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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 19, 2021 15:02:02 GMT
This was my 3rd or 4th visit to the Mucem, which I adore, both the building and the concept. The official name is Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée, which I believe requires no additional translation. Being a relatively new museum (it opened in 2013 when Marseille was the European capital of culture), it is designed to change everything inside constantly, unlike all of our traditional museums when tend to keep things in the same place for a hundred years or more. Every time I have visited, the contents and organisation have been quite different. The current main exhibition is by an artist who has remained controversial in recent times.
Jeff Koons is the most expensive living artist in the world (US$58.4 million for Balloon Dog (Orange) in 2013 and US$91.1 million for Rabbit in 2019). It's nice that the ultra rich who don't know what to do with their money are able to use it, no? All of the works on display in Marseille are from the François Pinault collection. He just opened his new showcase in Paris at the Bourse de Commerce after opening two museums in Venice. Jeff Koons himself is clearly a bit extravagant since he was married briefly to Hungarian porn star Ilana Staller ( La Cicciolina, who was elected to the Italian parliament). They even had a child together. Then he became somewhat more normal and married an American (I think) with whom he has had six more children. I don't think they will end up in poverty. As for the Civilization exhibit (American spelling!), it had ended the day before my visit, so I don't know what was on display.
The concrete latticework shell covering the museum has always enthralled me.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 19, 2021 15:16:38 GMT
This summer, the Mucem has been bussing in groups of residents from poor northern Marseille, big families with lots of children with mothers who barely speak French. These are the people who can live their whole lives without going to the "fancy" downtown (although if you saw my other reports about Marseille, you probably noticed that it is not really fancy at all) and of course who would never dream of ever setting foot in a museum. The visits have been an immense success with both the adults and their children and seem to have opened a whole new world to them. Fingers crossed.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 19, 2021 16:01:37 GMT
Ha ha! Taboule' ..............I can't imagine what it must taste like.
What a fabulous museum Kerouac! I can see why you adore it.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 19, 2021 16:34:41 GMT
I wandered through the art section, which had been completely reorganised as well. But it is so interesting to see artworks with different themes than the usual European themes. Nevertheless, I walked through quickly since I have seen them all before. |
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 20, 2021 3:20:42 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 20, 2021 3:24:17 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 20, 2021 3:27:31 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Aug 20, 2021 3:58:46 GMT
The Koons Elephants painting is my favorite. I'll bet you could learn Occitan just eating enough of those Lay's Mediterranienne chips.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 20, 2021 4:41:56 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 20, 2021 5:37:37 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 20, 2021 16:50:41 GMT
Mainly this thread reminded me of how much I loved Marseille & how astoundingly beautiful the museum is both outside and in.
The "Mediterranean products" display looks like either a bad pop art installation or something the person who was supposed to make that display faked at the last minute. Whatever the explanation, it's a cheat and completely unilluminating, especially when the worthy project of bussing in poor kids is factored in.
I'm confused by the barbotine/majolica jugs. Were they made by Koons or something he collects? I'm not usually a fan of his work, but quite like the chains & ladders painting and adore the big bird, although I'd need that fabulous lattice in order to display it properly in my home. The first piece in reply #5 looks severely Mexican.
Thrilled all over again to see those pictures of Marseille in the area around the museum. Re: cannons pointing toward the city ~ I visited a castle/fort in Naples which also had the cannons pointing at the city. I'm wondering if it isn't some kind of convention to make it clear that the fort is a museum, and not a functioning warlike building.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 20, 2021 17:01:57 GMT
I was confused by the barbotine pitchers myself, but I suppose they are the personal collection that Jeff Koons has made over the years, since you can find them everywhere in France and they are the sort of grotesque thing that is so horrible it is wonderful -- so perfect for Koons.
The cannons faced the city during the the reign of Louix XIV who felt he needed to show the people of Marseille who was in charge and that they had better behave (since they were not behaving as he wanted). After the revolution, there were orders to tear the fort down, but the government finally decided that the fort was necessary to protect Marseille if necessary and saved it.
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Post by mich64 on Aug 20, 2021 18:49:39 GMT
Absolutely would love to visit this museum. The lattice exterior is dramatic and fabulous.
I have seen many of these Jeff Koons pieces when his exhibit was held at Versailles in 2008. I would say I am not a fan of his. Some of the baloon pieces are quite beautiful but other feature pieces at the Versailles exhibit in the vein of the vaccuum pieces and plastic lobsters I did not enjoy but perhaps it was that I felt that those pieces in particular not appropriate for the venue. When I look back on web pages featuring that exhibition, the photographs look beautiful, but when we were actually there it clashed with the interior, perhaps the intent but my non-abstract brain was having difficulty understanding their purpose.
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Post by bjd on Aug 20, 2021 19:07:21 GMT
Not just your abstract brain, Mich. Every time I see anything by Jeff Koons I feel he has pulled a vast con job. Inflatable toys you can buy at any beach resort, balloon animals made for kids' birthday parties... He just appropriates it all, has workers at his studio imitate the stuff and charges a fortune for them. I saw that the Guggenheim in Bilbao is looking for 100,000€ to restore Koons's large puppy sculpture.
That said, the museum looks really interesting both inside and out.
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Post by mich64 on Aug 20, 2021 19:34:46 GMT
It certainly does bjd.
Very well presented by Kerouac.
My concrete nature enjoys the beginning photos of the historic pieces, paintings and objects accompanied with explanations in this beautiful facility and surroundings of this museum.
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Post by mossie on Aug 21, 2021 14:57:08 GMT
I'm sorry, but Jeff Koons meet my description of "pretentious crap"
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 21, 2021 15:01:23 GMT
That's just because you don't have US$91 million to spend on a balloon.  |
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Post by tod2 on Aug 22, 2021 13:56:57 GMT
Give me the old Dutch masters anytime. I see true art in their paintings.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2021 15:13:18 GMT
The question will always be whether we see "proper" art in the old masters simply because we have been trained to do so (and in some cases just want to conform to public opinion) or whether we see beauty in old often dismal paintings because that is how we want to see life (maybe just to feel that our life is better than for those guys in Rembrandt's Night Watch). Comparing the old masters to Koons' balloons makes it super easy to decide that Koons is easy crap and that Rembrandt and others actually had to work a lot. But then we would have to move the debate to Picasso or the impressionists to see if they were true artists or just couldn't paint.
One thing that I like about art is that it is a constant debate. There are people who say that truth is in the eyes of small children, so just imagine a vote by this category about whether a Jeff Koons balloon dog is better than the Mona Lisa.
And thus the training begins to make them change their mind. But what has gone wrong when some of the richest people in the world decide to spend huge fortunes on people like Jeff Koons?
I certainly do not have the answer.
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Post by bjd on Aug 22, 2021 16:16:29 GMT
When our kids were small we lived in Besançon. One of our outings on rainy days was the art museum. The children always wanted to see the same painting -- a huge canvas of dogs baying at a large stag and a bunch of hunters. I thought it was horrible but they liked to see the dogs. I guess all the biblical references and dreary portraits were boring.
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Post by lugg on Aug 28, 2021 21:19:39 GMT
Every time I read one of your Marseilles posts it determines me more to visit for myself one day. This is no exception. My favourite photos are of the lattice / trellis structures and the walk way- just beautiful. I think I may be in the minority but I would love to see Koon's work for myself , until then I just have to admire it from these fab photos. And those pitchers ... so interesting.
The other thing I loved was the strong sunshine and clear blue skies , sadly missing during August here.
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