Another Art Museum?! – Louvre-Lens and My Classes!

I’m starting to think I should have named this blog “Art Museums, or What Else Does One Do While in France?” because I have yet another art museum to discuss and more photos for everyone to see of artwork! Yesterday the International Relations office from the University of Artois took a small group of us international students to a town called Lens, about forty-five minutes away from Arras by bus, and to the new museum there, the Louvre-Lens. “The Louvre?” Some may be asking, “Isn’t that in Paris?” Yes, yes it is, and when we first heard of this trip we thought we were going to Paris for the day, but alas, not the case. The Louvre-Lens is an offshoot museum from the original Louvre in Paris, a way for the museum to expand and offer the opportunity to more people to see its artwork. From what I gathered, the Louvre-Lens is the first of one of these museums, and it just opened last December so it’s definitely new.

When we arrived at the museum, I was personally a little shocked because I had expected an older, classical-looking building like the monastery-turned Beaux Arts museum in Arras. However, I was greeted with a very modern, glass, warehouse-sized, and flat white building with a lot of white cement. It was also (another) gray day in the Pas-de-Calais region, so that helped the building blend in more with the environment than it already did. Though once we entered the museum it was pretty cool with the glass windows in the “foyer” of the building.

The first exhibit we saw was a temporary Renaissance exhibit that focuses on the influence that François I had in Renaissance art. We saw a variety of images of this king, in addition to the usual run of sketches, statues, pottery, and decorative arts. The best part was the Leonardo da Vinci painting that they had, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, which was pretty awesome to see. (I always feel this way after seeing da Vinci paintings). It was a nice little connection to our trip in February too, as François I had a lot of influence on the chateaux that we saw and was buddies with da Vinci, who is buried at the chateaux of Amboise.

We then went to see the main collection, which is held in a huge, open room (much like a warehouse). This was a completely new experience, as all of the artwork was free standing and it all faced in one direction (which is toward the onlooker as they enter the room). It’s a pretty cool, modern concept and was interesting juxtaposed with the very ancient art at the beginning (it also went in chronological order, so the last piece of artwork was the “newest” one in the room- painted in 1830). There were way too many people in the museum, however, for it to be easy to navigate. I spent a lot of time zigzagging back and forth between artwork! 

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Greek mosaic

Augustus of Rome

Saint Francis

My favorite image of Mary and Jesus, Medieval work

From India

Diderot, worked with Alembert on the Encyclopedia, and who we talk about almost every day in class

Nevertheless, I was able to see a huge variety of artwork, ranging from ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, Greek statues, Roman statues, Middle Eastern tapestries and pottery, to Middle Ages, Renaissance, and neo-classical European art. 

Liberty Leading the People, Delacroix

I greatly enjoyed the variety but of course my favorite painting was the last one: Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People. I had seen this painting at the Louvre in Paris when I went to France at the age of 16, and I have always just loved it. So, of course, I took about triple the amount of photos for this one painting than any other piece of artwork in the Louvre-Lens!

I also wanted to talk about my classes that I am taking at the university, as I haven’t really talked about it at all. But, I promise to keep it brief. The schedule here is really, truly, very different than at Washington College. You have a mix of what are called “CM” courses- lectures- and “TD” courses – smaller, more discussion-based classes (although there really isn’t much discussion going on in them). The TDs I have are still bigger than any of my 200-400 level courses at WAC, so it’s still very, very different. I also only have every class once a week, which I kind of like because then it’s done with for the week, but it also means the classes are longer than what I’m used to which kind of drags sometimes.

On Mondays I have two two-hour long courses, a Youth Literature class and FLE, which is a French class for the international students. Tuesdays include an hour-long Introduction to Medieval Literature class and a two-hour long History of the French Language class. On Wednesdays, we wear pink! (Mean Girls, anyone?) But I also don’t have any classes that day. Thursdays: every other week I have a TD class for my Medieval Literature class, then an hour lecture for Introduction to Modern Literature, and the TD for my Medieval History course. Fridays are fun (not), I have an hour Introduction to Comparative Literature class, an hour and a half TD course for Modern Literature, and an hour and a half lecture for Medieval History. That was a mouthful.

Overall I enjoy my courses. The most interesting one is the History of the French Language course, but I also like the Youth Literature course. Some of them, however, don’t compare to the psychology courses that I miss so much! They’re definitely interesting though and come from a different perspective than the one I have had since kindergarten, so I am enjoying the new educational experience!