Day 44 - Classes and the Pompidou

Today was pretty good. French went well. Right after French, I went to the Pompidou Centre through the help of Dr. Ricks. I went to an exhibit by Soulange that is coming down on Sunday, I believe. I really liked it. Picture taking was not allowed, so I can't show you the works unfortunately. Anyway, it was very modern art and as such, it was a little strenuous because I had to think a lot. Nothing was readily apparent. I had to spend at least a minute in front of each work to really understand it. But I really enjoyed it. The pictures didn't really have titles so when I would look at the paintings, I would think of titles. Some of my favorites: Burial, the Attacked, Evening, and Fear, and maybe Trench Warfare. Of course, you will never know which ones they are because those are the names I gave them! Alors... they had some quotes around the area (in French and English) that I wish I could have taken pictures of so I could remember them. They really added to the meaning of the various pieces. One of my favorites was "Why Black?" and then he went on to say that his answer is the best possible explanation and it reaches into the soul (or something to that effect). And the answer is "BECAUSE." At the last part of the exhibit, there were canvases completely covered in black. That sounds boring, right? No. The reason why is because the art was not the black canvas, but the light that played off the canvas and seemed to come from the canvas. He called these works as a whole "Beyond Black." It was really awesome. Again, I really wish I could have taken pictures. But many of you probably wouldn't have liked him much anyway :) Like I said, he was very modern. From the top of the Pompidou.

You can see Sacre Coeur in the background :)

The escalators up to the exhibits.

After that, we all headed to art class. At the beginning of the semester, she was all nice and easy-going. Now she is telling us how difficult the final is going to be and how we have to know all the French paintings in the Louvre (there are hundreds, by the way). AH! It will work out. One can only hope. Here's some pictures.

Shaina doing her presentation. She did a fabulous job and I love this painting.

A little strange :)

The coronation of the Empress, the one that is also in Versailles. Shaina is standing by it for me, like she did for the other one.

Back to my place next. For dinner, we had big shrimp (with brains and shell and everything), followed by a large piece of fish (I think Salmon) covered in butter, herbs, cream cheese, etc. Both were delicious. With the fish, we had a small potato and RATATOUILLE! It was really good. It was just cooked vegetables, but I really liked it. It had a nice taste. Then chocolate creme to finish it off.

Now I need to work on my religion presentation... :) (My religion presentation is on the humanitarian mission of Pres. Benson. I am basing my presentation on the book On Wings of Faith by Frederick Babbel, who was also on the mission with Pres. Benson. I recommend it highly. It is phenomenal to see the faith of the people in Europe after WWII.)