Paris has become synonymous with the word art to me. I took 698 pictures in the 4 days we were in Paris and 491 are of art or a building that houses art. One of my favorite days of the whole trip was a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. I have to give a shout out to Jessi here because she was a trooper. I am not sure I could find anyone who would have endured my obsession as well as Jessi. We stayed in the Museum literally the entire day. We had to take a break for lunch because despite that we were hurrying to get through the museum before a late lunch at 3 we were still only about half way through the place. The place is not only huge but completely amazing. It houses just about every artist that I have seen in my art history book from the 21st Century and a vast amount more than that. It is like a dream land of artistic freedom, expression and history. I felt my heart pulsing at every turn finding new pieces that made my dopamine surge. I tried to
only take pictures of my favorite pieces and I ended up with 427 pictures from inside the gallery alone.
In the upstairs gallery there was a contemporary exhibit on the theme of India. It was one of the more amazing contemporary exhibits I have seen in a while and after having just been in India it was even more poignant for us. They touched on themes of mass habitation, religion and technology. One of my favorite pieces was a huge wall with computer boards, cords and various other tech items all stuffed together lining the wall creating an ordered mass of technological waste. Another piece was two huge walls that were facing each other where the artist had built dense city dwellings out of various recycled tin cans which covered the two walls. As you walk between the two walls you feel oppressed by the density and intrigued by the mass details. There were other pieces dealing with sexual assault and the daily life of prostitution, homosexuality and life in the city. I felt impressed by many pieces that I will probably remember for a long time after.
The MOMA Building itself is a work of art. It has transparent tubes on the outside of the building that house the escalators, so all day you can see people coming and going from floor to floor. It is like watching hamsters in a maze. It is adorned with the typical yellow, blue and red attachments from the Bauhaus style. Outside there is a man-made pond around the corner that has various kinetic water sculptures in it. They are really fun to watch and do all sorts of things with spraying, churning, or playing with water. Right in front of the museum there is a big open plaza where street performers can come and vendors set up. It remains pretty open however so you don’t get a sense of chaos. We sat for a while and listened to the cute Dutch performer that was playing when we came out and ended up buying a cd.
Besides art in Paris, we ate macaroons, saw Notre Dame, bought lingerie, and went to the Eiffel tower, and of course ate lots of cheese and bread with wine. That’s what you do in Paris. We had a really pretty great time and had the luxury of staying with some family friends in the city. They took us to Giverny, the location of the retirement house and garden of Monet and we saw the real life view of many of his vast landscape works. There was also quite a nice gallery of impressionist art on the premises, since we didn’t quite get our fill at the Musee D’Arsey. I must say I like Paris. I have been before and I got the same feeling of a quirky sense of calm. I like that. I’d say I could aspire for that.
One more very important detail: Croissants. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat another outside of France. I try not to be a snob, but I’ve been ruined. I can never go back to being satisfied. Paris, you force snobbery. It’s not your fault, you’re just better than the rest.
By the way, thank you Eric, Camille and little Izie. It was a pleasure as always to see you. I hope to see you in the states next year. xoxox
only take pictures of my favorite pieces and I ended up with 427 pictures from inside the gallery alone.
In the upstairs gallery there was a contemporary exhibit on the theme of India. It was one of the more amazing contemporary exhibits I have seen in a while and after having just been in India it was even more poignant for us. They touched on themes of mass habitation, religion and technology. One of my favorite pieces was a huge wall with computer boards, cords and various other tech items all stuffed together lining the wall creating an ordered mass of technological waste. Another piece was two huge walls that were facing each other where the artist had built dense city dwellings out of various recycled tin cans which covered the two walls. As you walk between the two walls you feel oppressed by the density and intrigued by the mass details. There were other pieces dealing with sexual assault and the daily life of prostitution, homosexuality and life in the city. I felt impressed by many pieces that I will probably remember for a long time after.
The MOMA Building itself is a work of art. It has transparent tubes on the outside of the building that house the escalators, so all day you can see people coming and going from floor to floor. It is like watching hamsters in a maze. It is adorned with the typical yellow, blue and red attachments from the Bauhaus style. Outside there is a man-made pond around the corner that has various kinetic water sculptures in it. They are really fun to watch and do all sorts of things with spraying, churning, or playing with water. Right in front of the museum there is a big open plaza where street performers can come and vendors set up. It remains pretty open however so you don’t get a sense of chaos. We sat for a while and listened to the cute Dutch performer that was playing when we came out and ended up buying a cd.
Besides art in Paris, we ate macaroons, saw Notre Dame, bought lingerie, and went to the Eiffel tower, and of course ate lots of cheese and bread with wine. That’s what you do in Paris. We had a really pretty great time and had the luxury of staying with some family friends in the city. They took us to Giverny, the location of the retirement house and garden of Monet and we saw the real life view of many of his vast landscape works. There was also quite a nice gallery of impressionist art on the premises, since we didn’t quite get our fill at the Musee D’Arsey. I must say I like Paris. I have been before and I got the same feeling of a quirky sense of calm. I like that. I’d say I could aspire for that.
One more very important detail: Croissants. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat another outside of France. I try not to be a snob, but I’ve been ruined. I can never go back to being satisfied. Paris, you force snobbery. It’s not your fault, you’re just better than the rest.
By the way, thank you Eric, Camille and little Izie. It was a pleasure as always to see you. I hope to see you in the states next year. xoxox
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