Centre Pompidou

May 21st, 2018

Scupture in the foreground, Sacre Coeur in the far background

We finally made time yesterday to visit the Centre Pompidou, France's premier museum for modern and contemporary art.  It's a crazy building, beautiful in parts but also confusing and difficult to navigate.  (The signage was inadequate.)  
The collection is impressive.  We had a great time taking in the whole sweep of 20th Century art in a couple of hours.  They have nice pieces by Matisse and Klee and Kandanski as well as crazier stuff by Duchamp and Warhol and Rothko and Dali.  The collection is very broad, which I think presents a fantastic opportunity for educating the public about modern and contemporary art:  the influences, the evolution, and the connections.  I feel that they fall short in this mission---better organization of the galleries along with a running narrative on signs as one moves from gallery to gallery would go a long way---but, still, the collection is awesome.  

Here, first, is some Kandanski and Klee, which I liked, as well as two additional paintings by de Stael and Kemeny:

I love that piece by Kemeny---chair? throne? queen in checkered gown?  

And here are two more contemporary pieces whose graphic qualities I appreciated:

Finally, here are Kate and Glenn admiring the artwork.  Glenn says, "It's ok, but I would not have this in my house."