Saturday was the ‘Soiree au MIA’ to celebrate the opening of ‘The Louvre and the Masterpiece’ from 9pm to midnight at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Kelley (who left husband Marc home to watch the kids), has been a friend of mine forever, had been to the Louvre (I have not been there yet), so I was interested in her opinion of the exhibit. Sadly, we were not impressed.
They had an interesting idea with the party and the art. The tickets mentioned music, dancing and surprises. Hmmm…they had a few dancers dresses like members from the French court with the big white wigs, but as Kelley commented ‘I don’t think they are professionals’, to my which my response was ‘Professional what’? We also saw a few drunk people dancing (well…we were hoping they are were drunk), but I dont think thats what they had in mind. There was also champagne and an open bar. We never came across any food. As for the art…hmmm… When you see all the ads/email/press that the exhibit will be from the Louvre you have these high expectations and the exhibit was just not that good. Yes, they had a beautiful Vermeer and a gorgeous metal Syrian Islamic dish, and a drawing by da Vinci. But so what. The rest of the exhibit (Greek, Egyptian, Mesopotamia, old European Masters, prints, etc) was nice, but there was no art from the Americas, Oceania/Pacific, China, Africa (except Egypt). I guess with the Louvre you expect grandeur and a huge collection and thats what I was hoping for, but did not find.
It was also super crowded and they had the music blaring. Not French music. Oh no. There was a DJ spinning crap from the 1980s and 1990s. Because as everyone knows nothing really says France and the Louvre like Madonna and Prince!
So in all, I would say its a nice exhibit (great art is always a joy to behold), but it is nothing to write home about.
