Friday, January 05, 2018

Pompidou

In 2011, I visited the Pompidou Center in Paris for the first time since the early 1980s. I hardly remember that first visit, so I was happy to have the opportunity to go again. I've always thought that the building itself is amazing, a piece of modern art/architecture in its own right that is home to Paris' premier modern art museum. So much more goes on in that building than anyone can experience in a single visit, but that's okay.

A view out over Parisian rooftops from inside the Centre Pompidou, September 2011.

I am not one of those who can spend hours in a museum. If anything, I breeze through museums too quickly. All the art starts looking alike to me after a short time. And I get uneasy when there are crowds milling about. For me, a museum is more of an experience, an impression, than a study of art or an artist. The setting is almost as important to me as what's on display.

This photo is of a sculpture on one of the outdoor terraces up in the main galleries. I don't remember who the artist is. It reminds me of Calder. The image is mostly black, so I took the rest of the color out and made the whole photo black and white.

7 comments:

  1. I, too, think it looks like a stabile by Calder.

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    1. This sculpture looks very much like a Calder's stabile which is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. See here, here , here and here .

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  2. I'm the same way when I go to a museum, I go for the overall experience. If the museum is small I usually can take it all in, but larger ones overwhelm me. You snapped a nice shot!

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  3. You take some lovely photos you really do

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  4. I, too, get nervy in crowds. I like to go to a big museum and see two or three galleries, then leave. In a smaller place, I can handle a bit more. The big blockbuster shows at the Met were always overwhelming.
    The sculpture is a Calder, not that I knew for sure but Professor Google did.

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  5. chm, looks like it!

    evelyn, thanks! I enjoy museums, but in short bursts.

    john, thank you, kind sir.

    emm, I'd like to visit the Met one day. It took me until 2016 to make it to the Guggenheim!

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  6. My experience of museums is the same as yours. I would love to go back again and again and take in a little at a time. Imagine being able to do so when it's closed! Just a taste of the original, but still an exceptional experience.

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Tell me what you think!