One of my best decisions – after moving to Paris – was to become an Ami du Louvre. It allows me to go to the Louvre any time I’d like and I get invited to private exhibit previews when the musem is closed. 

I don’t always go to every event, but I couldn’t wait to see the Torlonia marbles in their first exhibit outside of Italy in nearly a century. 

If you don’t know much about me, you might not know that I am a complete classics nerd. I have been intrigued by the ancients since I was a little kid hearing the myths and stories of Greece and Rome. I’ve traveled with my mom twice to Rome to experience the grandeur – so what could be better than having these incredible marbles come to me? Not much. 

In the closed Louvre, I wandered amongst the ancients and just simply enjoyed breathing near them in near solitude. Solitude amongst the art is one the greatest gifts in the world. 

There was one sculpture with the toga made out of purple porphyry. This is the same stone on which Constantine was crowned emperor in the Vatican as the first Holy Roman Emperor. It represents the color that only the emperor could wear and it is still raised in the Vatican when the other stone has worn down. It is eternal.

I guess that is the best part of art – the eternal experience of it. That what you are viewing through your own culture and time was once viewed by others so unlike yourself – but the same. So my wish for you – where ever you are -go see something beautiful at a museum close to you and appreciate that the time and space evaporates in the moments you view something timeless.