I found my way in, and asked (in French) at the ticket desk for a reduced tarif ticket (because I am under 26). The woman looked confused and wondered why I needed a reduced ticket. I said, "because I'm 20" and produced my driver's license. She was like "Oh! You're from America!" Shoot. See, any resident of the EU under 26 can get into any museum free. I think I missed my chance to con my way in. Oh well. The fact that I got a free audioguide and the fact that this museum ROCKED more than made up for the 6 euro.
It was set up as a walk through the ages. I started out in the Middle Ages and saw some interesting carved wall-decorations.
Of course, since everything in the Middle Ages was devoted to Christianity/avoiding death, there was a lot of religious undercurrent. This incense burner was pretty ornate.
These glasses were also very cool.
Next up was Renaissance influence. There were a lot of things that had Italian influence, like this uncomfortable-looking chair.
What I liked most about the museum were the re-created rooms. Below is a master bedroom from a mansion in France in the 1500s. My audioguide told me that it was common for people at that time to sleep proped up on pillows and cusions, because they thought that you would die if you lay down flat.
Moving into the 1700s, there a lot of cool examples of cabinet making. Germany pretty much excelled at this.
I also liked this 3-D painting:
These statues were for people to keep in their houses! I feel like they would startle me if I saw them out of the corner of my eye.
There was a room dedicated to the type of cabinet making that used the grain of the wood to create patterns and designs.
There was also a gallery of 18th century chairs, which I thought looked more like they could be electric chairs.
Next stop was the Raccoco design period. This period is marked by lack of symmetry and corners. Everything was meant to be curved and as ornate as possible.
The Raccoco period is known for its ornate ceramics. Below was a dinner table.
Also, it was popular in France to have wood-paneled walls that had carvings on them.
Below is a really cool example of paintings on the walls of rooms. Check out the close-up. Each panel is different though.
This clock was very pretty.
As I walked onto the 1800s, the first cool chair display of the day showed up. This shows the evolution of chair styles from 1800-1900.
This chair was my favorite because it reminded me a little of 70's velvet furniture.
Next was a room that exemplified the cool paneling effects of the day.
And another from the Versailles era:
This bed looked pretty comfortable.
This room was crazy. After Napoleon's defeat, when the French monarchy started up again, a Duchess lived in the rooms in the Louvre where this museum is now. This is a recreation of one of her rooms. I especially love the crazy baby crib on the right.
Below is a bed created by a master carpenter. It's called a "boat bed" and there is not a single corner on it. The carpenter admitted that it had no real purpose, but that he made it simply to show off his skills.
This was an apartment from some rich guy's Parisian mansion.
I walked into the "Black and mother of pearl room" and was taken aback. This stuff was COOL. What's even cooler was that, because materials were scarce, this furniture was made out of paper mache, lacquered black, and decorated with mother of pearl. Aparently the quality of the work wasn't determined by the materials, but how shiny it was.
I was reaching the end of the 19th century, and could tell because art-deco themes started emerging.
Even more cool ceramics! This time based around fish. That looks like a pike to me.
This bed also looked amazingly comfortable.
Next up was some guy's dining room that was influenced by about every era possible and his travels in Asia:
The final piece in the 1800s was this amazing fountain. It's a turtle carring the world on its back, with man and woman struggling towards the heavens, while fate (the angel thing) sits on top of a crystal ball and can see the inscription below the turtle: "All things come to those who wait." Complex! Apparently the artist was sick of the deubachery of the 1800s and made this piece to protest it.
And so, onto the Art Nouveau and Art Deco eras.This furniture was very cool:
And can we talk about a foot-stool?
Typically, there was cool stained glass art
And the most wonderful light fixture I have ever seen. I want it. Now. Now now now now now now. It is so pretty! I don't even know how I would decorate around it. It was just so cool! These photos don't even capture it.
There were displays of kitchen-wares too.
This sconce was also very pretty
As was some rich guy's dining room.
There were also recreations of a famous female clothing designer's apartment that she had decorated by some famous interior designer.
And this neat clock:
Onto the Art Deco!
Here was an office/library that was designed in the 1930s. It was circular, which was very innovative in that time. I thought it looked a little like it was from the Brady Bunch home.
I literally gasped when I saw this glass art. I stared at it mesmerized for a few minutes too.
Art deco people seemed to invent the chaise lounge, for which I thank them.
Next I went to the 1940s. They have this part of the museum set up really cool. You go up to the 9th floor where the 40s are. The 50s are on floor 8, 60s-70s on floor 7, 80s-90s on floor 6, and the 2000s on floor 5. Looking down you can see some cool stuff.Mind you, all of this stuff is the concept design from the eras. There were no dinette sets on the 50s floor.
The 40s floor was a bit bipolar because, after the war, some people wanted a return to tradition and others wanted to do something completely new. Some weird stuff resulted.
An art piece titled "The Tower or Babel"
Next, I don't feel wrong in saying that I don't think houses in North Dakota were decorated like this in the 50s (or ever).
I was really looking forward to the 60s/70s floor, because looking down from above this is what I saw: Chair mountain!
Elephant chair!
What I get from this is that these decades were all about reinventing the chair. There was a room where you could sit in some of these chairs.Look: there's me in a plastic bubble chair! (I know you can't tell, but it's the best I could do.)
There were some cool ceramics in this era too.
What is it with fish?
When I walked into the 80s/90s room I thought "Great. This totally backs up my theory that everything in the 80s was ugly and tacky looking."
WHO WOULD OWN THIS CHAIR? Seriously. I hope to God later generations wont look at this and think "wow! how cool!" like I do about art deco. This looked like a rainboy threw up.
So did the rest of that level.The 2000s level made me imagine Conan O'Brien in a bell-collar with a flashlight shinging on his face saying, "In the year 2000, all chairs will be based on ugly concepts some of which find inspiration in cats."
Below is the room entitled "cats". It is a concept room bases on how a cat would furnish something. Art? No.
I did like this light box though, to be fair.
Next, I tried to find my way to the fashion museum. On my way though, I stumbled onto a museum for toys! It was based on musical toys.There was also this awesome mechanical section. I liked the automatic tooth-brusher:
I found my way to the fashion gallery, but I couldn't take any pictures. That's OK, because it was a temporary exhibit on some designer I'd never heard of who made pretty ugly dresses.
There was, however, a Toulouse-Lautrec poster exhibit that I checked out.
I called it quits at the museum shortly after this. It had been a fun day, and I had learned quite a bit about furniture. I think it gave me a fix for my HGTV addiction. It was no House Hunters, but some of the stuff I found myself thinking "Candice Olson would do something like that!"I might have a problem.
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