Submitted by Jules Scott on the 2024 Spring program in Paris, France…
This week I was lucky enough to visit three museums I had never seen before – The Louvre, the Musee D’orsay, and a lovely exhibition from Fondation Azzedine Alaïa. I first attended the exhibition, which was a series of curated mannequins of mostly dresses from Azzedine Alaïa and Madame Grès that highlighted the shared sculptural approach each designer takes with their pieces. The gowns were incredible, and I learned about each piece by my professor who guided our class through each creation. I think having a guide through a museum makes all the difference. The next museum was Musée D’orsay. I tagged along for a school trip that I was not originally accepted for, however my friend and I figured that there would be no-shows for the exhibition and we were right! I’m glad we took that chance, because a museum late at night is a treat. My friends and I went from gallery to gallery, pointing at paintings we recognized from our art history class we had earlier in the day. Most of these paintings were so much grander in scale, and you realize how many more details a painting has than what an image on your laptop can give you. I stood inches away from the works, squinting to see brush strokes on neoclassical paintings. Art is so much more interesting in person, it adds so much more gravity to what you’re looking at. When I went to The Louvre, I was not disappointed. By far the best lighting and layout of any museum I’d ever been in — it feels like an experience. You can’t do any of these large museums in one trip, so my friends and I decided that this round would be for statues and artifacts. I’m a fool for antiquity, so I loiter in the rooms with beautiful statues and read the plaques about how thousands of years later we are still enthralled with ancient myths and carve them into stone time and time again. My favorite statue, however, was of Joan of Arc; she cupped her ear and looked up to God with one hand, and held French armor in the other. It’s a refreshing change from female subjects usually being ornamental, sometimes I forget my own womanhood looking at art of women made by men because it is so distant from what it feels like to be a woman. I feel more in common with Prometheus, or the eagle. (Submitted on January 29, 2024)