Reopening the Greek Sculpture Galleries at the Louvre
2 Comments Published by Cedric Benetti on Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 7/17/2010 12:07:00 AM.
And so, the Galleries for ancient Greek and Roman sculptures reopened last week after long years of renovation and reorganizing of the long storied corridors of the Venus of Milo.
There are two parts in this new parcours; a first, mildly boring one, of a succession of rooms with antique fragments, where people actually prefer to stare at the beautiful polychrome marble floors instead of looking at the vitrines...
And then, the second part, the long galleries with the actual sculptures, mostly depicting nudes representing the old canons of beauty. Oblviously this is the main crowd pleaser, because everyone here seems to be doing only one thing: Pointing at exposed privates and smirking...
The intellectual capacity of the average Louvre goer seems to have constantly been diminishing , and if you stay long enough in the new galleries in order to take a look at how people behave, you may actually find enjoyment in the repetition (that is if you liked the repetition displayed in the Teletubbies show) of the same hand gestures of the people in front of naked male athlete's statues. I happened to stay only for ten minutes on the same spot, and I saw a true ballet of wives getting taken pictures of by their husbands in front of these naked bodies, pointing at genitalia, or the absence thereof, with a wide smile on their face.
Let's take a closer look:
"Hee hee, it's a penis! Here at the Louvre! oh boy, take a picture of me for the folks at home!"
"Ooh, but where did it go?"
That's it lady; smack that statue, and I'll come over there and smack you! Even your little boy must be wondering what the hell you're doing there...
Let's try to enjoy some shots without tourists on themLet's take a closer look:
"Hee hee, it's a penis! Here at the Louvre! oh boy, take a picture of me for the folks at home!"
"Ooh, but where did it go?"
That's it lady; smack that statue, and I'll come over there and smack you! Even your little boy must be wondering what the hell you're doing there...
Oh, and least we forget the actual crowdpleaser (just in case disfigured male genitalia isnt your thing); the lady with no arms, our very own Venus of Milo... somewhere behind the foreign gentleman with the straw hat. I tend to forget summer is always the worst season to 'enjoy' the Louvre... so many flip flops, shorts and beerbellies hidden under fanny packs.
The comparison between archaic canons of beauty and the crowd surrounding it. Just one look at the man on the floor, and I wanna run for the exit again. I haven't even seen people on the floor in the crappiest McDonalds, so what makes you think you can play doorstopper in here?
"I'm havin' me sum culture y'all"
One corner for me to hide and have a 'quiet pic' for the finishing touch of this report on the hub of hypertourism in Paris.
Labels: Art, I hate ugly people, Interiors, Louvre, MUSEUMS, paris history, Paris street stuff (NOT a TOILET)
ugh yes -i know just what you mean. Tourists from middle america are the worst. We have our share of them here in DC as well. At least you get the adventurous ones who leave the country!
There are so many pathologies to observe in the major museums! I'll try to write about some of them, and I'll come back to post the link.