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- - Louve (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/louve-308886/)

What do you highly recommend to see? A favorite destination?

I think the Louvre is over-rated. The Musee Rodin is great, the Musee D'orsey is my favorite. The Louvre has the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory, and it's almost like you have to go to say you'e gone...but there are many better musuems in Paris

Wow. Thanks so much David. I had no idea. I will definitely check those museums out. My artist son will be so impressed with me.

Pattyca, We found this "Three Hours In The Louvre" site on the web. If you want to see the highlights, this was GREAT!!! It took us a few minutes, looking at the Louvre map and following the guide linked below. There was one section of the Louvre that was closed, so we just skipped to the next one. I hope this helps you. Enjoy!!! http://www.gettingaway.com/directory...ris/louvre.htm

Pattyca I always recommend this tour that my wife & I tried on our first visit: a self-guided 3 hour tour (I detest formal guided tours). see http://www.canoe.ca/TravelEurope/louvre.html You see all of the highlights: enough to make you realise that you have to come back . . . Ian

There you go - 2 different three hour tours - take your pick. But, the Louvre is a Must See. The building alone is incredible, let alone the amazing works of art inside. Yes, the Orsay is a Must See too, but I'd give it second billing. Ian

C'mon folks. I know that tastes vary, but to say that the Louvre overrated and that you go just to say you've been there! Pattyca, believe me, the Louvre is a lot more than the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory....a helluva lot more!

The Louvre is definitely not over-rated! Huge, yes, but wonderful. For a first-timer, Rick Steves' Paris guidebook has a good Louvre tour to follow to see the highlights. He also has the same for Musee D'Orsay, Cluny, Invalides, Marmattan, Rodin, and a few more. I found his ideas quite useful for my first trip to Paris a few years ago, after a 50-year hiatus. I've since been back 3 times in the last 2 years, and going again in May.

If I could only have months to go to that over-rated Louvre, every day! Yes, Winged Victory took my breath away, the Mona Lisa did not, but there is so much to see that is wonderful, I would just love to have all the time in the world to just be there and wander those rooms. The D'Orsay is lovely, easy to see all in one day and worth going back to each visit. It has many of my favorite paintings and sculptures in it. The Rodin is beautiful, but after seeing the rooms full of sculptures, I find that the gardens are much more appealing. The Musee Picasso is nice, a former home, it is fun to look out the windows over the roof tops and think that Picasso looked out this window, that these were some of the paintings that were done by his friends that he collected. I would recommend seeing these museums and any others that interest you. I would never listen to negative opinions about something like "which museum" you should see. You should go and see on your own with an open mind and no one elses ideas in your head.

The Louvre is wonderful. I'm not a big Mona Lisa fan, but there is so much to see other than that. Musee d'Orsay is my favorite however, mainly because I love the impressionists. We spend a whole day at the Louvre each visit to Paris and see something new each time.

Yes, what you love and want to see in art is very subjective, but the Louve has so much great art it's beyound belief. All the suggestions for self-guided tours are really good (I think Rick Steve's book Mona Winks is very helpful), but what amazed me last time I was there was how the Mona Lisa was swamped with people while some equally great works were hanging in rooms that were empty, which was great for me. In particular were the Rembrants' (his self portrait is incredible) and a roomful of works by Delaxiou. As a lover of the Impressionists and modern art, I absolutely adore the Pompidou--especially the 4th floor (I believe it is) as well as the building itself and views from the higher floors. And the D'Orsay certainly is wonderful, as is the Rodin and Picasso Museums. Also, I highly recommend you get a museum pass. Not only does it save money, but it saves lots of time! Have a great trip.

Actually, the Louvre isn't one of my favorite world art museums, either -- it is one of the great museums of the world, of course, in holdings (although I don't think they always do the greatest job of displaying it), so it's not overrated in that sense. However, I think I might agree with davidmax in saying it's overrated in the sense that too many tourists go there without knowing anything about it or why they are going or what they want to see, just because they think they are supposed to go. For those who don't like art museums that much in general, or don't like art much before 1800, I think other museums might be more enjoyable. It's not that hard to find out a little about what it contains in any good guidebook or on its web site and decide if that's the kind of art you want to see and if that's how you want to spend your time, if it's limited. There are several sections of the Louvre I particularly like, and they aren't where Mona Lisa is or the Winged Victory, but I don't always go to the Louvre every time I'm in Paris--I go to the Orsay more often and generally I prefer later periods of art.

If you have to ask about what to see in the Louvre, I am of the opinion that you bypass it on a short trip. There is too much else to see in Paris. For me the Louvre is problematical. There is so much to see that requires a fair knowledge of art history to be able to separate the junk from the good stuff that learning all of that in a few days is way to formidable a task when so much else is out there to see and do in Paris. If you have a short list of objectives in the Louvre to visit, such as Winged Victory, Mona, The Raft of the Medusa, Liberty Leading the People, you could do it in two hours or so and then leave right away. I went with the intent to see only the biggies, but did not get out after the last one. Instead, I made the mistake of becoming enmeshed in the Egyptian and Greek rocks before I ambled up to the Renaissance wing to see the sights. I shudda known better. I suddenly realized that all the faces were looking alike and I had not the faintest notion of who painted it or why. Time to get out before the museum staggers got any worse! Usually the mob around Mona and Venus is so large that seeing either of them is a chore. I actually failed to see Mona the last time I was there. The people were packed in 10 deep and getting close enough without being toe stomped and rib elbowed was not worth it. I said to heck with it and went where the crowd was thinner. The Musee d'Orsay is managable in about 3 hours. Some of it I bypass; works by Monet and friends find me lingering. Last time with a lunch break in that marvelous dining room I spent 4 hours having fun just looking, and eating. Musee Rodin is a nice place with a fun walk in the garden. Sculptures among the trees are always fun, if it is not raining. Some of the works are monumental. His marble head of Clemanceau is almost a satire. Rodin had a way of capturing the inner half of his subjects and projecting it to the outher half. He put a little top knot on Clemanceau that made him look like a Mongolian warrior. Clemanceau hated the thing, but he was not called the Last of the Jacobeans for nothing. I thought it looked quite becoming to the Tiger.

oh, I forgot to answer the question of what I particularly like -- the sculpture wing, royal apartments and jewels, Ingres and Corot, and the small area of Impressionist period (which has a few Whistlers and Monets, but most Impressionist art is in the Orsay).

Then there is the Courbet painting in the D'Orsay:)

I'm with Bob - if you're asking (or just wanting to impress your son), it's probably not for you. If you appreciate art and architecture, it's simply not to be missed. And, those in the know head for the ticket entrance at the Denon Wing (see the Louvre website) which is new and not widely known about, and just steps from the Mona Lisa (whereupon you can beat the lines and the crowds).

I agree with Bob, too. I really prefer small museums that you can really see: l'Orangerie (if it ever gets refurbished), neat sculpture at Zadkine and Bourdelle, and the Museum of Jean Leclerc/Jean Moulin (resistance) above and behind the Gare Montparnasse (Zadkine, Bourdelle and Leclerc all free). And for modern art, the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris on President Wilson (also free) is a kick.

Having read some of these posts I am beginning more and more to think that THIS SITE is "vastly overrated" in terms of the amount of useful information you can get here, IMHO (make you feel better???) of course!

djkbooks, I don't find any Denon entrance on the Louvre site.