More Art in Paris

I haven't been to the Louvres in 30 years. I get discouraged about the entrance line up. There was a one-hour wait to get in...but I went downstairs through the Carrousel Louvre, which is basically a mall under the museum and that line was only a ten minute wait!

Of course, I stopped to see the famous La Giaconda (Mona Lisa) hung there between the two pick-pocketer reminders....how elegant.

But what I liked the best during my walk-about was a contemporary work by Italian born Michelangelo Pistoletto (1933-).

Venus of Rags, 1967.

I call it "Venus and Her Stash".

The artist regularly explores the theme of temporality and here at the Louvre establishes dialogue between the museum's masterpieces and his contemporary work.

"In the 1960's, Pistoletto used scrap materials to question the problems linked to consumerism posed by the Italian Arte Povera movement." (quote from his biography)

Pistoletto used rags that were used to
wash the mirrors at the Louvre.

He had other works on display as part of the museum's contemporary exhibit, Year 1:Earthly Paradise.