On my recent trip to Paris I was thrilled to be able to visit the Louvre and see the famous Mona Lisa. She’s certainly a popular lady! As I got closer to the room where she lives, the crowd of visitors got bigger and bigger. Everyone, it seemed, was there for the same reason!
She’s nearby, you can almost feel it in the air!
This was the corridor outside of the main display gallery where the Mona Lisa hangs. It was obvious from the snippets of conversations I was hearing that everyone was talking about her!
Once inside the Gallery, the crowds were even bigger… but everyone was very orderly. People just wanted to glimpse the famous lady!
Once inside, the crowd grew even more. There were many, many people moving about within the gallery, all vying for a closer look at that magical smile. Even though it was very busy, everyone was friendly. Maybe not everyone was smiling, but no-one was angry or rude. People moved about somewhat freely and I was able to make my way closer to the “front” in order to get a better view. It seemed that everyone was happy to stop and ponder while admiring her or taking a photograph or two, then would move along to let the next person take their spot. It was all very civilised!
Everyone inside the Gallery were very orderly. People just wanted to get a closer glimpse of the famous smile. It was quite easy to make my way through the crowds to the “front”
While there are many more things to see within the Louvre than the Mona Lisa, she was certainly the star attraction. I spent about four hours inside before heading back out into the open air. I could have easily spent the whole day and then come back for more! Of course, that just means there’s more to see on the next trip…
Mona Lisa looks over the crowd of admiring fans, many of whom are reflected in the glass of her frame. She watches the watchers…
I’ve been thinking why people are taking pictures of paintings that are available in art books or at the google art project in a much better quality. I’ve done a whole list of reasons. What I have not thought about was the simple motivation of getting their own or someone else’s reflection ) This you can’t find anywhere except your own camera! Thank you for a lovely post 😉
Thank-you for the kind words 🙂 This really was just an exercise in documenting my own visit, but when I saw the reflections I thought the symmetry between us in the crowd looking up at the painting while all the time being gazed down upon was quite interesting.
I’d love to go back to the Louvre when there are less crowds – possibly early morning, middle of winter 🙂
Me too! I loved it there. The whole of Paris was fantastic but I only got to see a very small sampling over four days 😦 will have to return again some time, that’s for sure.