A magic carpet

A new addition to the Louvre is a "magic carpet" under which the department of Islamic Art has two floors of exhibition space.   The Court Visconti behind the Denon wing was transformed by the architects Rudy Ricciotti and Mario Bellini with a glass building over which roof hovers a 'carpet' of undulating metal mesh, filtering the damaging natural light.  A magical space with multiple objects exhibited and several videos explaining the history of Islam to the curious visitors.

Corridors connect this new building with the collections of the Louvre's late antique art from the Eastern Mediterranean and the art from pre-classic Greece, Coptic Egypt, Syria and Phoenicia in a relevant way.

Therefore, not ON but UNDER a magic carpet we can in 'the blink of an eye'  be transferred to another world.

Exhibition closed

From September 25 to January 20 this interesting exhibition showed Impressionist paintings and the  new fashion of that time.  It juxtaposed the paintings with original dresses and sometimes even the actual dress next to the painted dress. Not only women's dresses but mens wear and the influence of department stores and 'ready wear'  which was new at that time.

I had a chance to visit this show in November - now it was too late. Then I enjoyed to see the dresses so well preserved.  Tiny stitches by the seamstresses who created these works of art one can see and they give the same immediate timeless connection as the visible brushstrokes by the painters. Their names - Manet, Renoir, Degas, Monet etc. - are well known, the names of the seamstresses - who knows?

You will be able to see this exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum in New York from February 26 to May 27 and then in Chicago at the Art Institute from June 25 to September 22, 2013.  Worth a trip!

Back in France

"How is the weather in Paris in January?" -  Normally  it is just rainy and cold.

This time, I was lucky to arrive before they canceled most flights because of  SNOW.  To see
three inches of snow covering everything was confusing.  Am I still in Boston?

Today - three days later - both the jet lag is better and the grass is back with just tiny specks of snow
which will be gone in a minute.

And the Holidays are definitely over when one can find Christmas trees at the curb waiting for the garbage men to be picked up. Yes, there was a real fire tree under the decoration!

"O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie gruen sind deine Blaetter......"