The last time I was the Louvre, I got lost.
About an hour later, I saw people from my high school group and I tagged along with them for the rest of the trip. Since then, we’ve been best friends.
I remember last time I was here I was so upset at the Mona Lisa. It was dark and small and I couldn’t get too close. But this time, it was matted behind some glass.
I’m very pleased that the Louvre decided to allow pictures taken of the Mona Lisa. So many people come to this museum each year, and aren’t allowed to take anything back but a quickly fading memory. At least snapshots can be keepsakes.
Here’s some history behind the Mona Lisa:
The actual title of the painting is Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. It’s dated back to the 16th century, created by the famous Leonardo da Vinci.
The fascination for the painting might stem from a few reasons: the ambiguous expression, half-figure composition, subtle modeling of forms, and atmospheric illusionism.
The bright colors of her skin contrast with the darker elements, and the viewer is drawn to her, while also distanced by the composition of the painting.
As for the history behind the Louvre itself:
The Musée du Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, nearly 35,000 objects from the 6th millennium BC to the 19th century AD are on exhibit. The building itself is the Palais du Louvre, which first functioned as a fortress under Philip II. In 1672, Louis XIV left the Louvre for Versailles, and it was then used to display the royal collection. Later, the Academies of the Arts and Letters occupied the building for 100 years, and then decided the Louvre should function as a national museum during the French Revolution.
