I read an intriguing blog post about the Venus De Milo just a short while ago, and thought I should post this photograph I took while I was at the Louvre.
I took this picture realizing that I would not be able to, under these conditions, take a photograph superior to those already freely available of this statue. Therefore, I aimed to capture the bovine obsession swirling around the statue.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s still impressive. But the reasons why I admire it are not the reasons most people admire it.
People’s obsession with one piece of art simply for its fame make me sad. The Venus De Milo – though in and of itself a beautiful piece of work – is by no means the most fantastic of the creations at the Louvre, but is often granted this status because of its recognizability. Similarly, the Mona Lisa. I was stricken by the sheer number of humans completely obsessed with the Mona Lisa. That painting more than the statue is far less than fantastic. It’s a beautiful painting, but nobody can deny that it is mostly famous due to the name of its creator and its wide reproduction for the past centuries. All throughout the Louvre, in the halls between the entrance and the Mona Lisa, are thousands of absolutely incredible paintings; my favorites are those severe chiaroscuros with the greatest contrast and the heaviest (but most tasteful) use of black to highlight the subjects and themes. There are even paintings that are literally the size of a house. They are generally ignored by tourists and Frenchmen alike with their noses buried in the “top ten” pamphlet you’re given upon entry.
Nobody recognizes the thousands of man hours put into those paintings with hundreds of square feet, the sheer coordination it would have taken for a Renaissance workshop full of apprentices to produce it out of recycled sheets of canvas.
Perhaps I’m just an insensitive cad that doesn’t recognize that people love the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa for their feminine simplicity – but then again, reading that blog post, I’m sensing ulterior motives. I don’t necessarily think that humanity seeks female weakness, but I do think that the reason for the fame of the statue is based largely in her armlessness. Take that as you will. But really – what about those other statues that still have arms? Required much more technical skill and ability to complete? The fact that they’re intact in some cases indicates superior workmanship, but blasphemy for suggesting it!
Apologies if I appear to be derailing a classic piece of art. The fact is, I’m not. What I’m pointing out is that we should be looking around. Sure, make a destination out of the famous pieces – I am in fact guilty of going to see them – but stop in between and find something else to love.
