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Palais des Beaux Arts

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jessmartin

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On Sunday, we went to Lille’s art museum, which has a fantastic collection in a very easy to manage space (ie not the Louvre). The art ranges from medieval to modern and includes sculpture and special exhibits-it’s one of the nicest museums I’ve visited as far as size and spectrum of works.

One of the staff of the summer program lead a tour for those who were interested and since my knowledge of art is mediocre I decided to join the tour and I’m glad I did! Under the photos, I’ve included some of the information he shared with us about the works, so enjoy! Also, the building itself is quite a work of art as you’ll see in some of the photos!

the entry
In the basement is a whole room of relief maps of regional towns. The maps are from the 1600-1700s and are a nice way to see the original towns as between the 2 World Wars much of these areas were destroyed.
Then basement is also where the timeline of art begins with the middle ages. This piece was interesting because you can see the 2 thieves have their arms bent in an odd way. That’s because at this time in the region if someone was caught stealing the punishment was having their limbs broken over a wheel and then they were tied to the wheel before being hoisted up to die, so their arms would have been bent like this on the wheel. So in art depicting the crucifixion if the thieves are displayed in this style you can tell it was created in this region.
This work is newer and is called Empathy. The artist took La Pieta and carved a copy of it and then covered it in a sheet. His idea was would you still have empathy for people if you can’t see them (like people suffering all over the world).
First floor has sculptures-these are small models from Les Bourgeois de Calais, which is the sculpture that sits in front of the town hall in Calais.
Also on the first floor were a few modern art optical illusion type works as part of a special exhibit.
Even the stairwell is a work of art!
Ending with some things leaning more modern (Picasso and Chagall)

Unfortunately, the impressionism and a few other galleries were closed due to work, but overall it was a lovely visit!

Comments

3 responses to “Palais des Beaux Arts”

  1. Bethany Avatar
    Bethany

    Wow, that is an impressive museum and, from your photos, looks like a well kept secret because it’s not crowded! The maps sound super interesting.

    Reply
    1. jessmartin Avatar
      jessmartin

      It was Sunday and Sundays are a pretty low key day in France-most things are actually closed still (like back when we were kids!)-also I’m good at being patient to get a good shot with minimal people!

      Reply
  2. Andrew Martin Avatar
    Andrew Martin

    The optical art with the blue triangles is super cool. I feel like those exhibits would mess with your eyes as you walk through them

    Reply

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