For 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 MoreThe exhibition Lumières : carte blanche à Christian Lacroix is a study of juxtapositions. There are a lot of lenses that make up this exhibition. The Musée Cognacq-Jay is a small museum featuring 18th century art and decor, assembled by an early 20th century collector. This exhibition then adds the layer of having Christian Lacroix, a contemporary [ ... ]
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 MoreThe exhibition Les Tudors at the Musée du Luxembourg is all over the place. The curatorial discourse is slightly convoluted, but I almost didn't care because wow are the artworks exceptional. I was captivated by the elaborately depicted outfits worn by the subjects of the portraits. Brocade, bows, gems, feathers, lace, pearls, [ ... ]
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 Hokusai exhibition at the Grand Palais is like a movie. You enter, and the first room focuses on the reception of the Hokusai’s works in France in the second half of the 19th century (after his death). A timeline greets you with the major dates of the artist’s life, each period associated with a name change. It’s like only hearing whispers [ ... ]
Read MoreI’ve been looking forward to the Louvre’s exhibition on medieval Morocco for quite a while. Before it opened in October, I could see an amazing lit chandelier being set up at the exhibition entrance. I was excited to learn more about a period of art history that I haven’t encountered much since I took a survey course in [ ... ]
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 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 [ ... ]
Read MoreThe Louvre Abu Dhabi will open in December 2015, but you can see the museum's first acquisitions now, on display in an exhibition at the 'Louvre Paris’. In 2007, an intergovernmental agreement was signed between France and the United Arab Emirates [ ... ]
Read MoreIf Paris had its own version of The New Yorker magazine, what would the covers look like? This was the question that inspired a project where 100 artists made covers for an imaginary magazine called The Parisianer. Fifty of these illustrations are currently on display in the bite-sized exhibition at the Hôtel de Ville. [ … ]
Read MoreThe retrospective exhibition on Henri Cartier-Bresson at the Centre Pompidou is an ideal opportunity to spend an hour or so carefully looking at very beautiful images. The exhibition space is sparse; plain walls are filled with small framed photographs. It is an utter [ ... ]
Read MoreShould you find yourself looking for a delightful way to pass a spring afternoon, might I suggest visiting Joséphine at the Musée du Luxembourg. The exhibition is short and sweet, giving you a glimpse of the life and influence of the first wife of Napoléon, via Empire-waisted gowns and bee-encrusted [ ... ]
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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.
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