The Pompidou Centre

We had originally planned to return to the Musée d'Orsay, but when the Louvre was more crowded than expected, we changed the plan and visited the Pompidou Centre for the first time instead. The modern art collection – it is the largest modern art museum in Europe – as well as the special exhibitions made it an attractive destination. 

We first visited the “Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Paris!” exhibition, which is dedicated to the famous artist couple’s time in Paris between 1958 and 1964, before they moved to New York, and their project to wrap the Pont-Neuf bridge. Honestly, the early pieces were mostly forgettable. But the behind the scenes history of their effort to wrap the bridge was fascinating. The project took 10 years to come to fruition, while the bridge was only wrapped for a very brief period (from 22 September to 6 October 1985). Most interesting were the photos and detailed drawings of the endeavor, along with a model:

The amount of work, preparation, and gear that went into such a short-lived piece was astounding. We learned that since 1962 Christo had also wanted to wrap the Arc de Triomphe, and that despite his recent death, the Arc will be wrapped in 2021. I see another trip to Paris in our future.

We also enjoyed a special exhibit titled “Global(e) Resistance,” which included works about political protest and injustice primarily by artists from the global south. It was really interesting to see an artistic perspective that is often not displayed in the European museums we usually visit.

The modern art collection was robust and spanned a number of well-known artists like Kandinsky and Chagall, but my favorite was a comical piece called “A Time Coloured Space” by Philippe Parreno, which consisted of “My Room is Another Fish Bowl,” fish-shaped balloons moving through the room; and “Orange Bay,” orange filters; together with the amplified sound of the fish moving through the room. Check it out:

A Fish With a View

It is always fun when you get to be part of the art. Note that you can see the famous Sacre Coeur Church from the exhibit. But the best part was that this room had a docent whose job was to ensure none of the fish balloons escaped!

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff