A pleasant surprise, like finding old friends. Changed, but somehow, the same.
The most-visited room at the Louvre has had a redo, and the dust storm of international media controversy has ensued since last week. Today was my first day back here in the City of Light, and with misty weather outdoors, it seemed the perfect time to check out Mona Lisa’s new home in the Salle des États for myself. The result is thrilling, and I was overwhelmed by the effect.
Imagine so many countless masterpieces of the Italian School, Veronese (including the gigantic ‘The Feast in the House of Levi’), Titian, Tintoretto and of course Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa,’ displayed in a new light, on a new background color, which gives you literally the impression to view them for the first time in your life. Personally, I’m reminded of when I saw the ‘Coronation of the Virgin’ twelve years ago, just after a cataract operation that lifted the veil for me on the subtle and forgotten turquoise colors in that beloved masterpiece. I was in tears.
This is quite a change from the subdued golden patina shade we were accustomed to for twenty-five years. I would describe this bold and ravishing wall color as Prussian Blue, a glazed color-wash exploring several different depths of blue, from peacock to deep navy blue. It changes with every vantage point, and with different angles and reflections, with natural light and from the projectors. It does not jump out at you, while it makes the sculptured gilded frames with the vivid nuances of the artwork stand out remarkably.
During the months of transformation at the Louvre, several of these pieces were in a side room, hung on a handsome deep Venetian red background, with jet black wainscoting. I thought that, too, was ideal. Taking just a single example which I saw in both circumstances, the ‘La Bella Nani’ by Veronese, shown above, one stands in complete awe before the revelation of such beauty.
And for a short moment, hundreds of citizens of the world from every possible horizon are exposed simultaneously to this glimpse of a true Renaissance, which I find comforting.