Saw a surprising number of magic the gathering cards at the national museum of medieval art

Seriously though i’m biased because i’m a fiber arts sicko but if you want to see a c. 1500 masterpiece in paris i highly recommend skipping the mona lisa and seeing the lady and the unicorn tapestries:

- way less people
- rabbits
- you can get like 1 inch away if you want
- dozens of rabbits
- looks even better in person, instead of much worse
- seriously they’re HUGE
- moving visual disquisiton on the 5 senses plus bonus mysterious sixth sense
- it has bunmy rabbits

I went to the Paris Noir exhibit at the pompidou centre a few hours later and felt like an art genius for thinking that this georges coran piece reminded me of the tapestries i saw earlier, until i read the label which said the exact same thing
@hannah that doesn't mean you're not an art genius for seeing it
@hannah Setting shit up so that happens must be like catnip to curators
@hannah oh, those look extraordinary! *adds to list*
@hannah We had table mats of these tapestries when I was a kid. Don't know how many hours I spent poring over all the details and making up stories.
@eleanorrees there’s so much to look at, i got completely lost and spent almost an hour in there
@hannah So where is this literal work of art? We're planning to go back to Paris in 2027... in Febu-ugly to avoid the crowds... and I should like to see the bunnies.
@stonebear2 musée de cluny. Fwiw i’m here at peak season and it was not busy at all
@hannah Thanks for the tip! Filing it where I can remember a year from now when we're plotting....
@hannah I saw them in Paris! They were sooooo cool!
(I did also go to the Louvre, though.)
@hannah The entire Cluny is so underrated
@simonbp @hannah +1, it's my favourite museum in Paris
@hannah Absolutely bucket list stuff for me (fibre art nerd waving hands madly 👋👋😍 ) even my little mental health app has a representation of the unicorn on the wall!
@hannah plus, there is a serious air conditioner in this room!
(at least, at my last visit)
@hannah it's so beautiful! so full of bunoni!!!!
@hannah but does it have rabbits?
@hannah If you're in France and want to check out large tapestries, you might want to check this one out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Tapestry
Apocalypse Tapestry - Wikipedia

@ellouis @hannah love both these tapestries! Did a small unit on fiber arts in art history and these both came up. Also worth noting the unicorn tapestry features in a recent move “Death of a Unicorn”, which was a pretty decent sort of comedy thriller with lots of fun jabs at the tech industry and super wealthy.

@hannah I can second that recommendation.

(Apart from the intrinsic worth, it was great because a few months later, I could casually slip it into talks with a real estate agent who was way sharper dressed than me, earned way more than me, and projected waaay more confidence than me, but still wasn’t able to bluff that he had any clue about the repro covering the wall of his way more sumptious office)

@hannah not in Paris but if you like that, try this one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Tapestry

Apocalypse Tapestry - Wikipedia

@hannah I didn’t know there were two sets of unicorn tapestries! I’ve seen the unicorn hunt set at the Cloisters in NYC in person, but not this set.

@hannah

DEFINITELY.... when my family and I went there, they zoomed past a lot of awesome artwork, while I lazily strolled and actually stopped to enjoy a bunch of it.

You can't even really see the Mona Lisa. other stuff you can basically walk up and touch.

@hannah I thought that was spelled bumny?
@ColesStreetPothole that was an honest to god real typo
@hannah 😂 But now I want to call them bumny rabbits all the time!
@hannah I'd be compelled to start humming the theme to The Last Unicorn

@hannah The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are AMAZING. So sumptuous.

I still use the unicorn from one of those tapestries as my Google avatar.

@hannah for what it's worth, da Vinci-chan heartily approves of looking at non-da Vinci art pieces in museums, especially if they have unicorns and bnuuys in them. ~Chara

@hannah you forget the best part....
You can sit down and admire, and just slide to the right to admire the next tapestry, staying sitted ..

Very important for people who suffer while standing in museums 🤩

@RainbowFrog i love a good gallery seat especially since i always want to walk everywhere when im on vacation in a cool city

@hannah yeahhhh

And rabbits are clearly one of the bonus of many splendid medieval tapestries

🐇🐰🐇🐰🐇🐰🐇🐰🐇🐰🐇🐰🐇🐰🐇

@hannah Which museum?

@erik
Musée de Cluny - Musée National du Moyen Âge 😁

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_de_Cluny

Musée de Cluny - Wikipedia

The Lady and the unicorn I Musée de Cluny

Touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight... These six tapestries, woven in around 1500, represent the five senses against a detailed red background.

@hannah that is totally what I was doing in a previous life. I also think I made mosaics. 😍
@hannah
I saw this on Rick Steve's. Would be cool to see in person.

@hannah There are parts of the Louvre which almost no one goes to! Full of amazing treasures! Like these. Last time I was there I spent most of my time between the tapestries and Ancient Greek pottery, mostly alone

Also, other museums.

@hannah
I love these tapestries! I remember seeing them in Cloître de Cluny (Musée du Moyen Âge), have they been moved?
@hannah Oops sorry I just read the previous tweet
@hannah the Louvre is great away from the big show pieces, I can get lost there for days
@hannah Absolutely seconding, thirding, and fourthing this. They are so astonishing, I was struck dumb for ten minutes, the first time I saw them!

@hannah i was taken to see the mona lisa when i was someteen and found the whole experience entirely uninspiring; in the end i couldn't be bothered to stand in the queue to see it up close when seeing it from a bit of a distance did nothing for me.

those rabbits, though 

@hannah yes!
I believe these travelled to Australia a few years back?
if not some very similar unicorn focussed tapestries were on exhibition briefly at the National Gallery in Canberra, will have to fact check my memory now, but they were amazing!
@hannah I'll probably go to Paris this summer so I'll see this piece!
Seems very cool and interesting