Today I went to the Pompidou. First, I walked around the area and realized just how close to Les Halles it is. You can just see the top of the Pompidou in the middle of the picture below.
Then, I went to the Pompidou.
I managed to get into the wrong line, so I was granted access to the Paris library, in addition to the museum bits. I mean, I'm not sure it was a longer line, but I'd guess it was.
This turned out to be a good thing. The library itself is lovely and I looked at some art books. And then I ended up spending about an hour reading a graphic novel about Kiki of Montparnasse, who was a muse to a huge number of artists in Paris in the twenties (Man Ray, Calder, Picabia...). Fascinating story. I will be looking out for her in my future museum-going. I know there are portraits of her in the Louvre. She is the woman in the Ingres' Violin, which I have always liked.
Then I went to the special exhibit on Victor Vasarely, who is one of the "fathers of op art." It was a nice overview of his work, showing lots of time periods. Unfortunately, it was absolutely chock full of people (there was a 20 minute wait just to get inside). The picture below shows a less-full-than-average room. I was so ready to be out of these by the time I was half-way through.
From there, to the Modern Art Museum (still in the Pompidou), which was excellent. So many Matisses! So many Braques! So many Kandinskys! So many Légers! (Who I include only because I was so, so very proud of myself for identifying the artist of the picture here on sight. Like, ridiculously happy with myself.) 
The views from the top floor would have been excellent, if it weren't raining. You could just make out the Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur. The rain did make the sculpture pond look pretty cool:
Here is another view of the inside of the building, where you can see the cafe. Directly below it is one of the best art bookstores I've ever been in. Failed to photograph that, because I was too busy drooling over the books.
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