Being an Art Nerd: Day 1 - Notre Dame and the Louvre

Warning: I'm gonna nerd out a bit in this post.  I got to go to some of the best places for art in the world!

First, we went to the Notre Dame.  I have wanted to go to Notre Dame since I was like eight years old.  Granted, a certain Disney movie did have something to do with it but reading about Notre Dame and learning about Gothic architecture was my gateway to art in general.  So, to say I was excited to go to Notre Dame is barely scratching the surface.

We walked around the church to be able to look at all the exterior architecture.  I was especially excited to look at the flying buttresses, which allows for the church to have it's height without causing the walls to bow outwards.

Inside, every space was crammed with statues, painting and chapels to the different saints.  My favorites were the chapels of Joan of Arc and Mary Magdalene.

Statue of Joan of Arc

Wall painting in Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene showing her washing Christ's feet.

We also were able to climb to the top of cathedral and take close up pictures of the gargoyles and stone carvings.  Some of the gargoyles had stood the test of time better than others, but each one of them had their own facial expressions and character.

Next, we went to the Louvre!

First of all, the Louvre is huge!  We were there for four hours, and we maybe saw a third of it.  Also, there are many more impressive statues and paintings there than La Jouconde (aka the Mona Lisa).  They have some of the marble reliefs from the Temple of Zeus, one of the ancient world wonders.  They have beautiful Islamic floor mosaics.  Some of my favorite sculptures were in the Greek wing:

The muse of tragedy 

Venus de Milo/Aphrodite

Artemis

Winged Victory at Samothrace - newly restored and unveiled

The paintings at the Louvre seem to focus mostly on the Renaissance and Romantic periods with lots of selection from French and Italian painters.  Two of my favorite paintings are below.

Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix

The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

Close up on Napoleon crowning Josephine with Pope Pius to the far right.  The elevated figure seated in the middle of the painting is Napoleon's mother, who wasn't actually at the coronation.

More art tomorrow as we go to Saint Chapelle and Musee D'Orsay.