But they are not completely alone – the museum makes the most of closures by carrying out long-planned renovations.
“(The Louvre) is still alive, even if it seems asleep from the outside,” says project manager Gautier Moysset, in front of a set of 19th-century doors that once opened on the French kings’ bedroom.
Behind him, Gaëlle Dulac easily brings the doors back to life, switching between pig hair brushes and badger hair while recreating the grain of wood with layers of paint.
“Mona Lisa” alone in the Louvre without visitors.
The curator says that the quiet period helped him to reconsider the way the Louvre displays its vast collection.
“Suddenly, a painting seems too big (or) too small, or the frame doesn’t match the ones around,” he explains. “You have to listen to what the works have to say. Sometimes they don’t like each other and you have to separate them.”
Curator Julien Cuny also uses the opportunity to reflect on the Persian collections he oversees.
“There has to be coherence in the museum. What is the work doing here? How do you talk to the other works?” he says, guiding a forklift carrying a 400-kilogram (£ 882) star through a passage covered with Roman marble sculptures.
“It’s sad because, logistically, we can do a lot,” says Cuny. “But the works of art were made to be seen.”