Marie-Antoinette

The Grand Palais Colonnade

I visited the Marie-Antoinette exhibition at the Grand Palais : I can't tell whether it was good or bad, because it was over-crowed which is enough to change any good exhibition into a nightmare. At the beginning I tried to make my way into the crowd, but the game soon became physically and mentally exhausting. So, what I have seen is a compact mass of people struggling for their cultural lives - an awful experience.

I wonder how the numerous tourists, whose only approach to Marie-Antoinette was Sofia Coppola's film, feel about the exhibition. Even if well staged, the thing looks antiquated compared with the glamorous girl shown by Coppola. And it looks antiquated because it IS antiquated. The real 18th century was not painted in Barbie pink.

There is a long way from dream to reality, and the distance might come as a shock to some people.

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Pictures by Horvallis