Denon · level -1

In the European sculpture rooms, look for the joined hands and long hair of Saint Mary Magdalene. Gregor Erhart, a sculptor working in southern Germany, carved this figure in limewood around 1515–1520. Its surviving original colour reminds you how much the surface contributes to a sculpture’s presence. Mary Magdalene, a follower of Jesus, is shown in prayer. The figure once hung beneath a church vault with flying angels supporting her. That earlier position changes the way you might imagine the pose: a visitor in the church would have looked upward toward it. A museum brings the work into a different relationship with your own body and eyes. Denon’s lower level contains several kinds of encounter, including European sculpture, early Greek antiquities and the Islamic Art area. Each sector has its own access information. Within the sculpture displays, try following a material rather than collecting names. Painted wood, carved relief and the treatment of a garment can lead you toward questions about how an object was made and what people once expected it to do.