Can there be such thing as "art viewing fatigue"? That was exactly what I experienced when I first visited the Louvre. Our travel guide told us exaggerated stories to impress how vast the collection of the Louvre was, so I decided to forego everything else of the activities planned for the day, to devote it solely to the Louvre -- from early morning until they closed.

The "art viewing fatigue" that I experienced was not because they were not so good, but more because I was overwhelmed with the quantity presented. I literally walked several miles along the many hallways and rooms of the Louvre that day, and had to stop several times, not only because of physical fatigue but more to give my eyes some rest.

My Moroccan friends, had funny things to say about French ego, but the French really do know how to present their art, judging from the way they presented many in the Louvre (not all though), starting with the sole " Winged Victory of Samothrace" in one of the Entrance Halls.

I heard that the Hermitage has a very vast collections also, but among the great museums I have seen so far in a number of countries, the Louvre has the most vast collection on display -- considering that it only contained those until the end of the 19th Century. The early 20th Century art owned by the "French nation" were exhibited mostly to nearby D'Orsay, while the truly modern and contemporary art were displayed in the Pompidou Centre. Then, there are other significant focused museums in Paris alone, Rodin House-Museum, Picasso, etc. that would have been major museums in other major cities around the world.

One of my criticisms of the Louvre itself was the way the painting were lighted. Not only were some of the major rooms used natural lighting, they also had single bright light focused directly at the center of each painting -- reflecting a bright silvery-white glob at the very center of each painting. No view angle could erase this menace -- only another reflective bright light used by professionals could have countered the glare. I was afraid that they would show on my photos, I took at least eight (36) rolls anyway. My fear was confirmed when I had the films developed when I came back to the US.

What could only be salvaged are sections of a painting, like the one shown above. [Can someone please identify the name of the artist and the title of this painting?]

I was awed with this work, and admired it perhaps for 30-minutes or so, while resting on a nearby bench. I wonder how much patience the artist must have put into the work because not only was the whole painting itself stunning, you could almost literally see each individual hair. The grainy appearance of the detail shown here was partly because this was a blow-up of the salvage section.

The sleeping mythological male figure (one of those gods, or human beings admired by the female gods) itself was really upside down. As is typical of the painting in this particular period, the forest background was quite dark while the male figure itself was lit with shadows to emphasize the male physical form. However, unlike paintings during the Renaissance era where frontal nude male figures were the norm, this was a period in European history when the Catholic Church wielded so much power, and male full frontal nudity was forbidden. This was achieved here by a combination of a white garment, overlayed with a bright red garment partially covering the upper left thigh -- enough to satisfy the Roman Catholic Church dictum.

Comments

	junmark    says: Nicely cropped. Very good composition. As a result, the image, for me, is very powerful. A celebration of youth. The color is just perfect. No distractions. I can understand how you felt. Walking around and being overwhelmed by the visual feast. And then, sitting down on a bench to rest and really enjoy a painting or a sculpture. Then you get to see the details and really appreciate what you see. I did like the Winged Angel, David, and the rest. Did you buy some prints outside the museum? Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
	cgc0202    says: I think the first time I went, I bought some jun. But, I do not know where I placed them now. Most terrible, I seem to have misplaced the original CDs of all my photos for the second summer I stayed in England and Paris. Nagka-kalyos ako, after the Louvre. I could hardly walk. *smiles* Thanks. Yeah, I like this one. I was amazed with the details. I cannot find the title and the artist -- from the other flickr photographers who took photos. I guess this was not popular. The original was even better because your can tell the period. I was trying to salvage all the painting photos I did at the Louvre tonight because they all suffer from the blob of white (flash and light reflection). I was trying to see if I can salvage a different shot of this -- kahit kalahati lang, to show the forest, but no go. CGC Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )
	cgc0202    says: Thanks for visiting and the fave, ray.bran. Posted 8 months ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )