One of the best things about the museums of Paris is their variety.
The Musee du Quai Branly can satiate your love of African sculpture, and more artist-specific museums like the Musee Picasso can take you into the depths of the mind of a great painter. But just when you think you’ve seen everything and have admired all the beauty and splendor the famous museums can offer, it is the smaller, avant-garde museums of Paris that push you to the next level of art connoisseur!These museums are unabashedly obsessed with the nonsensical, the inexpressible, and the psychological. It is a good idea to come ready for an emotion and mental freefall. There is no telling what kind of inspiration these works made of shattered glass and street trash will excite. If a painting of pretty flowers in porcelain pots is your thing, stay away from these three museums, because most of the sculptures here are made from toilet bowls and passionate rage is a commonplace emotion on these canvases. Do something wild and experience the avant-garde! These museums are a great way to break the ice with a group of friends or spark a deep conversation with a love interest.
1. Jeu de Paume
The Jeu de Paume is a wonder, with photography, film and video exhibits that give you a taste of the latest in Paris art and cinema and keep in mind the older works that inspired the new. Housed in what used to be the Hotel de Sully, the museum has an incredible amount of space and uses it brilliantly, not just showing one collection of a photographer’s work but several periods from early works to masterpieces. The short films can’t be seen anywhere else and are usually made my filmmakers that won’t let their work be screened anywhere but the Jeu de Paume. The museum is centrally located by the Tuileries gardens and is the perfect alternative to the more touristy Louvre. Wear good shoes and bring some water because these exhibits are expansive and will sweep you away with their epic scope.
2. Musee Maillol
Although originally intended as a museum dedicated to the works of painter and sculptor Aristide Maillol, the first floor of this elegant 18th century building is used as a gallery space for the museum’s avant-garde and modernist exhibits. The last known photographs of Marilyn Monroe, known as the “Last Sitting,” by Bert Stern were showcased here in the secretive, low-ceilinged rooms tucked into the dark, cool recesses of the museum. Wander around the labyrinthine corridors long enough and you’ll find a few abstract pieces by Marcel Duchamp and, of course, portraits of the curvaceously plump women in bathing suits that Maillol loved to paint. The hallways are narrow and the rooms have few windows, leaving you with the feeling that you’re the first to see this art work, that it’s something exclusively there for you and only you. During the day, the galleries are rarely ever crowded like the Louvre or the Musee D’Orsay, so you can have a nice relaxing conversation about the art and let your thoughts multiply in the cool silence, a true luxury in the Paris art world!
3. Musee du Luxembourg
After a stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens, most people keep walking toward the Latin Quarter to the cafes and sports clubs without even noticing the Musee du Luxembourg’s walk-in gallery on the garden’s north side. Housed in what seems to have been an old carriage room of the Luxembourg Palace, now the home of the French Senate, the exhibits are very informal but very contemporary, fresh and chic. The ground is covered in white, chalky gravel that crunches beneath your shoes as you enter the space. The soft, dappled light spilling off the gray walls of the mysteriously breezy room lend the steel sculptures a bleak, industrial hue. The paintings are sometimes jarring in their violent brushstrokes and rust and copper colors. But the beautiful sounds of the garden are continually nearby, with the wind in the poplar trees and the children playing with sailboats in the fountain. Most people don’t come to Paris to be lobotomized by pastoral scenes and nature. The walk-in gallery of Musee du Luxembourg offers you a harsher interpretation of the metropolis, something no true connoisseur can say they saw Paris without seeing.
Photo of Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France by benoit d
Topic: Tips and Ideas |
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Tags: Art, Paris
About the author
Esteban Chaim Serrano is a filmmaker, dramatist, and activist. He is the writer, producer, and director of 12 short films. His film “Manhattan Confessionals” won a Best Sight and Sound award in New York’s First Look Festival. He was a script doctor at the Weinstein Company under VP Matthew Stein for two years. He has studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a BA in film production and playwriting. He also studied digital filmmaking at the Conservatoire Europeen d’Ecriture Audiovisuelle in Paris, France. Esteban Chaim grew up in San Diego, California, and grew up attending performances at the La Jolla Playhouse. He is an active member of New York’s Central Synagogue and the Audubon Society. He plays the clarinet and has composed a number of string quartets. He has traveled extensively throughout France and Quebec, Canada.
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