“Excuse me,” demanded a tourist armed with an open Louvre map and a huge camera, “where is the art?” I had been standing with my nose in an intricately sculpted wooden frame that was, in fact, empty. Indeed, all the frames surrounding us in the gallery were missing their paintings, their raisons d’être. The resulting room was quite eerie at first [...]
Read MoreA Brief History of the Future is unlike any exhibition I’ve ever seen in the Louvre. Based on Jacques Attali’s book of the same name, this musée imaginaire faces off ancient objects with contemporary commissions, creating a commentary on the nature of society and a reflection on the [...]
Read MoreThe Musée d'Orsay is currently displaying Dolce vita ? Du Liberty au design italien (1900-1940) in its 6th floor galleries. The exhibition covers Italian design from the early 20th century when Italy was still newly united, to the rise of Mussolini’s regime. The diverse styles found in [...]
Read MoreHere is a round-up of exhibitions in Paris starting in September 2015. Check out my Cultural Calendar page to see a large selection of exhibitions currently on!
Read MoreThe Grand Palais exhibition’s Lumière ! Le cinéma inventé feels like my ‘Cinema 101’ university textbook came to life. Filled with the major mechanical inventions of early cinema and many projections of films, the space feels like a cabinet of wonders. The exhibition places a large emphasis on the Lumière brothers, Louis and Auguste, and [...]
Read MoreHere is a round-up of exhibitions in Paris starting in May/June 2015. Check out my Cultural Calendar page to see a large selection of exhibitions currently on! I am so excited about the exhibition on contemporary stained glass windows at the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine. The Musée Cognacq-Jay's exhibition on 'exotic' 18th century [ ... ]
Read MoreFor its Velázquez exhibition, the Grand Palais in collaboration with GuidiGO is offering a guided visit using Google Glass. This was my first time using Google Glass, and I was impressed by how intuitive the glasses were. It didn’t take very long to feel like they were an extension of my own body. The glasses only offer 12 commentaries, far [ ... ]
Read MoreAlthough I was unclear about what Swabian Sculptures (sculptures souabes) from the Late Middle Ages actually were, I was still very excited to visit the current exhibition at the Musée du Cluny because the poster looked epic. Swabia, it turns out, is an historic region in southwestern Germany between the Black Forest, Lake Constance, and the [ ... ]
Read MoreThe Musée d'Orsay's current exhibition Pierre Bonnard: Peindre l'Arcadie is a delight. I walked out of this celebration of color feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. The (well-written and accessible) wall panels summed up Bonnard's style as possessing elegance, vitality, charm, deftness and humor. These words describe the exhibition as a whole. Pierre [ ... ]
Read MoreI am really excited about the Poussin et Dieu exhibition at the Musée du Louvre. It is a solid exhibition, with clean, simple scenography and accessible interpretation. But—oh my goodness—are the artworks exceptional. It was an absolute pleasure to get lost in the masterful paintings, and to finally get why Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) is [ ... ]
Read MoreOne of my favorite springtime rituals is heading to the mairie of the 6th arrondissement for the annual Salon d’art floral. This weekend exhibition of floral art features the creations of gardeners from the Jardin du Luxembourg and neighborhood florists, who sculpt blossoms and greenery into fantastical forms. The event is held a grand [ ... ]
Read MoreThere are a lot of exciting offers opening this month. The Fondation Louis Vuitton is presenting an overview of modern art with exciting loans from top international museums, the Musée du Luxembourg is showing portraits of the Tudors, and the Louvre offers an exhibition looking at Poussin and his religious paintings. I'm also excited [ ... ]
Read MoreHere is a round-up of exhibitions in Paris starting in January/February 2015. I'm particularly excited about visiting the playful buttons exhibition at Les Arts Décoratifs. And with all of the events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of concentration camps by the Allies this year, the exhibition of films made by the Soviets of [ ... ]
Read MoreThe Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition at the Grand-Palais is a joy, a pleasure, a celebration. Before this exhibition, I only knew Saint Phalle as the artist behind the Stravinsky Fountain by the Centre Pompidou, and other such colorful creations. I was not expecting to be blown away (as I was) by the force of her artworks’ color, form [ ... ]
Read MoreThis is part of Museum User Guides, a series with ideas for how to “use” museums. The activities suggested here propose a fresh way to understand and experience a particular collection. Sometimes you just need to stop what you're doing and have a cuppa. This is especially true after a visiting an exhibition. Museum fatigue is [ ... ]
Read MoreThis is part of Photo Safaris, a series that focuses on details found in artworks around various themes, with the aim of looking at everything differently. Plural Modernities from 1905 to 1970 is the new hanging of the Centre Pompidou's collection, on until January 26, 2015. It aims so show [ ... ]
Read MoreThe current exposition-dossier at the Musée du Louvre is on Rhodes, a Greek island that was an important trading hub between the East and West in Antiquity. This exhibition focuses on Rhodian archeology from the 14th to 6th centuries BCE (from the Bronze Age to the Archaic period). It is literally the first exhibition in [ ... ]
Read MoreThe Centre Pompidou just opened its retrospective on Jeff Koons, the contemporary artist behind Balloon Dog and the porcelain Michael Jackson and Bubbles. I have never been a huge Koons fan, so I was hoping this exhibition would help me understand what the hype is all about. The first part of the exhibition was unexpected [ ... ]
Read MoreThe current exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg focuses on a 19th century art dealer (Paul Durand-Ruel) who played a major role in supporting Impressionist artists. I was not expecting this to be such a colorful and diverse exhibition, and I was pleasantly surprised. The exhibition, which features some unbelievable [ ... ]
Read MoreThe Musée Delacroix is currently putting on an itsy-bitsy exhibition about how the artist was inspired by Shakespeare. The title, Eugène Delacroix, the most legitimate of Shakespeare’s sons, is a tad ambitious for an exhibition basically composed of about twenty lithographs. But this is Paris, so let there be grandeur [ ... ]
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This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
IMAGINIBUS is a blog about playing in museums, with a focus on imagination and creativity.
This blog is a place to be inspired to use your imagination around artworks—and to see the art of your daily life.
When we engage creatively with art, museums can become playgrounds and laboratories to experiment with attention, mindfulness, and imagination. Interesting things happen when we use that museum gaze to look at our daily lives like a work of art.
Find more inspiration for playing with new ways of paying attention to your daily life here.
Hello! I'm Marina Gross-Hoy, a writer, Museum Studies PhD candidate, and mother currently living in Quebec. I take playing in museums very seriously.
Read more about the blog here.
Check out my newsletter on Substack to be inspired to see the art in your daily life.
