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Buy Full NotesGilles Malezieux worked at the Louvre Museum for 25 years and allows you to have a peep inside the life of the largest and most famous museum in the world. We’ll talk about why the Mona Lisa (“La Joconde”, in French!) is so famous, the hidden passages of the Louvre as well as some stories Gilles experienced why working as a security guard. There will also be a bit of art history (or should we say, business) where you’ll find out why there are many French impressionist paintings displayed in the USA!
- This is the second part of a two-episode conversation with Gilles. In the previous episode (French Voices, episode 112), Gilles is telling about the work of a copyist and how to get granted access to the Louvre to copy master painters.
- Visit Gilles’s website
- Thank you to Nancy for putting me in touch with Gilles! If you’d like to recommend a guest for French Voices, email me!
Vocab List
blindé, e (adj) = reinforced, bulletproof
chantier (nm) = construction site
clim (nf) (slang) = air con
conservateur,trice de musée (n) = museum curator
dérobé, e (adj) = secret, hidden
détonner = to clash, to be incongruous
en voir des vertes et des pas mûres = to see some things that are difficult to digest ; to see some astonishing sights
être à cheval sur (qch) = to be a stickler for (sth)
faire un froid de canard = to be icy cold
la Joconde = the Mona Lisa
marchand,e (n) = merchand, seller
occidental,e (n, adj) = Western
oeuvre (nf) = work, masterpiece
que dalle (fam.) = nothing, zilch