Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Sun King loved Animee

After Rambouillet, we trugged it through the increasing snow storm to Versailles where the Sun King, Louis XIV and later is grandson Louis XVI and his famous wife Marie-Antoinette, called home.
Versailles is one of the most popular destinations in Europe, with crowds and crowds of pushing, shoving tourists, obscuring any real appreciation of the art and architecture... EXCEPT during one of the worst snow storms in recorded history, when visiting Versailles is apparently not on the top of the emergency prepartion list.

We had the place almost to ourselves...

Louis´s private chapel...

Clearly they understood the value of a little Crown Molding...

No stupid commentary here... just WOW, the Hall of Mirrors...

Even covered in snow, the Gardens are beautiful...

The ceiling above ONE of the Kings bedrooms...

Takashi Murakami is a well known modern artist, in the mold of Andy Warhol, taking "low art", such as Animee and elavating it. Murakami is currently exhibiting several of his pieces in various rooms throughout Versailles. The result is a wonderful contradiction between classic "high art" and well, this...

File:Takashi Murakami Exhibit at Versailles 2010 (3).jpg




But my favorite had to be this sculpture. It attracted plenty of attention, especially from the giggling school boys on tour, while the flabbergasted teacher try to block their delicate young impressionable eyes...


As the evening ended, and we made our way back to Paris, a last look at the results of the snow storm...

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