Six paintings to see once in your life in Paris
From the Louvre to the Orangerie, a walk through six masterpieces, with the story of each and the detail to look for when you stand in front of it.
Paris has enough masterpieces for a lifetime, and that is precisely what paralyses us. Rather than trying to see everything, here are six paintings, spread across three museums, that you can discover in a weekend. For each, a story, and a detail to look for.
The Mona Lisa, at the Louvre
Leonardo da Vinci began it in the early sixteenth century and never really parted with it, taking it with him to France at the end of his life. The painting is smaller than you imagine, protected behind glass, and surrounded by a permanent crowd. You look at it from a distance, which is almost an advantage: you see the landscape better.
The detail to look for: the landscape behind her does not quite match on either side of her face. The horizon seems lower on one side than the other, which contributes to the strange sense of movement in her smile.
The Raft of the Medusa, at the Louvre
In 1816, the frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of Africa. Part of the crew was abandoned on a makeshift raft, and only a handful of survivors were rescued after long days of drifting, madness and death. In 1819 Théodore Géricault turned it into an immense canvas, more than seven metres wide, which caused a scandal at the Salon.
The detail to look for: follow the diagonal of bodies, from the bottom left corner, where the dead lie, up to the man at the top right waving a cloth towards a tiny ship on the horizon.
Liberty Leading the People, at the Louvre
Eugène Delacroix painted it in 1830, a few months after the Three Glorious Days, the days of revolution that drove out Charles X. A woman, tricolour flag in hand, strides over a barricade amid the fighters. She has become one of the most famous images of the French Republic.
The detail to look for: the towers of Notre-Dame, barely visible in the smoke, on the right of the painting.
Luncheon on the Grass, at the Musée d’Orsay
In 1863, Édouard Manet showed this canvas at the Salon des Refusés, created to exhibit works rejected by the official Salon. Two clothed men picnic in a wood with a naked woman who looks the viewer straight in the eye. The scandal was immense.
The detail to look for: it was not the nudity that shocked, painting was full of it. It was that she was contemporary, and that she stares at us without the slightest embarrassment.
Bal du moulin de la Galette, at the Musée d’Orsay
Auguste Renoir painted it in 1876 on the hill of Montmartre, at a popular open-air dance held on Sunday afternoons. It is one of the most joyful paintings in the history of art.
The detail to look for: the patches of sunlight falling through the leaves onto dark jackets and pale dresses. Renoir painted the light before he painted the people.
The Water Lilies, at the Musée de l’Orangerie
At the end of his life, Claude Monet gave the State a series of great panels depicting the pond in his garden at Giverny. They are installed in two oval rooms lit by daylight, designed to his specifications.
The detail to look for: there is none. Sit in the middle of the room and let the light from the sky do the rest.
The three museums are less than twenty minutes apart on foot: the Louvre and the Orangerie face each other across the Tuileries garden, and the Musée d’Orsay stands just opposite, on the other bank of the Seine.
Better one painting looked at than ten paintings seen.
