Musee d’Orsay – Paris, France
You're reading Musee d’Orsay – Paris, France, posted on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 11:59 am in Reviews, on BrainBloggers at the Museums blog. More after the jump.
Musee d’Orsay is located in Paris, France – one of the most romantic cities in the world. It is full of history and close to 2.5 million visitors every day flock to the doors of this museum to see the world’s largest collection of impressionist artwork as well as the history of France.
The building – called the Gare d’Orsay – was built as an attraction for the World’s Fair in 1900. It was during WWII that it was used as a refugee place for prisoners who had been freed and were looking for shelter.
Once the train station (the Gare) fell into disuse and the adjacent hotel closed down in 1973, the building was threatened with demolition. However, it was decided to instead transform the building’s function to house a collection of art from the second half of the 19th century. It was inaugurated in 1986 under the governance of François Mitterand.
The principal gallery of the ground floor, 138 meters long (453 feet) and 32 meters tall (105 feet), is a reminder of the building’s history. Among the masterpieces in this gallery are the scandalous Enterrement à Ornans by Gustave Courbet and the Glaneuses by Jean-François Millet. Fans of impressionism should head directly up to the 5th floor, where works by the greatest masters of this genre are hung in galleries 29 to 48.
In order of appearance, these include La Classe de danse by Degas, Still Lifes by Manet such as L’Asperge, Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette by Renoir, and La Gare Saint-Lazare, La Cathedrale de Rouen or the Nympheas by Claude Monet. Works by Van Gogh in gallery 35 and Cezanne in 36 follow, the small galleries 37 and 38 contain pastels by Degas, and galleries 43-44 are devoted to Gauguin’s paintings of Tahiti.
Decorative arts are located a few flights down, worth visiting notably for the impressive collection of Art Nouveau. While on this floor, don’t miss the terrasse Rodin, where L’Homme qui marche is located, and worth taking the time to appreciate. For a short rest to help absorb this astonishing collection, visit the Cafe des Hauteurs on the 3rd floor or the restaurant on the 6th floor.