Museums and me

In the last few months I had an opportunity to see a few of the world's famous and not-so-famous museums.

Starting from Louvre and a small museum in Palais Garnier in Paris to Gallerie Uffizi and Gallerie del Accadamia in Florence to Sissi Museum in Vienna to MoMA (Museum of modern art) in New York city. Louvre has all modern facilities and has a vast collection of artwork from around the world. Most notable are - works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, French Rennaissance paintings and sculptures, Egyptian artifacts right from the days of the Egyptian civilization, ancient Greek sculptures etc. It's a huge museum and at any given time, it is said that only 10% of the museum's collection is at display. From the sheer numbers it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful museums I have seen. It is very tiring to see the entire museum in one day. Given an option, I'll spend a few hours for one week to see the musuem. Also, these days Louvre is getting a lot of publicity, thanks to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Let me tell you, I did not see two inverted pyramids as mentioned in the book. To the best of my knowledge and observation, there is only one pyramid. The museum in Palais Garnier is small and has displays related to ballet, European classical music etc.

Gallerie Uffizi has a vast collection of Italian Rennaisance art. It has some famous works of Michelangelo, Botticelli, da Vinci etc. This museum is very small compared to Louvre and at any given time there can only be certain number of people in the museum. Thus the lines to get in are long and you have to wait for upto 2-3 hours to get in. However, in my opinion, the paintings and sculptures on display are worth the wait.

Gallerie del Accadamia, is a museum dedicated to David, Michelangelo's most famous sculpture.This sculpture is beautiful and its perfection reflects the creator's genius.

Sissi musuem is one of the several museums in the Hofburg Palace, Vienna. My lonely planet guide mentioned that it is the most remarkable of all. It has a lot of imperial cookware and also includes the tour of Kaiserapartments, the residence of the King and his wife Elizabeth. Sometimes, it feels as if the museum's main theme is life and times of Queen Elizabeth.

MoMA has a lot of works by Henry Matisse, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Piet Mondrian etc. I liked the paintings there. There is also a section on photography and modern design and architecture.

Having seen these museums, I feel the paintings I'll put in my house will be more contemporary and modern. I can identify more with the work displayed in MoMA, than in the other museums. Other museums house great work, but I'll leave them there and not have them in my home !!!

Also, I hope I can someday visit Musee de Orsay and Picasso museum in Paris, British national museum in London, National museum of Rome, Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam ...