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Louvre Museum

Louvre Museum

Paris, France · Website

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The Louvre began as a fortress. Philip II raised it on the right bank of the Seine around 1190 to guard medieval Paris, and over the following centuries French kings rebuilt it into a royal palace, until Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles in 1682 and left the half-finished halls to the royal collection and the artists lodged inside.

The Revolution turned it into a public museum. On 10 August 1793 the Muséum central des arts opened its doors, showing the confiscated art of the crown and the church to any citizen who wished to walk in. Napoleon filled it with the spoils of his campaigns and briefly renamed it after himself. Much was returned after Waterloo, but the idea held, a national collection arranged for study and free to the public.

Today the Louvre holds more than 35,000 works, from the Venus de Milo to Géricault's Raft of the Medusa. The crowds, though, press toward one small portrait. In August 1911 it vanished: Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian handyman who had worked in the museum, lifted Leonardo's Mona Lisa off the wall and carried it out under his coat. For two years the frame hung empty while visitors came to stare at the gap, and the painting returned only in 1913, after Peruggia tried to sell it to a dealer in Florence. I. M. Pei's glass pyramid, set in the courtyard in 1989, now marks the entrance.

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Article · 42 min readWhat to See at the Louvre: 25 Highlights

Collection

1,174 works
The Union of Drawing and ColorThe Union of Drawing and ColorGuido Reni, 1623The Vegetable Market in AmsterdamThe Vegetable Market in AmsterdamGabriel Metsu, 1660The Virgin Adoring the Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and Two AngelsThe Virgin Adoring the Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and Two AngelsFrancesco Botticini, 1487The Virgin and Child in Glory with Cherubim, Seraphim, Four Angels, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Bernard of ClairvauxThe Virgin and Child in Glory with Cherubim, Seraphim, Four Angels, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Bernard of ClairvauxFrancesco Botticini, 1487The Virgin and Child Surrounded by Six AngelsThe Virgin and Child Surrounded by Six AngelsSassetta, 1440The Virgin and Child with Saint FrancisThe Virgin and Child with Saint FrancisDomenichino, 1623The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the BaptistThe Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the BaptistGuido Reni, 1607The Virgin Appearing to Saint Luke and Saint CatherineThe Virgin Appearing to Saint Luke and Saint CatherineAnnibale Carracci, 1592The Virgin at the FountainThe Virgin at the FountainJacopo de' Barbari, 1500The Virgin Nursing the ChildThe Virgin Nursing the ChildBartolomeo Vivarini, 1450The Virgin of Humility Nursing the ChildThe Virgin of Humility Nursing the ChildWorkshop of Lorenzo Monaco, 1400The Virgin of the AnnunciationThe Virgin of the AnnunciationPompeo Batoni, 1737The Virgin of the GrapesThe Virgin of the GrapesPierre Mignard I, 1656The Vision of Saint JeromeThe Vision of Saint JeromeGuercino, 1619The VisitationThe VisitationSebastiano del Piombo, 1519The Vow to LoveThe Vow to LoveJean-Honoré Fragonard, 1780The WatermillThe WatermillMeindert Hobbema, 1665Timoclea Brought Captive before AlexanderTimoclea Brought Captive before AlexanderDomenichino, 1615Ulysses Returns Chryseis to Her FatherUlysses Returns Chryseis to Her FatherClaude Lorrain, 1644Vase in the Form of a Woman Nursing a ChildVase in the Form of a Woman Nursing a ChildUnknown Egyptian artist (18th Dynasty), -1482Venus Asking Vulcan for Arms for AeneasVenus Asking Vulcan for Arms for AeneasFrançois Boucher, 1732Venus de MiloVenus de MiloAttributed to Alexandros of Antioch, -137Venus in a LandscapeVenus in a LandscapeLucas Cranach the Elder, 1529View of Amsterdam with Ships on the IJView of Amsterdam with Ships on the IJLudolf Bakhuizen, 1666View of Naples with Mount VesuviusView of Naples with Mount VesuviusJoseph Vernet, 1748