My Favorite Artworks at Musée du Louvre, Paris

In jubilee year 2000, after completing my "Grand Tour" of Italy, I went to another art capital in Europe - Paris.  However saturated I was, I continued my greedy exposure to art and here comes a confession - I spent so much time in museums in Paris that the city failed to impress me in my first trip there.  It was only when I returned in six years' time that I truly fell in love with Paris.

Well, back to my Paris trip in 2000.  The most unbelievable institution was naturally Musée du Louvre, whose immensity, both the structure itself and its collection was sheer breathtaking.

My strategy of touring the palace was dividing the collections into three categories - I'd ignore one of them altogether, and walk by the second group very quickly, and for the third group, I'd spend more time to study objects I was more interested in.  Naturally, my impossible top two choices were from that last group.

The first pick was the dynamic La Victoire de Samothrace - Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike of Samothrace), discovered in 1863, estimated to have been created around 190 BC.  This classical marble defied the material constraints.  Despite the fact that it was made of stone, it moved, its wings beat, its drapery flapped.  Sweeping yet precise.  Grand and delicate.  The mastery of this sculpture was most justifiably celebrated. 

In this damaged and incomplete form, one felt in the presence of divinity.








In contrast to that sculpture's monumentality, my second choice seemed quite fragile and humble.  But that was quite deceptive.  This self portrait by the great German painter Albrecht Dürer, dated 1491, though small in dimensions, was a window into a vast world and time.  The classical pose, haunting gaze, the faithfulness of  and melancholic and timeless air of the portrait, gave this intimate, somewhat narcissistic self-imagery a sense of encompassing the entire human history.

I was mostly drawn by the haunting beauty of this portraiture and the assured yet incredibly melancholic gaze of the sitter, who held the true and pitied us for the exclusion.  Was he the judge of the folly of mankind?

I had set myself up with the impossible task of choosing only two favorite works from any institutions, even as vast as the Louvre.  Yet, these two clearly deserved their exalted status.




My Favorite Museum Collection Series

>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 30: My Favorite Paintings from Musée d'Orsay, Paris
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 28: My Favorite Paintings at Galleria dell'Accademia, Venezia (Venice Academy)

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

Morgan Library and Museum in New York City

After visiting The Frick Collection, it was fitting to visit The Morgan Library and Museum. Again, I was being ignorant of its importance; rather, I was drawn by a drawing exhibit of Dürer: Defining Beauty: Albrecht Dürer at the Morgan. The Official website says:

The exhibition includes eight extraordinary drawings by Dürer that demonstrate the variety and dynamism of his draftsmanship. Also included are prints and treatises by the artist.

Among the many highlights of the exhibition that illustrate Dürer's preoccupation with beauty are his seminal engraving of 1504, Adam and Eve, along with its most important extant related preparatory drawing. To create the work, Dürer joined several sheets of paper, then unified the composition with brown wash to create a perfect balance between the two figures. Dürer's efforts to resolve the composition are evident; both figures hold the apple that led to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Ever cognizant of his authorship, Dürer added his monogram and the date to the drawing. This iconic image, perhaps more than any other, documents how the artist strove to create both beauty and harmony in his depictions of the human form.

The drawings and prints on display were extraordinary. I was quite taken by the simple beauty and subtle violence in his drawing Abduction on Horseback below.


Abduction on Horseback, Pen and brown ink

His great ability to describe details accurately were demonstrated in two portrait drawings, both had his signature stylish approaches. One more true to life (his brother Endres) and the other one other worldly beautiful.


Constructed Head of a Man in Profile, Pen and brown ink and dark brown wash


Portrait of the Artist’s Brother Endres, Charcoal, background later washed with white lead

His great enigmatic Melancholia I was included in this exhibit. "This enigmatic image of the allegorical figure of Melancholy, her head leaning upon her hand, has been seen alternatively as a statement on artistic creativity and as evidence of Dürer's interest in ancient debates over the definition of beauty." Thus stated the notations in the exhibit.


Melancholia I, Engraving

The focus point of this exhibit was on two "Adam and Eve" - one drawing and one engraving. The Morgan Library website claimed: "Among the many highlights of the exhibition that illustrate Dürer's preoccupation with beauty are his seminal engraving of 1504, Adam and Eve, along with its most important extant related preparatory drawing. To create the work, Dürer joined several sheets of paper, then unified the composition with brown wash to create a perfect balance between the two figures. Dürer's efforts to resolve the composition are evident; both figures hold the apple that led to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Ever cognizant of his authorship, Dürer added his monogram and the date to the drawing. This iconic image, perhaps more than any other, documents how the artist strove to create both beauty and harmony in his depictions of the human form." For comparison, I include the painting of "Adam and Eve" (Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain) following the engraving and the drawing below.


Adam and Eve, Engraving


Adam and Eve, Pen and brown ink, brown wash, corrections in white


Adam and Eve, Oil on Panel (in Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain)


There was another special exhibit, which had fascinating historical and artistic value - Anne Morgan's War: Rebuilding Devastated France, 1917–1924.

This exhibition brings to life the extraordinary work undertaken by a small team of American women volunteers who left comfortable lives in the United States to devote themselves to relief work in France during and after World War I. Their dynamic leader was Anne Morgan (1873–1952), a daughter of the financier Pierpont Morgan. As she rallied potential volunteers and donors on speaking tours across the United States, Morgan harnessed the power of documentary photography to foster a humanitarian response to the plight of French refugees.

Works on view are drawn from two major collections: fifty photographs and a montage of silent films are on loan from the Franco-American Museum, Château de Blérancourt, France, a national museum housed in the seventeenth-century château that served as the base of operations for the American Committee. Photograph albums, personal letters, sound recordings, and archival documents are drawn from the papers of Anne Morgan at the Morgan.

I like the photographs very much - vivid character studies in that trying time.


Faces of War, Anne Morgan


Faces of Wa,- Anne Morgan


I have to admit that immediately after Labor Day, perhaps was not the best time to visit New York, because many museums were changing exhibitions after the summer tourist season was over. Musical and theatrical offerings were sparse as well. Here, the great wonder, Library itself, was closed along with several exhibiting rooms. But I was very satisfied with Dürer.

Besides the special exhibit, I was able to see several important pieces on display in the hallways and corridors, including the crown jewel of the collection in the museum - Stavelot Triptych below:



Stavelot Triptych, Flemish

This museum's collection included important manuscripts, music sheets, drawings and rare books, as sampled below:


Gilt silver, enamel, and jeweled bookcover, probably Salzburg


A Winged Hero Contesting with a Lion for a Bull, Cylinder seal and impression


Saul Slaying Nahash and the Ammonites and Samuel Anoints Saul and Sacrifices to the Lord, France


Seated Nude Youth, Peter Paul Rubens


Manuscript - Piano Trio in D Major, op. 70, no. 1, Ludwig van Beethoven


It was regrettable that I missed my chance to marvel at the Library. More trips to New York are in order!



>> New York City Report, September 2010, Part V: "Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917" at New York MOMA
<< New York City Report, September 2010, Part III: The Frick Collection