It is midnight thirty and in front of the Louvre pyramid a crowd of visitors flock to enter the museum. This nocturnal weekend represents the last chance for thousands of people to admire the biggest Leonardo da Vinci exhibition ever. " I told you you had to book, " exclaims Lauraine Faux, while her friend Antoine Fauquet is looking for the Instagram post where he saw the announcement of the Louvre night show. " It is still quite humiliating to say that we are denied nightclubs and then a museum, " replied a friend, Paul Medina, smirked.
The Leonardo da Vinci exhibition has nothing to envy of the trendy Parisian clubs in terms of attendance. While the museum organizes its first nights from 9 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. for the end of the exhibition which opened its doors on October 24, 30,000 seats have been reserved from February 21 to 23. In just three hours, all tickets were gone on the website. For the Tadjouri family, the perfect conditions have been met to see this unique exhibition: timetables, free admission, but above all the atmosphere that the museum offers at night. “ The atmosphere is hushed, quite special. It's exclusive ”, describes the mother, Cherifa, her eyes sparkling in front of La Bataille d'Anghiari .
Read also: Vinci exhibition: the crazy week at the Louvre
In the early evening, the crowd is very varied. The more the hours advance, the more the toddlers and the elders will go to bed to make room for the young night owls, as on a terrace of a bistro. Except that instead of a pint, visitors drink tea and coffee accompanied by madeleines: a little sweetness included in the visit. " What we wanted to do in this exhibition is to welcome the public, " says Louvre president Jean-Luc Martinez. One way to make people feel " at home, " he adds.
In the large hall, Odile Poitier, 32, tastes her cup while sharing her feelings after two hours of visiting. Accompanied by her brother and her best friends, she managed to get six narrow spots. " It is true that sometimes after the exhibitions we rather want to go home, while there we can chat, we are not pressed for time, we are more relaxed ", she is delighted.
The exhibition will be the most important in terms of attendance that the museum has known
Jean-Luc Martinez, president and director of the LouvreIt is under the luminous structure of the pyramid which takes shape in the dark sky that the magic operates. In the exhibition hall, night and day, the rooms are crowded. Despite everything, Jinhui Xu, Panni Lorin and Cora Yuan, three young Chinese workers in Paris, loved their experience. " It's very well organized, " says Cora, who works in the luxury industry in Paris. " We were able to see all of the works up close, " she adds.
162 works together
The night promises to be still long for the 40 agents mobilized to operate the museum. " Relous people arrive at four in the morning, " said security team leader Rafik Boussa. For the moment, he only notices good humor. “ People are nice. As long as they are cool, we are cool, "he said welcoming people, paying attention to the schedule on their ticket so that there is not too big a crowd of visitors.
Read also: Vinci Expo at the Louvre: "Leonardo has chosen to paint little to paint perfectly"
The exhibition includes 162 works brought together after ten years of titanic work and loan requests from all over the world, to the Queen of England who loaned 24 drawings, from the British Museum, the Vatican and Italy in particular. After negotiations between countries and between museums, Rome agreed to lend several drawings including the famous Vitruvian Man , fragile work kept at the Gallery of the Academy in Venice. Only eleven of the twenty or so paintings attributed to the master are on display. But they are masterfully highlighted by the rest of the works that surround them and help explain their genesis.
In the columns of the Parisian , the president and director of the Louvre Jean-Luc Martinez assured that the exhibition will be " the most important in terms of attendance that the museum has known ". In 2019, the Louvre museum welcomed 9.6 million visitors, 500,000 fewer admissions than the previous year. The manager is not alarmed, on the contrary, " It is only the third time in its history that the Louvre has exceeded 9.5 million visitors ".
