With only weeks to go before the 2024 Olympics in Paris, I was reminiscing about my working days for a French company earlier in this century; I was based in the US but had to frequently go to Paris. Of course, I have seen all the usual tourist attractions there including the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame, but as an artist I can say that a visit to Paris is worth it just to see the Louvre. The Louvre is the best and largest museum in the world. It is a “must see” attraction for anyone visiting Paris. It is said that if one spends three seconds before each exhibit it will take five months to see the entire museum.

If watching items at the Louvre Museum was an event at the Olympics ala a beauty pageant and I was the judge asked to pick three exhibits to be the medal winners, what would I do? Let me retrace the footsteps around the Louvre in my head from fond memories of the day I spent at the museum during one of my visits. A striking aspect of the museum even before entering is the unique pyramid shaped entry structure in the front yard. It was commissioned in 1981 by then French president Francois Mitterrand and construction was completed in 1987. The architect was Chinese-American I. M. Pei, who has also designed many other famous buildings around the world. The pyramid caused a storm of controversy at the beginning. The main objection was that the contemporary glass and steel look simply did not blend with classical Renaissancestyle French architecture. Some were also unhappy that a Chinese person, who had no appreciation for French culture was awarded the job.

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The fact that the pyramid symbolizes death was considered inappropriate. Initially, I was also sceptical about the wisdom of this decision but now love the pyramid. There was a practical consideration for erecting a separate entry structure. From the entrance, the visitors descend downwards to a platform with extensive networks of walkways to entrances of various sections of the museum; this was a much better plan to control the traffic flow from the point of view of architectural strength of the buildings. The transparent nature of the pyramid does not block anything from the overall external view of the building. The contrast in styles adds novelty. The pyramid will not qualify to win a medal in my imaginary contest because it is not an exhibit, but it certainly deserves special recognition.

Once inside, I was awed by the majestic stairway which took me from the first to second floor and right there at the top of the stairs was the statue known as “Wings of Victory” or “Nike of Samothrace”. She majestically stands there spreading her large wings looking like a guardian angel and invoking a feeling of triumph; I immediately fell in love with the statue. So much so that after returning to the US, I bought a replica of the statue and placed it at the top of my stairway to relive that moment every day. The sad thing about the statue is that its head as well as two arms are missing. I wondered every day about how the complete statue looked like. Finally, I decided to do a painting of the statue where I added her head and two arms and turned her into an angel. I placed the painting right behind the statue in my home. Yes, this statue certainly deserves a medal, perhaps the bronze medal.

My next memorable stop at the museum was the site of the Venus de Milo ( VDM) statue. I have been obsessed with VDM since my childhood. I had an art tutor who taught me to do pencil sketches and assigned me to sketch several Greco-Roman figures. My two favourite ones were VDM and the “Discus Thrower”. My love affair with VDM continues even today. I love her curves, her pose, her clothes hanging low exposing her navel and lower abdomen but still covering her private parts; yet she looks so innocent. The statue is displayed prominently at the Louvre. It is situated at the end of a long hallway so that one can keep looking at it while walking towards it. One can walk around the statue and look at it from every angle. Salvador Dali was also obsessed with the VDM statue and did a painting based on the sculpture which is on display at the Dali Museum in Saint Petersburgh in Florida. The VDM statue will make it to my medal stand as the silver medal winner.

The Louvre is, of course, almost synonymous with the Mona Lisa. Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is the most famous, most visited, most written about, most sung about and financially the most valued artwork in the world. The model is reportedly a woman named Lisa Gherardini and “Mona” is a version of “Madam”. However, I must admit that the Mona Lisa exhibit was almost anti-climactic. The room is always crowded. The size of the painting was relatively small, certainly smaller than I expected, and it was displayed very blandly on a large wall. There was a queue cordoned off with ropes. I slowly inched forward like everyone else until I arrived at the very front of the line right across from the painting. I stood there for a long time with my eyes fixated on the eyes of Mona Lisa; I was trying to gauge if there was a subtle smile on her face.

There was an American family behind me: husband, wife and two small kids. There was enough space between me and the rope that they could have walked past me, but I suppose they were waiting to be on my spot which was the closest to the painting. After a while, they got a little impatient and the wife commented to the husband, “What is the matter with this man? Will he just stand there for the rest of the afternoon?” They obviously thought that I did not understand English. I controlled my urge to say what I was thinking: “I will stand here as long as I please. This is not a drive-through lane in your fast-food joint”. I do not remember how long I stood there and what the family behind me ended up doing. The queuing system has reportedly been changed in 2019 so that no one can stand longer than 30 seconds in front of the painting.

I stood there because I felt hypnotized by Mona Lisa. There are dozens of paintings of faces of beautiful women in museums throughout Europe; there is even “Portrait of a Woman” by Leonardo himself at the Louvre, but there is something magical about this painting. I cannot explain it. I agree with thousands of other art critics; Mona Lisa wins the gold medal. There are hundreds of other exhibits – both paintings and sculptures. Honourable mentions go to Michelangelo’s slave statues, “Psyche Revived by the Kiss of Cupid”, “Mercury”, “Lamassus” and the painting, “Liberty leading the people” which inspired the “Statue of Liberty”. One can spend the whole day just walking around the majestic hallways. I will not attend the Paris Olympics but would love to go back to the Louvre and continue strolling through the exhibit halls.

(The writer, a physicist who worked in industry and academia, is a Bengali settled in America.)