In back to my eternal Paris, oh well yes indeed. If someone invented the idea of a city then it definitively should have taken Paris as a model. We are at the museums, well my weak spot ! I am updating this older post that brings back nice memories to my family. The Orsay Museum or Musée d’Orsay was heard about it for years and finally my oldest son worked in the restaurant just across at the Maison des Polytechniciens, a building purchase lands in 1640 and by 1923 becomes the house of polytechnicians as today, the restaurant is use for private functions and events. This was across the museum so why not take a peek, and voilà nice came back several times over the years.
The musée d’Orsay or Orsay museum opened in 1986!, yes not that old. It is along the Seine river on the rive gauche or left bank. As you may know, it is in the old train station of gare d’Orsay, built by Victor Laloux between 1898 and 1900 , and change into a museum on the wish of French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. The collections are western art from 1848 to 1914, in all its diversity of paintings, sculpture, decorated arts, graphic arts, photography, architecture ,and al. Making it one of the biggest museums in Europe !! It is right on the spot of the old Orsay palace built in 1810 richly decorated that hosted in 1840 the Council of State at street level and then the Tax Court on first floor (2nd US). It burned in 1871 during the uprising of the Commune , and left in abandon state until the construction by Victor Laloux of the gare d’Orsay, old terminus of the Compagnie du Chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans (railroad company of line Paris-Orléans), to host visitors to the Universal Exposition of 1900.
The Orsay museum has one of the most important collection of impressionist and post impressionist paintings in the world with over 1 100 portraits that we can see like the works of Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe ,and l’Olympia by Edouard Manet, une épreuve de La Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans by Degas, L’Origine du monde, Un enterrement à Ornans, L’Atelier du peintre by Courbet, Les joueurs de cartes by Cézanne and even five portraits of the series or Série des Cathédrales de Rouen by Monet , and Bal du moulin de la Galette by Renoir; wonderful all. Also, paintings from the Cloisonnistes, symbolistes and Nabis schools and the fame école de Barbizon scholl , and realistes naturalists, orientalists, academic and foreign schools.
This section I like a lot the decorative arts or Arts decoratifs . From 1977, there is a collection of works of arts décoratifs from the period 1848-1914 in the dining room or salle à manger Charpentier from 1900, renovate in its own space of period room with different furniture and objects in contrast. Showing works of arts from the ceramic, glass , jewerly and furniture productions showing the permutation of the objects link to the industrial revolution, to those of fine arts apply to industry.
There is an unique section on Photography been collected since 1970. No other fine arts museum in France has a sectioin dedicated to photography that I know of ; it was just thought to have it here. The works are by many including Hippolyte Bayard, Édouard Baldus, Christian Bérard, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, Félix Nadar, Nicéphore Niépce, and Constant Alexandre Famin.
The museum today falls adminitravely as public entity since 2004. The musée de l’Orangerie was added in 2010; and the new name is that of the Établissement public du musée d’Orsay et du musée de l’Orangerie-Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (aka EPMO ). The webpage for both museums: https://www.epmo-musees.fr/fr
Since 2009 ,the musée d’Orsay has signed partnership deals with other museums to allow for sharing of collections and scientific support. These are the Musée des impressionnismes Giverny ;Musée Bonnard ;Musée Courbet ; and the Musée de Pont-Aven. The Orsay museum is reach in Paris by the RER C gare du Musée d’Orsay below the museum , and the metro Solférino, line 12.Also RATP bus line 68 stop/arrêt Henry de Montherlant; line 69 Musée d’Orsay, and line 87 stop Henry de Montherlant.
The official Orsay museum: https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en
The Friends of the Orsay museum (not a member of this one but worth it) : https://amis-musee-orsay.org/
If you want to order from the library boutique of the Orsay museum: https://www.boutiquesdemusees.fr/en/cadeaux/musee-orsay/4-librairie/1/
There you go folks, a must while in Paris. This is the wonderful Musée d’Orsay or Orsay museum. It will take more than a post to tell you all about it but hope this introduction will entice you come to see it.
And remember, happy travels, good health and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 