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Louvre Quotes

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Louvre Quotes

“[Refiriéndose al Louvre] Si alguien me pregunta si encuentro bello el palacio que veo ante mí, puedo decir: no me gustan ese tipo de cosas [...]; puedo, aún más, reprochar en buen estilo rousseauniano la vanidad de los grandes, que emplean el sudor del pueblo en cosas tan superfluas [...]. Se me puede conceder y aprobar todo esto; pero no es de eso de lo que trata aquí [...]. Para hacer de juez en materia de gusto, uno no debe estar en lo más mínimo predispuesto en favor de la existencia de la cosa, sino ser a este respecto por completo indiferente.”

ArtJudgementArteFilosofiaLouvre
Book:Crítica al poder de juzgar: Una nueva traducción
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“My favourite letter, of all the ones I have received. "Hello. I cried in a museum in front of a Gaugin painting - because somehow he had managed to paint a transparent pink dress. I could almost see the dress wafting in the hot breeze. I cried at the Louvre in front of Victory. She had no arms, but she was so tall. I cried (so hard I had to leave) at a little concern where a young man played solo cello Bach suites. It was in a weird little Methodist church and there were only about fifteen of us in the audience, the cellist alone on the stage. It was midday. I cried because (I guess) I was overcome with love. It was impossible for me to shake the sensation (mental, physical) that J.S. Bach was in the room with me, and I loved him. These three instances (and the others I am now recollecting) I think have something to do with loneliness… a kind of craving for the company of beauty. Others, I suppose, might say God. But this feels too simple a response. Robin Parks”

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Book:Pictures and Tears
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“In May 1830, when in Paris alone with little Maurice, she found herself going to museums—the Louvre, the Luxembourg. It was not the first time, but she returned again and again, "as if drunk and nailed to the Titians, the Tintorettos, the Rubens." She suddenly responded to painting as she had long before to music. Whatever métier, whatever trade or profession she would choose, she knew she would be an artist—in letters, in life, in her very being.”

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Book:Infamous Woman: the life of George Sand
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“On arrival at Orly Airport, Fritz and Magda hired a taxi which drove them to the city. They saw before them a metropolis crowned with triumphal architecture and magnificent monuments. The first Parisian landmark that caught their eye was the majestic Eiffel Tower and, in the background, on a distant hill, the white church of Montmartre. They immediately opted that their hotel could wait and asked the driver to take them around the city, though they knew that this would cost them a whole day's budget. What they began to see was simply spectacular: wide areas edified with splendid monuments, fantastic fountains, enchanting gardens and bronze statues representing the best exponents who flourished in the city, amongst whom artists, philosophers, musicians and great writers. The River Seine fascinated them, with boatloads of tourists all eager to see as much as they could of the city. They also admired a number of bridges, amongst which the flamboyant Pont Alexandre III. The driver, a friendly, balding man of about fifty, with moustaches à la Clemenceau, informed them that quite nearby there was the famous Pont Neuf which, ironically, was the first to be built way back in 1607. They continued their tour...”

FranceParis1960sEiffel TowerLouvreMontmartreMalteseMusée D OrsayPigalleSacré Coeur
Book:Memories of Recurrent Echoes
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“The twins spend their second day in Paris at the Louvre. ''... Really great geniuses, eh Fritz? One could barely call them human beings.'' '' As a matter of fact, I don't think they were... just superior beings from some other planet... perhaps from the same one that gave us Mozart and Plato, for it's impossible that a mere human being create such monumental works.'' ''Wonderful...”

FranceParisPlato1960sArtsArtists LifeLouvreMozartMalteseMusée D Orsay
Book:Memories of Recurrent Echoes
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“In the following days the twins went all over the city; they visited more museums, particularly the avant-garde ones. Whenever Magda spotted a Van Gogh her eyes would fill with tears, remembering the aberrational agony this great artist had gone through. The work that stirred her most was one of those many self-portraits of the artist in a sober and tormented mood; a painting built by many heavy brushstrokes of dense undiluted paint applied spirally giving the impression that the image was materializing from a turquoise background. Magda spent a full ten minutes before one such portrait. When she returned back to earth she noticed a young man beside her, as absorbed with the painting as she was and whose face looked familiar.”

FranceParis1960sArtsArtists LifeLouvreVan GoghVincent Van GoghMalteseMusée D Orsay
Book:Memories of Recurrent Echoes
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“Era deopotrivă o consolare și o mare tristețe să te simți atât de diferit de ceilalti oameni. Își coborî spre ei ochii spălăciți. Valul de mașini nu mai contenea, iar figurile sumbre și îngrijorate semănau toate între ele. Biata specie! Ce-o preocupa? Ce va mânca, ce va bea? El se gândea la catedrala din Rouen, la castelele de pe Loare, la Luvru. Una singură dintre aceste pietre venerabile face cât o mie de vieți omenești.”

LifeCastlesCathedralsLouvreViațaIi WwRouenBuilt HeritageCasteleCatedraleLoirePatrimoniu Construit
Book:Suite Française
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“The Louvre’s much restored three wings or pavilions, the Sully, Denon, and Richelieu, were once the galleries where courtiers enjoyed royal hospitality and entertainments (and The Princesse de Clèves her secret surges of immoral passion). On a quiet un-crowded evening visit to the Louvre, it’s easy to imagine the masked and dancing couples in these pavilions, the rustle of silk, the whisperings of lovers, the royal entourage. The Louvre’s art collection was the result of François I’s enterprising enthusiasm for Italian art. He imported masterpieces by Uccello, Titian, Giorgione, and, most notably, Leonardo da Vinci himself, whose Mona Lisa—La Joconde in French—was and remains the most valued painting in the royal collection. Montaigne does not mention the paintings or the Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini whom François also imported to help transform gloomy Paris into a city of bright and saucy opulence.”

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Book:The Streets of Paris: A Guide to the City of Light Following in the Footsteps of Famous Parisians Throughout History
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“Jean smirked and raised an eyebrow at Leor. “Would you like to fly through the Louvre?” Leor couldn’t perceive how that would even be possible. But Jean would inevitably find a way. “No, no!” Leor ardently replied. “Let’s just land there and take a walk. Look at some statues, get some air.” “Ah, but do we not have plenty of air, flowing around up here in the skies?” Jean asked, diving down towards the Seine, and then sharply pulling up along one of the slopes. “Would you like me to vomit again?” Leor asked, with a hand near his mouth.”

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Author:Zechariah Barrett
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“[w]hat he had failed to take into account was the impact (...) of seeing the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre lit up at night for the very first time. True, Sophia had seen them the day before (...) but just as the Count had imagined, she had seen them through the window of a bus. It was a different thing altogether to see them at the onset of summer having received an ovation, changed one's appearance, and escaped into the night. For while in the classical tradition there was no muse of architecture, I think we can agree that under the right circumstances the appearance of a building can impress itself upon one's memory, affect one's sentiments, and even change one's life. Just so, risking minutes that she did not have to spare, Sophia came to a stop at the Place de la Concorde and turned slowly in place, as if in a moment of recognition.”

ArchitectureLouvreArc De TriomphePlace De La Concorde
Book:A Gentleman in Moscow
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“So let's not pretend that travel is always fun. We don't spend 10 hours lost in the Louvre because we like it, and the view from the top of Machu Picchu probably doesn't make up for the hassle of lost luggage. (More often than not, I need a holiday after my holiday.) We travel because we need to, because distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything.”

NeedsMindHas BeensStillsHomeLostFunHoursDifferencesViewsSecretCreativityChangedDistanceHolidayLuggageHassleLouvreHome HomeMachu PicchuView From The Top
Author:Jonah Lehrer
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“Could we bring ourselves to feel what the first spectators of an Egyptian statue, or a Romanesque crucifixion, felt, we would make haste to remove them from the Louvre. True, we are trying more and more to gauge the feelings of those first spectators, but without forgetting our own, and we can be contented all the more easily with the mere knowledge of the former, without experiencing them, because all we wish to do is put this knowledge to the work of art.”

FeelsTryingFirstsArtFeelingsWishFeltForgetMereFormerRemoveWorks Of ArtStatuesSpectatorsHasteCrucifixionEgyptianGaugesLouvre
Author:Andre Malraux
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“The Louvre! The Louvre has me in its clutches. Every time I'm there rich blessings rain down upon me. I am coming to understand Titian more and more and learning to love him. And then there is Botticelli's sweet Madonna, with red roses behind her, standing against a blue-green sky. And Fiesole with his poignant little biblical stories, so simply told, often so glorious in their colors.”

LittlesStoriesBehindsRichSkyColorSweetBlessingRedRainStandingBlueGreenRoseGloriousMuseumsBiblicalPoignantClutchLearning To LoveRed RoseLouvreBotticelli
Book:Paula Modersohn-Becker, the Letters and Journals
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“François Mitterrand was a student of architecture, he had done a lot of research before he called me. He said, "You did something special at the National Gallery of Art in Washington - you brought the new and the old together." But John Russell Pope finished the West Building in 1941, so when the East Building opened it was only about 40 years old. But the Louvre is 800 years old! A much bigger design challenge.”

YearsArtSaidDoneTogetherChallengesSpecialDesignStudentsBuildingResearchBiggerWestFinishedEastArchitecturePopeGallerySomething SpecialLouvre
Author:I. M. Pei
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“What I am trying to say is that it is not without any value. The value of copies is that they can direct us towards the original. I was recently at the Louvre Museum and I was filming people who were viewing the Mona Lisa. I noticed the number of ordinary people, astonished, mouths agape, standing still for long stretches looking at the work, and I wondered, "Where does this come from? Are these people all art connoisseurs?" They are like me; through the years, we've seen this work in our schoolbooks or art history books, but when we stand before the original, we hold our breath.”

PeopleTryingYearsLongDoeArtStillsBookValuesNumbersOrdinaryMouthsStandingDirectBreathsOriginalsLike MeCopiesMuseumsOrdinary PeopleThrough The YearsArt HistoryHistory BooksStanding StillMona LisaConnoisseurAgapeLouvre
Author:Abbas Kiarostami
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“Then finally I said, 'Okay, well, I want to know all the details. I want creative input. I want to be consulted. I want to know what they're doing and who's involved. And I want to see the space.' So they took me to see it, and then I realized it was major! All these red flags on the Rue de Rivoli with my name on them right by the Louvre!”

KnowsWantWellsSaidNamesSpaceCreativeInvolvedMajorsRedOkayDetailsI RealizedFlagsInputRed FlagsRueLouvre
Author:Kate Moss
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“(Ravic speaking of a butterfly caught in the Louvre) In the morning it would search for flowers and life and the light honey of blossoms and would not find them and later it would fall asleep on millennial marble, weakened by then, until the grip of the delicate, tenacious feet loosened and it fell, a thin leaf of premature autumn.”

LightFallMorningFeetFlowerCaughtAutumnHoneyDelicateButterflyLeafsMarblePrematureMillennialsTenaciousLouvre
Author:Erich Maria Remarque
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“Out of the closets and into the museums, libraries, architectural monuments, concert halls, bookstores, recording studios and film studios of the world. Everything belongs to the inspired and dedicated thief…. Words, colors, light, sounds, stone, wood, bronze belong to the living artist. They belong to anyone who can use them. Loot the Louvre! A bas l’originalité, the sterile and assertive ego that imprisons us as it creates. Vive le vol-pure, shameless, total. We are not responsible. Steal anything in sight.”

WorldUseLightFilmArtistSoundColorPureEgoStonesSightResponsibleInspiredLibraryStudiosWoodsStealingHallsMuseumsConcertsDedicatedThievesClosetsMonumentBookstoresShamelessBronzeAssertiveRecording StudioLouvre
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“I’m not going to let my insecurities keep me from having a good time. I think that if you don’t loose your self-consciousness, you can’t really be present in a situation. For example, if you’re at The Louvre, but you’re thinking about how much you hate your jeans, you’re not really at The Louvre. So in your memory, when you look back, you’re always going to be like, “I was wearing those jeans I hated”. And you’re not going to remember anything else.”

IfsThinkingLooksSelfRememberHateMemoriesConsciousnessSituationExampleI HateHatedGood TimesInsecurityJeansHate YouHaving A Good TimeOur MemoriesSelf ConsciousnessLouvre
Author:Christina Ricci
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