Before leaving for Paris, I made sure to consult with the most well-traveled person I know for his opinion on the "must sees," knowing that I'd receive something unique, memorable, and -- based on his passion for and knowledge of contemporary art -- likely a museum of contemporary art. His response: Le Centre Pompidou.
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| The facade of the Centre Pompidou. Italian architect Renzo Piano and British designer Richard Rogers created a building that harnesses the spirit of the 1960's by bringing typical interior design features -- like its signature escalator climbing up the face of the museum entrance -- and bringing them outside, freeing up the inside space for art installation, exhibition, and library uses. Visitors revel in the museum's presence, jarring in comparison to the typically French buildings that surround it, in the main Piazza, beckoning them from the city to explore the art within. |
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| Munch's self-portrait. |
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We were very lucky to have visited the Centre Pompidou while an exhibition of Edvard Munch's work was on display. Munch was a Norwegain painter and avid photographer who had come to Paris during the 1889 World's Fair, the year in which the Eiffel Tour was completed, where he was heavily influenced by the artists Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.
Showcasing almost 140 of Munch's work, including around sixty paintings and fifty photographs, and arranged thematically across twelve rooms, the exhibit revealed the artist's tormented life and near-obsession with returning to the same motifs in his artwork. The exhibitor explained: "A stranger to any Romantic conception of the uniqueness of the work of art, Munch was doubtless the one, of all the artists of his generation, who posed with the greatest acuity one of the great questions of 20th-century art, that of the reproducibility of the work of art."
By revisiting the same subjects, oftentimes repainting the exact same pieces, it was a kind of catharsis for Munch. "Through repetition, often reduced to its most simple expression, the motif becomes autonomous; it ends up existing for itself, functioning as a kind of trademark or artist's signature."
Centre Pompidou was as promised: a contemporary art museum, unique, and very memorable. The rooftop has one of the most exquisite views of the city and, although I cannot claim the recommendation as my own, it should be a "must see" on anyone's Paris list. Amusez-vous bien!
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| Inside the Centre Pompidou's famous elevator to the top floor |
Showcasing almost 140 of Munch's work, including around sixty paintings and fifty photographs, and arranged thematically across twelve rooms, the exhibit revealed the artist's tormented life and near-obsession with returning to the same motifs in his artwork. The exhibitor explained: "A stranger to any Romantic conception of the uniqueness of the work of art, Munch was doubtless the one, of all the artists of his generation, who posed with the greatest acuity one of the great questions of 20th-century art, that of the reproducibility of the work of art."
By revisiting the same subjects, oftentimes repainting the exact same pieces, it was a kind of catharsis for Munch. "Through repetition, often reduced to its most simple expression, the motif becomes autonomous; it ends up existing for itself, functioning as a kind of trademark or artist's signature."
Okay, I give up, who is the most travelled person you know? And, Can you go to Moscow and St. Petersburg while you are so close...
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