Friday, June 26, 2009

French Paintings in the Louvre

The French Painting department is, justifiably, the largest in the Louvre. What comes as a surprise to many is that their favorite French painter(s) are not even represented here. That's because the Louvre only has paintings up to about the mid-1800's. Nearly all the Impressionist paintings and later are in other museums. If you want to see Monet, Renoir, van Gogh, Seurat, and etc. you'll have to go to the Musee d'Orsay, which is the repository for all things Impressionist and post-Impressionist. All that being said, there are some fine and famous French paintings in the Louvre.


The Monkey Painter - by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin

I get a kick out of this Chardin painting. Is he making fun of all the artists who did self-portraits?


There are also plenty of neo-classical paintings that are impressive and interesting. They usually tell a story and try to show some famous moment in history. Below are some of my favorites.



The Oath of the Horatii, Jacques-Louis David

The Raft of the Medusa, Theodore Gericault

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for posting these. It will help when we actually get there to know what to go look at.

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