Your Weekly Voilà: Do you know why the Louvre is called Le Louvre? 😊💕🎨🇫🇷

PASSION • CREATIVITY • INSPIRATION

"Keep good company. That is - go to the Louvre."

- Paul Cezanne

Celebrating the Louvre opening in Paris!

Since March, the world's largest museum has been closed due to the pandemic. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the few caretakers to walk her halls and enjoy the artwork without the hordes of visitors. Magical. Quiet. When the rooms are empty, you can better imagine what the palace must have been like for the early kings of France.

Le Louvre had its start as a fortress and then a palace for French kings. It is not only filled with the finest art, it's an architectural gem hiding delicious historical secrets. There are stories and mysteries to keep you engaged over a lifetime of visits.

Let's step back in time, long before the Mona Lisa will call le Louvre her home, to the 12th century where our story begins with a fortress . . .

An aerial view of the Louvre Museum (2010), allows you to see how a royal palace turned museum grew over the centuries.

The main entrance to the Louvre is in the central courtyard at the Pyramid du Louvre. Designed by architect I. M. Pei and opened in 1989, this iconic 22-meter-high pyramid is constructed from 675 panes of glass, flooding the interior space with natural light. People either love Pei's addition or despise it. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground. Since its addition, the Pyramid has caused much controversy. Many see it as a modernist eyesore jutting starkly against its baroque surroundings. But I'm in the "love it" camp. I enjoy the juxtaposition of historical time periods. Each has something special to offer. Each is a testament to human achievement. Pei wanted the glass to be clear so that you could peer through it and your perception of the color of the existing buildings would not be altered. Finding this glass in the 1980s was not easy. His work of art can grow on you with each subsequent visit. Or perhaps . . . not.

First, do you know why the Louvre is called "le Louvre?" Don't kick yourself if you don't because there are many stories to explain its name and no one - not even the art historians - can agree on which story is true. The first hypothesis claims that the Latin root "lupus" meaning wolf, attests to the early location's rich forests filled with wolves. I don't think that's it.

The second possibility has the name connected to its Saxon origins of the Germanic tribes that settled in Northern Gaul. In this language, "lauer" or "lower" means watchtower. The Louvre certainly was set in a strategic location overlooking the Seine River. I think this is part of the answer.

The third theory is based in French and dates from the origins of the current Louvre when Philippe Augustus decided to build a fortress around the capital in 1190. The keep or main structure was massive and was called "ouvrer" or "the work" by the builders and local residents alike.

I think there is a bit of truth to all the stories. The French historian Henri Sauval, writing in the 1660s, stated that the name comes from "an old Latin-Saxon glossary." Here the word "leouar" is translated to "castle."

Voilà! From there, it is not difficult to get to the French word, Louvre.

So we have Philippe Augustus who consolidated power in Paris in the 12th century. To keep that power, he needed a strategic fortress. That fortress was expanded over the centuries to meet the needs of the various French monarchs. In the 14th century, le Louvre became an official royal residence for Charles V. The medieval castle would be almost completely destroyed in the 16th century. Yet, you can still glimpse the remnants of the original keep and moat of the 12th-century fortress 23 feet below the glass Pyramid. Don't miss it when you visit.

The original foundations of the Louvre are found in the Medieval Louvre section in the Sully wing. This underground area reveals the medieval fortress that was created for King Philippe Auguste in 1190. You can see the ancient foundations, the remnants of the medieval moat, and the dungeons, as well as the Salle Saint-Louis built between 1230 and 1240. Several rooms in the Medieval Louvre section display documents, models, and paintings related to the history of the Louvre. Surprisingly, many visitors do not even know that this gem is hidden beneath the Pyramid.

The Louvre was a fortress turned palace, turned museum and she holds many stories of the early kings of France. Much of the outside facade is Baroque.

Along with the beautiful exterior collonade, the architect, Louis Le Vau, created the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) in the 17th century. This glorious reception hall has a spectacular ceiling painted by Charles Le Brun paying homage to Louis XIV, the Sun King. The portion of the ceiling, Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python was painted by Delacroix in 1851.

François I, the same king that built the Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley, wanted a larger and more elaborate home in Paris. He razed the medieval fortress of the Louvre and created a larger and more "comfortable" palace in the Renaissance style. You can study the architecture and see all of the different periods represented as subsequent kings added onto the royal residence. I suppose this is why I feel Pei's Pyramid works.

Louis XIV was the last king to use the Louvre as a royal palace. He wanted to build a bigger residence to hold his entire court, complete with large gardens, fountains, and waterways. He found Paris too confining in space. So Louis moved his court to Versailles in 1682. The Louvre sat empty with the exception of a few artists in residence.

In 1793, during the French Revolution, the Musée Central des Arts opened to the public in the Grande Galerie.

Napoleon Bonaparte and later his nephew, Napoleon III, would enlarge the palace again in the 19th century. Mostly, Napoleon needed more space for all the works of art that he plundered as spoils of war in Italy, Egypt, and beyond.

The hand-colored etching and engraving, The Marriage of the Emperor Napoleon I to the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, (remember he divorced his beloved Josephine when she failed to give him an heir) by Heinrich Reinhold captures the Louvre's interiors in the early 19th century. This work of art is not in the Louvre. You'll find it at the Philadephia Museum of Art.

When Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles, the artists that squatted in the dilapidated château exchanged ideas, copied paintings, and created their own works of art. You could argue that the shift from palace to museum began here - even before the French Revolution. Today, you can still see students of art painting in front of the works of the Great Masters. Henri IV invited artists to the Louvre in 1608 to copy artwork from the royal collections. You can earn your degree in art history at the Louvre. The river-facing wing of the museum is the École du Louvre, an institution of higher education dedicated to the study of archaeology, anthropology, art history, and epigraphy. It was founded in 1882 and is an important institution for training future curators and excavators.

Want to just paint in the Louvre? You'll have to get on a very long and selective waitlist. Just 150 or so experienced artists are chosen to spend three months painting at the museum. Unlike during the time of Henri IV, lodging is not included.

Since the Louvre was rebuilt several times, much of the interiors from the early kings of France do not exist. However, the elaborate, 18th-century, over the top, rococo apartments of Napoleon III, who served as both president and emperor of France in the mid-19th century, have been restored and are amazing to behold. The rooms are on the first floor in the Richelieu wing. On your way, take a moment to enjoy the details of one of my favorite architectural elements of the Louvre, the Lefuel Staircase. It was built in the mid-19th century and has a double flight of stairs. Artist François Morellet redesigned the windows in 2010, and he created this delicate glass in black frames that contrast beautifully with the stone stairs. The museum is a living space that continues to evolve artistically and requires constant attention.

Charles Louis Napoleon Bonapart or Napoleon III was the first president of the French Republic. He ruled from December 20, 1848 to December 1, 1852. He came to power after several attempts to seize control. He was "president" of the Republic in 1848 but established an authoritarian police regime a year later and claimed himself emperor of the Second Empire. He was indeed . . . a Bonapart.

One of the benefits of this part of the Louvre is the lack of tourists. You often have the rooms for yourself. After touring the apartments, you will no doubt have had your fill of gold leaf and red velvet. While it can all feel like too much, take your time and notice the details. And be sure to look up.

During World War II, the Louvre was evacuated. One man, Jacques Jaujard, had a hunch that France would be occupied by the Germans. To avoid the pillaging of the museum by the Nazis, he arranged for 4,000 of its most significant artworks, including the Mona Lisa, to be moved to the Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley. The last piece to move, the Winged Victory at Samothrace sculpture, made her way westward on September 3, 1939. Throughout the war, art was moved to evade theft.

You can find non-western art at the Louvre. There are significant collections in Islamic, Asian, African, and Oceanic art. The Pavillon des Sessions is a 1,200 square-meter exhibition area opened in 2000. It is a streamlined space with simple volumes and minimal partitioning. You will find the work bathed in light filtered through silver-plated bronze mesh screens. The works of art are displayed with maximum impact in a spacious layout that allows visitors to admire the objects from every angle. You have the opportunity to reflect, to learn, and to debate humankind's desire to create art.

The Louvre is home to more than 1/2 billion pieces of art. It would take you 200 days to see each of the 35,000 works of art on display if you spent just 30 seconds on each piece 24 hours a day. Still, if you want to take in the work of Paul Cezanne, you won't find his paintings here. You have to go to the Museum d'Orsay on the other side of the river for impressionist art. Another Weekly Voilà for his story and that fantastic museum.

For many, the Louvre is a major "bucket list" item during a trip to Paris. You cannot possibly even begin to scratch the surface of its collection even if you spend your entire vacation at the museum. So next week, I'll share my top 10 pieces of art (I'm not sure I can get it to only 10 but I'll try) in the Louvre that I believe are worthy of more than 30 seconds to contemplate.

Let some art into your life this weekend.

À bientôt mon amie,
Karen 💕🎨✨🇫🇷

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