But they are not completely alone: the museum is taking advantage of the closures by carrying out long-planned renovations.
“(The Louvre) is still alive, although it seems to be sleeping from the outside,” says Gautier Moysset, project manager, in front of a set of 19th-century doors that once opened in the King’s Room. French.
Behind her, Gaëlle Dulac brings the doors to life again with care, switching between brushes made of pig bristles and badger hair while recreating the grain of the wood with layers of paint.
The “Mona Lisa” alone in the Louvre without visitors.
The curator says the quiet period has helped him reconsider how the Louvre displays its vast collection.
“Suddenly, a painting looks too big (or) too small, or the frame doesn’t fit with the next ones,” he explains. “You have to listen to what the works have to say. Sometimes they don’t like it and you have to separate them.”
Curator Julien Cuny also takes the opportunity to reflect on the Persian collections he oversees.
“There needs to be coherence in the museum. What does the work do here? How do you talk to the other works?” he says, guiding a forklift carrying a 400-kilogram (882-pound) trail through a corridor lined with Roman marble sculptures.
“It’s sad because from a logistical standpoint we can do a lot of things,” Cuny says. “But the works of art were made to be seen.”