Louvre, the national museum and art gallery of France, housed in part of a large palace in Paris. It is the world’s most-visited art museum, with a collection that spans work from ancient civilizations to the mid-19th century. Highlights include Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
Steven Glovsky
Prepare to be surprised!
A college girlfriend first showed me Picasso’s Guernica at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). She knew it. I knew nothing.
I credit the power of its black-and-white imagery and wall mural size for a lifelong appreciation of art and museums. It still inhabits my memory.
Commissioned by Spain’s pre-Franco government in 1937, Picasso lodged it at MoMA until democracy was restored to his native land. I visited it several time in New York (including after that girlfriend). And when it finally returned to Spain in 1981, I only hoped there would be another opportunity.
Timeline Of The Louvre
The Onion looks back at the most important events in the history of the Paris art museum.
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1793: France’s revolutionary government opens Musée Central des Arts in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre to manage spillover crowds from the Hard Rock Café Paris.
1814-1832: Bourbon Restoration period sees collections grow thanks to generous donations of artwork by plundered nations.
1886: Museum makes history by acquiring its first female statue.
1940: Nazi soldier pretty underwhelmed by remaining collection.
1957:
Mona Lisa placed behind bulletproof glass after unsuccessful assassination attempt.
1980: Following expensive restoration of hundreds of paintings, Louvre begins forbidding visitors from touching or licking the art.
Louvre digitizes over 480,000 pieces of art, makes them free to view online fox10phoenix.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fox10phoenix.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.