#la jaconde

[gloop-augustus]

Phryge et La Jaconde

[lesillusionsterrestres]

Ton sourire

Tout est là. Aux commissures de tes lèvres roses. L’innocence et la fièvre. L’insouciance et l’envie. La faim dévorante et la timidité qui embrasse tous les scrupules. Tu souris, et en même temps, tu pleures. Tu sembles rayonner de bonheur, mais au fond, tu as peur, ma fleur. C’est parce qu’ils te regardent tous, fixement, longtemps. Ils sont venus de loin pour t’admirer. Toi, tu ne veux pas les décevoir. Je comprends. Tu veux leur offrir un mystère qui ne se résout qu’en plongeant au fond des cœurs. Ils plongent tous, au fond du tien. Mais moi seul, tu le sais, sait nager dans tes eaux. // Dédé ANYOH //

[ninaseestheworld]

In Paris, France, art culture is alive and well. Home to some of the most renowned museums in the world, such as the Musée du Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and Centre Pompidou, it seems as though the largest celebrities are the collections of art throughout the city. Visitors from all over the world flock each day to the Louvre to view classics like the Mona Lisa, Victory Angel, and Venus de Milo. In 2016 alone, the Musée du Louvre saw approximately 7.3 million people. (Source) Each person, upon entry, is immediately bombarded with reminders of the most popular works in the entire 38,000+ piece museum. Placards usher visitors through the corridors, promising to guide them to La Jaconde, and in turn leading them to the visitor dumping ground, piling them onto the sweaty heap of selfie-stick-wielding tourists, bloodthirsty for a peek at Mona Lisa herself.

Have you ever asked yourself why the Mona Lisa is so famous? It isn’t the epitome of fine art by a long shot. Like a Kardashian, La Jaconde is most likely famous because of scandal. In 1911, the painting was stolen from the museum after hours. The theft made international news as the entire world tuned in to find out what happened to the da Vinci original. After it was found, replaced, and vandalized a few times, it got new digs behind bulletproof glass and a partition, and thus the crowd formed. Suddenly, visitors were turning their backs on the other priceless works in the museum to make a bee-line for the swarm around the drama-magnet painting.

The public continues to drink in what the Louvre PR staff pumps out throughout the museum, collecting in pools around the Victory Angel and Venus de Milo. When they are finally through, they ring out their consumerist drool in the gift shop, emptying their wallets over anything and everything with the Mona Lisa on it. Shelves are coated in the iconic smile and captivating eyes adjacent to staggering Euro signs. Pop art models of Venus de Milo are arranged artfully at the entrance, hypnotizing passersby to drop their cash at the feet of the museum staff without even checking the price tag. Why? Because I’ve seen the real thing, and the countless pictures I took from every possible angle is not enough to commemorate that time I saw the most famous pieces of art ever.

The crowd around the Mona Lisa on a standard Monday afternoon. Note how few people are actually looking at the painting itself instead of through their camera.

Looking back at the sea of Mona Lisa visitors which nearly fills the small gallery room. The other works in the room are commonly neglected by the thousands of people who cycle through every day.

A smaller, but still congested crowd around Venus de Milo. This piece, like La Jaconde, is placed in the middle of the room, perhaps for ease of access.

With the Victory Angel at the top of the stairs, mobs pose a problem for the traffic flow of the museum. Some people will retreat to the balcony opposite the sculpture, creating their own sky box of viewers.

A new 21st century dimension to this phenomenon is the selfie culture. It is no longer enough to simply take a picture of the art. The amount of people with their backs to the piece in order to get in a picture with it seems counterproductive. Tweeting that you saw the Victory Angel is inaccurate, unless you have eyes in the back of your head.

Visitors commonly have to squeeze and elbow through the ravenous crowd outside the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. If you didn’t have claustrophobia before...

A fraction of the amount of visitors to the Louvre every day. Tour groups create waves in traffic throughout the museum, and have a tendency to linger at our favorite 3 pieces.

Gift shop display of Venus de Milo figurines in various colors. It’s almost refreshing to see something that isn’t the Mona Lisa, but these colorful little ladies are like chum for gift shop customers. At the end of the day, you’re going home with Lisa.

One of the many Mona Lisa displays in the Louvre gift shop. There’s a famous controversy about what her smile means. I cracked the code. It says, “BUY ME”.

The consumerism of the Mona Lisa extends outside the museum as a motif in advertisement. This ad is in a Paris metro station, but La Jaconde can even be found on billboards off I-84 in the United States.

Worldwide, in France, the US and beyond, the popularity of art is defined not by its quality, but rather by its value as a product to sell to an ususpecting, unquestioning, consumerist public.

[zjtimekeeper]

I mean, I guess I was in the same room as la Jaconde, but this was as close as I got.

[optikestrav]

(not) looking at Mona

Musée du Louvre, Paris

© optikestrav    

[katherinealexisphoto]

la jaconde and her adoring fans ; musee du louvre ; paris ; france ; jun 2018

[mr-moustaache-blog]

[cecilyjacobs]

Where art lovers weep, Cecily will creep.