Berenice Gaupillat ist Ihr lokaler Reiseleiter in Paris, France, der Ihnen private Touren und Ausflüge anbietet

Did art come to me, or did I come to it ? That is the question ! I have been extremely lucky to be in contact with works of art from a very early age. In fact, my parents used to take me to the museum while we were on vacation, especially in the French Riviera where we would spent every summer under the bright sun. I do not recall ever acting grumpy about the idea of being stuck between paintings, sculptures or old furniture while other children would be outside playing by the sea or at home watching cartoons. These regular cultural outings must have subconsciously developed my interest in heritage. I can easily picture my 10 year old-self carefully observing the large paintings of a museum. And this curiosity hasn’t left me since. On the contrary, my love for art has done nothing but growing through the years, to the point of wanting to work in this field and enjoy it every single day.

”What do you want to be when you grow up ?” We have all heard this question at least once during our school years. My young child memories are very vague. I certainly wanted to be a school teacher at some point, to imitate my mom. But my career choice appeared quite clear to me a few years later : I had to become an archaeologist. Yes, I used to love egyptology, just like every other kid on earth. Plus I was always wondering about dinosaurs and loved seeing skeletons in museums. That was until I realized that this job was not so easy. I could not imagine myself being on my hands and knees all day long to scrub the ground millimeter by millimeter and in all weathers. So I abandoned this idea. When I was about 14 or 15, my plans for future changed. I wanted to design cars (thanks Grandpa for your car magazines), and then, more realistically, decided to be a literary translator. As a matter of fact, I had always loved foreign languages and my school results proved I succeeded in these classes. It seemed like a good compromise. Nonetheless, it would have meant to give up on history which was another of my favorite classes. I racked my brains and thought of becoming a tour guide, which was an obvious choice. I was 16 and a half and was convinced that this profession was made for me since it would have allowed me to combine my knowledge of history, my linguistic skills, and above all, my boundless appetite for public speaking. Because yes, I truly love to talk and you may have noticed that reading these lines.

As I had finally found my calling, I only had to find how to get a proper education. Highschool was boring to me so my idea was to pursue short studies in Tourism. It would have enabled me to work only two years after graduating from highschool. Earning a living so early seemed like paradise. Even if it also meant to take marketing classes (I was not a fan of the subject). A few months later, completely by accident, I discovered that I could study art history and archaeology at the university. No need to say that this degree course seduced me right away as I remembered all the time spent in museums with my family, even though I had no particular knowledge of this field. Since I was passionate about the subject, having to study another five years did not scare me at all. When I was in final year, my history teacher told me about the École du Louvre in Paris, a public school to study art history. I had not heard about it at all so I was quite intrigued. I then visited their website, collected as much information as I could and entered for the entrance exam without much hope. But as it turned out, I passed and was admitted to first year. During my bachelor degree, I studied art of the whole world and of all time periods. I also specialized in history of French painting because I love nothing more than paintings and wanted to focus on the artists of my country. Then I joined a museology master’s program where I received classes about all the museum related-professions and eventually took a master’s degree in cultural mediation to learn how to pass on my love for art to different types of audiences. At the same time, I followed a training course to become a tour guide, still at the École du Louvre. I now hold a guide card, ready to share my passion for art, architecture and heritage in general.