The Chronicles of Adriana: Centre Pompidou

Centre Pompidou

Last Saturday was the perfect day to go to a museum: it was cold and it rained all day. Besides visiting its “Museum Shop” and its café on the sixth floor (where I only went once before to profit from its view and not to pay its astronomical prices for a piece of cake and a cup of coffee – 11-15 Euros) I had never really been inside the Centre Pompidou; although I had always wanted. The Pompidou Center is a 6-floor complex which hosts the National Museum of Modern Art, a large public library and other halls and rooms where different temporary exhibitions are presented throughout the year. Since I do enjoy modern art I was really looking forward to spending some good quality time at the museum and be able to enjoy it entirely without rushing. And that is exactly what I did: I got to the museum somewhere around 2 o’clock in the afternoon and did not leave until 9 PM. The center was opened in 1977 and it was named after President George Pompidou who died in 1974 while still in office. President Pompidou commissioned the building of the center to the dislike of many Parisians who did not like nor appreciate the looks of this modern structure in the middle of one of their refined, chic and elegant “quartiers” (districts). Nevertheless, they all have gotten used to it and have grown to love it as this center has become one of Paris’s most visited museums together with the “Louvre”.

Pablo Picasso - La Muse // Jackson Pollock -Painting (Silver over black, white, yellow and red)

In the permanent collection of the National Museum of Modern Arts you get to see a little bit of everything from paintings, sculptures and other objects. I have to admit that even though I enjoy modern art there were some things that were too modern for my taste…or for my knowledge. I’m sorry, and I know I may sound too ignorant or too closed minded to be criticizing some of the “art” I saw, but there were things that I couldn’t stop and wonder what they were doing there. For example, there is the “Structures Pneumatiques” hall where different types of chairs, tables and other objects made out of that kind of plastic you inflate are displayed (the same plastic material used in lifesavers you inflate for little kids to use when swimming). Or there is the “Dark Black Panel” by Kelly (another one of those ?!?!? moments for me). On the paintings side I saw works by artists such as Picasso, Matise, Pollock, Rothko and Kandinsky and sculptures from Miró just to name a few; all of which I enjoyed a lot.

Henri Matisse -Grand interieur rouge// Joan Miro

Artist from the 9th Concept Studio//Dark black panel by Kelly

The center is also currently hosting an exhibition on the life and works (paintings and sculptures) of Alberto Giacometti, an exhibition on some of the completed, under construction and proposed projects of Richard Rogers and Architects (the same architects who designed the Pompidou center), and a presentation of the cinematography of 2 directors, a Spanish and an Iranian, who have lived parallel lives and have done parallel work without knowing each other. And last but not least one of my favorite temporary exhibitions: “Peinture fraîche face à face avec le 9e concept” (Fresh painting: face to face with the 9th Concept). This exhibition is actually an event where you can observe local artist, who belong to the 9th concept studio, work on their paintings inside a room in the center. While watching them you also have the opportunity to interact with them and ask them questions. All in all it was a very interesting day. I left feeling more cultured, for all that is worth, but I also felt feeling very tired from standing up all day long. During my 7 hour journey I only stopped for about 20 minutes to have coffee.