The Pompidou Center is a very unusual building in that all of the walk ways, elevators and escalators can be found on the outside of the building, which ended up providing us with some great views of Paris!
I have to say I wasn't very impressed with the fourth floor (which was the first floor of the museum). After passing by photographs of enlarged, wall-sized private parts and then of a video of a naked woman on a beach hula-hooping with a crown of nails, I was overall in a pretty bad mood. Chris encouraged me to not write off the artwork so quickly - to try to see what it was that the artists were trying to communicate. So, I tried to move past my feelings of hatred (to be honest - I was surprised it was so strong!) to be a bit more critical. I suppose the good things about this kind of modern art is that it aims to look at things from a different perspective - not the normal or expected point of view, but rather one that is outside of the box, that really pushes the envelope. It seems to want to encounter things again, as if it were for the very first time. It is inventive and it is on a quest for what is true and real.
On the flip side, it often seems to have cut itself off from history, from God and therefore from truth. It almost always feels destructive - not constructive, like it is tearing down rather that building up. It is lacking in transcendence. Where as art in the past has tried to reach up to God, I feel like modern art reaches down, into the dark places of humanity. Without God, we're just left with ourselves and I find that boring, perverse and sad. It makes me think of a person (like me!) who wants to be free by not being disciplined, when really being disciplined, leads to true freedom - mastery over oneself. In that way, it is pointless - like you're staring at your own belly button trying to find meaning in life. Meaning seems to be displaced and it all is made relative - with nothing left sacred. Those were the few impressions I was left with on modern art, but I really know very little about the subject. If anyone has insights, I'd really appreciate them. I definitely could be missing something. Here are some shots of the less provocative art on the fourth floor:
On the fifth floor, we found a lot of Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky and two pieces by Chagall.
I was thinking of reading Modern Art and The Death of a Culture by H. R. Rookmaaker but if you have any other recommendations, I'd be interested.
I appreciate how critically you think about things! This was a great post.
ReplyDeleteYour critique of the Centre Pompidou is really interesting and I enjoyed reading it (especially since I was just there in September). James and I spent almost an entire day in that museum. It also was, admittedly, my most favorite thing we did while we were in Paris!! That being said, I do understand your take on abstract art and contemporary works. In fact, when the movement first started people rejected it for the very reasons you are sighting. However, I disagree with that take and would LOVE to talk about it with you! I rarely get the chance to talk about these things with interested parties ;-)
I also have some book recommendations and even some lectures on CD I brought home from L'Abri I could share too which address these questions from a Godly perspective. Let's talk more about it when I see you next!!
Great! Thanks Stephanie - Don't forget to share with me the recommendations.
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