Walk the empty halls of Paris’ Louvre through the eyes of this FIU professor
Walking alone among tens of thousands of ancient treasures in the Louvre Museum in Paris, John William Bailly said he was overwhelmed “by the greatness of culture.”
He felt the force of Leonardo da Vinci breathing through the “Mona Lisa” and the revolutionaries in “Liberty Leading the People” – a painting of the French Revolution popularized by the 2008 Coldplay album, “Viva la Vida” – charging toward him.
“The paintings came to life more than I have ever seen in my life,” said Bailly, a South Florida artist and a professor at Florida International University in Miami.
The professor was the first person to enter the Louvre when it reopened to the public at 9 a.m. on July 6 and has since been returning regularly to the museum to share his experience through social media and on his website.
A French-American who was raised in France until the age of 10, Bailly said he had visited the Louvre hundreds of times alone, with friends and on cultural trips with his students.
By July 6, he had every hall and staircase memorized, he said.
But visiting the museum undisturbed by flashes and crowds allowed him to fully appreciate the artworks for the first time.
“I love the experience of the crowd, of all the phones and the excitement about a painting,... but, in all of that, the quality of the works themselves gets somewhat lost,” he said.
His videos and pictures have brought hope to dozens of his students at FIU whose senior year trips to France, Italy and Spain were canceled because of the pandemic, and inspired alumni to share their memories with their peers.
“Seeing his images was very nostalgic since I was there so long ago,” said Natalie Brunelle, 24, who visited France with Bailly in 2017.
“His travels to the Louvre remind me of the Italy program where Bailly showed us around with an unmatched level of expertise and enthusiasm,” added another of Bailly’s former students, Tolga Erbora, 25.
Some students said the pictures inspired them to plan future trips to France.
“I rarely travel internationally, but at his encouragement, I’ve definitely stepped outside of my little box of comfort, and I’m eager to see what the world has to offer,” said Dina Kencie Denord, 22.
Bailly’s social media posts also came to the attention of local art communities.
“Living vicariously through your photos,” Susan Feliciano, an adjunct professor at FIU and a local artist, commented under one of Bailly’s posts on Facebook.
Judith Blumenthal, a former contributing writer at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Art Museum in Miami, said the pictures reminded her of her own experience walking nearly empty halls at the Louvre in 1996.
“We spent time with Michelangelo’s slave sculptures, as well. So beautiful,” she commented on Facebook.
The professor said several people reached out to him requesting pictures of specific paintings and sculptures.
A challenging request came from Miami Beach author Nikki Moustaki Brandt, who could not remember the name or author of a painting she had fell in love with two years before when she lived in Paris.
“It’s a portrait of a young guy, probably some kind of royalty,” Brandt described the painting in a comment on Facebook. “I think the artist’s name begins with a B, but I’m not sure.”
To identify the painting, Bailly said he worked with professors and art experts from Miami and Paris. Then, he returned to the museum to take an original photograph of “The Young Man with a Statuette,” an Italian painting from the 1500s.
Brandt was ecstatic, Bailly said.
“When our social interactions are limited, it was interesting to see that there was this positive interaction, a kind of romantic and cultural story of people who are separated by a great distance coming together,” Bailly said.
“It’s really touching,” he added.
With summer classes being moved online, Bailly said he was able to transport his teaching and art studio to Paris and Leon, France, where he will be exploring the relationship between Miami and Europe through art.
He plans to return to the Louvre and other museums in France to take more pictures for his online community over the next month.
“Hopefully (this is) giving people a sense of virtual travel… and, for my artistic community friends, it’s really giving them a unique perspective on the artworks that they’ve loved forever,” Bailly said.
Bailly’s paintings can be seen at the LnS Gallery in Coconut Grove, which is now open by appointment. Call 305-987-5642.
