are Neoclassical works from the High Renaissance or the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The term Neoclassical means a deliberate attempt to evoke ancient Roman and Greek themes and repurpose them. It’s formal in style, carefully balanced, is often enormous in scale, and presented dramatically, even  histrionically. Some indeed seems over the top, but I betray my own tastes with that remark.  Know that there is no art in the Louvre created after 1850, which means it  predates the Impressionists whose works are in Musée d’Orsay.

 

Another consideration. The Denon Wing has some interesting works from elsewhere in Europe, but don’t go trolling for any Vermeers. They are on loan for a big show at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Much of the bottom levels of each wing is devoted to ancient art that are where you can go to dodge the massive crowds. Elsewhere there are smatterings of Islamic, African, and Oceanic art but Paris has museums elsewhere devoted to each if you wish to indulge. The Louvre’s American collection is small and mostly unremarkable.

 

Maybe I was both over- and underwhelmed because I had been to the Louvre twice prior to this trip. Check out the photo gallery of Louvre shots that I’ve posted separately. They’ll either make you want to go or serve as all you need to see. For my money, those with limited time in Paris will find Orsay more stimulating. That’s the subject of another blog.

 

Rob Weir