I’m not sure what to make of the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. There are fine things there – Goya’s “Les Vieilles” and “la Lettre d’Amour” side by side, the “Census at Bethlehem” by Brueghel, Rubens’ “Descent from the Cross”, work by Monet and Toulouse-Lautrec. There are also a lot of rather gloomy scenes of suffering saints and prancing pagan gods. It is a curious place, full of echoing, empty spaces and when I visited, were it not for parties of children and young people being enlightened about those saints and gods, I might have had the galleries almost to myself. Maybe I just wasn’t in a cultural mood to make the most of it.
Photo: Sculpture, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, March 2012