Parisian Art

One of the main reasons tourists visit Paris is to take in the sights – and not just the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, but the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the historically unparalleled Liberty Leading the People.  Paris is home to some of the world's most famous art museums and galleries, but it is also renowned for having numerous lesser known galleries that feature newcomers and some of the more obscure forms of art.

Perhaps the most well known museum in Paris is the Louvre, which is home to artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci (the Mona Lisa, Madonna on the Rocks), Alexandros of Antioch (Venus de Milo), Jacques-Louis David (Oath of the Horatii), Eugene Delacroix (Liberty Leading the People), Anthony van Dyck (Charles I of England), Raphael (Belthazar and Castiglione), Johannes Vermeer (The Lace Maker), and Rembrandt (Bathsheba at Her Bath).  The Louvre is so famous that it has been the centre of a number of books and movies, in particular, Dan Brown's 'Da Vinci Code'.  One of the most controversial moments in the Louvre's history has been the construction of the glass pyramid which rises from the ground in the square – many Parisians scorned the structure, whilst tourists have become enthralled with the unusualness of the architecture.