AdVENTURES IN THE LOUVRE: HOW TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE WORLD’S GREATEST MUSEUM
AVAILABLE APRIL 1, 2025
The bestselling author of The Only Street in Paris shares an intimate journey of discovery and revelation into the world’s most famous museum.
Every year, millions of visitors to Paris visit the Louvre, attracted by its masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and other magnificent works of art that are icons of human achievement. But the museum — once a forbidding fortress built to house and protect French kings — is often more intimidating than inviting.
In Adventures in the Louvre, Elaine Sciolino takes it as her mission to show how anyone can forge an intimate connection with the museum. She demystifies the Louvre, introducing us to her favorite artworks, both legendary and overlooked, and to the people who are the museum’s lifeblood: the curators selecting and arranging the works, the artisans producing frames and engravings, the builders overseeing restorations, the firefighters protecting the aging structure.
An irrepressible and charming travel companion, Sciolino reveals a Louvre filled with unexpected mysteries, delights, and frustrations. She also takes us beyond the building’s imposing walls to reveal an expansive side, from the Tuileries gardens next door to the satellite museums in the northern French city of Lens and in Abu Dhabi.
Through Sciolino’s eyes, we encounter a museum that is an elusive and seductive object of desire for anyone who longs for the connection and inspiration that great art provides. With her by our side, we cannot help falling in love with the Louvre.
“People are always asking the best way to ‘do’ the Louvre, and I’ve finally found it: with Elaine Sciolino’s Adventures in the Louvre by your side. An indispensable, enchanting companion reminding us that the art world’s most intimidating institution is also a lot of fun.” —Lauren Collins, Paris correspondent, The New Yorker, and author of When in French: Love in a Second Language
“In its manifold splendors, the Louvre gave Henry James something of a panic attack. He did not have Elaine Sciolino, but we do: She has written a rich, rewarding introduction to the greatest collection of art in the world. . . . A spirited, sumptuous book that makes the Louvre feel welcoming — even if you arrive on a Tuesday, when it’s closed.” —Stacy Schiff, author of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams and A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
“Nothing escapes Elaine Sciolino in the immensity of the largest museum in the world; she writes with the curiosity of a journalist, the humanity of a storyteller, and the joyful disrespect of an American. She is amused and ironic, but always impartial as she describes the glories, oddities and flaws of the Louvre. With her book, we will find our way in a grand museum whose meanderings reflect the strange and glorious history of France.” —Gérard Araud, former French ambassador to the United States and president of the Société des Amis du Louvre
“I have read many books about museums, but Elaine Sciolino’s stands out. This is essential reading for anyone visiting the Louvre — for those who already know it inside out and for those who have never been. . . . Illuminating, thought-provoking, surprising, amusing. A marvel of observation and insight.” —Xavier Salomon, chief curator of the Frick Collection and coauthor of Cocktails with a Curator