The Louvre

From Fortress to Palace: A Louvre History

Many people picture the Louvre as a palace before it was a museum — and that's only half right. It was indeed used as a…

From Controversy to Icon: The Glass Pyramid

In 1981, François Mitterrand was elected President of France. Believing that France's once-brilliant culture and arts we…

The Namesakes of the Louvre's Three Wings

The Louvre is made up of three wings — Richelieu, Sully, and Denon — each named after a notable figure from French histo…

Where Civilization Began: Mesopotamia

Today's tour begins with Mesopotamia, which is often grouped with Egypt, India, and China as one of the great early civi…

A Law Carved in Stone: The Code of Hammurabi

This is the famous Code of Hammurabi. People often picture something like a book, but it's actually carved into stone. I…

The Guardian Lamassu and Ancient Assyria

We move forward roughly a thousand years from when the Code of Hammurabi was created. By this time, Assyria held dominan…

Marks in Stone: The Louvre's Underground Moat

The Louvre started out as a fortress, and where you're standing right now is proof of it. This space was uncovered by ac…

The Guardian with a King's Face: The Great Sphinx

Alongside the pyramids, the Sphinx is one of Egypt's defining symbols. Greek and Roman mythology cast the sphinx as a ma…

Venus de Milo: More Striking Without Her Arms

The statue you're looking at is the Venus de Milo. As stunning as it is, no one knows who made it — its name comes not f…

The Masterpiece Born of Wet Drapery: Nike, Winged Victory

This statue was discovered in 1863 by a French expedition on the Greek island of Samothrace, which is why it's also know…

Before You Enter the Painting Galleries: A Thousand-Year Story

So far, we've seen art from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Hellenistic art in particular celebrated human beauty,…

The Moment a Dead Beauty Stirs Again: Cimabue

This room brings together the works of trailblazers ahead of their time — the pioneers of the Renaissance. The first pai…

One Step Beyond His Master: Giotto's Saint Francis

This painting was made by Giotto, the student of Cimabue whose work we just saw. Giotto is a name you'll hear constantly…

Obsessed with the Vanishing Point: Uccello's Battle of San Romano

This is Paolo Uccello's Battle of San Romano, depicting an outnumbered Florence's 1432 victory over Siena, two rival cit…

The Saint Who Survived a Body Full of Arrows: Mantegna's Saint Sebastian

This is Andrea Mantegna's Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. Bound to a column and pierced with arrows from head to toe, this…

John or Bacchus? A Riddle Da Vinci Never Answered

This room sometimes displays two Leonardo works side by side or on rotation — Saint John the Baptist and Saint John (or…

Which Child Is Jesus? Da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks

The Virgin of the Rocks, painted in the 1480s. At the center sits the Virgin Mary, with two young children beside her. T…

A Painting Shaped by Two Mothers: Da Vinci's The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

This is Leonardo's The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. He worked on it for sixteen years but never finished it before…

A Miracle Painted with Friends: Veronese's The Wedding at Cana

By the late Renaissance, the artistic center of gravity had shifted from Florence and Rome to Venice. The Wedding at Can…

The Story of the Great Heist, Told While You Wait in Line

You've finally made it to the Mona Lisa. The line might look long, but it moves faster than you'd expect — so while you…

A Smile That's Puzzled Us for 500 Years: The Mona Lisa

The name "Mona Lisa" is instantly familiar, yet few people actually know what it means. Mona means "lady" or "madam," an…

The Day the Painter Rewrote: David's Coronation of Napoleon

This is The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David. It depicts the ceremony held on December 2, 1804, though the…

Time to Stop Fighting: David's The Intervention of the Sabine Women

The Intervention of the Sabine Women is the work of Jacques-Louis David, a leading figure of Neoclassicism, a movement k…

A Waist Stretched on Purpose: Ingres's La Grande Odalisque

This is Ingres's La Grande Odalisque. Orientalism was all the rage in 19th-century French art, and an "odalisque" refers…

A Last Flicker of Hope Amid Despair: Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa

The Raft of the Medusa depicts a real shipwreck that occurred in 1816. The painter, Théodore Géricault, was born in 1791…

Not Joan of Arc, but Marianne: Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People

This is Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People. Though it depicts a French revolution, it's often mistaken for th…

Life and Death: Michelangelo's Two Slaves

These two sculptures, known as the Slaves, are by Michelangelo, and together they represent life and death. Most people…

Love Awakened by a Kiss: Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss is the work of Antonio Canova, widely regarded as one of Italy's greatest sculptors. In p…

Call It a "Purchase," Read It as a Looting: The Borghese Room

This room is called the Borghese Room. Anyone who loves art will immediately think of the Borghese Gallery in Rome — and…

A Sculpture That Changes With Your Angle: The Sleeping Hermaphroditus

This is the Sleeping Hermaphroditus. In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus embodies both male and female characteristics at…

A Name That Got It Wrong: The Borghese Gladiator

The Borghese Gladiator ranks among the greatest surviving works of ancient Greek sculpture, celebrated for its dynamic p…

A Vessel That Held Status, Not Flowers: The Borghese Vase

The Borghese Vase is so massive that it was never actually used to hold flowers — instead, it served as an ornamental pi…

Drunk but Tender: Silenus with the Infant Dionysus

This sculpture, showing the infant Dionysus cradled in someone's arms, was carved in ancient Greece but discovered in Ro…