My New Favorite Museum!!!!
Musée d’Orsay may now be my favorite museum in the World. At least, my favorite that I have visited so far!!! Originally a train station built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 to serve the southwest of France, the building is magnificent in and of its own right (although, I love old train stations – nod to Union Station in Denver)!
While the museum is largely thought of as devoted to art from the 19th century, to be precise – the museum has art starting in 1838 and going through 1914. The museum houses many famous works, from impressionists to post-impressionists!!! If you want to see Starry Night, Musée d’Orsay is where you go (at least, for one of the two versions – hint – watch the video to learn more on that). Other fun facts about the museum:
- The museum’s collection is massive at 2,000 pieces of art and 600 sculptures. It took the curators 6 months to place everything (hint: there is a cool painting of the process in the museum = can you find it).
- It has the largest collection of Impressionist paintings including Starry Night, Lunch on the Grass, and other works by Renoir, Courbet, and Dugas.
- The building itself contains 35,000 square meters of glass and more metal then the Eiffel Tower!!!
What’s Cool…
This may be the best curated museum I have ever been to!!! Setting aside the phenomenal art work, the audio guide, flow of the museum and curation to guide the visitor through not only the art of the period, but the various schools, how they influenced either, and overall history of impressionism and its progeny was outstanding.
What’s Not So Cool…
The lack of food and water. Most folks probably visit the museum for an hour or two. Which is completely fine. You can hit the highlights in less than 2 hours. But if you want to soak in the museum as I did, you have only one restaurant and no real food options.
Also. Great works are not clearly identified. If you don’t have the audioguide and you aren’t listening as you go, you will miss many great works.
Tips To Enhance Your Visit To Musée D'Orsay
- If you have limited time have a plan on what you want to see. The most famous artwork is the impressionists pieces upstairs in the Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet rooms. However, there are famous pieces dispersed throughout the collection, sometimes seemingly out of place, but because of the excellent curation, those pieces are placed in a way so as to tell the overall story. For example, Monet’s London, the Houses of Parliament, Sun light Opening in Fog, is not highly noticeable.
- The restaurant/cafes were crowded. I would plan on bringing some water in your backpack and maybe a snack if you plan to spend the entire day there.
- Bring your own headphones that plug in for the audio guide!!! The headphones get uncomfortable!!!
- For a detailed walkthrough and “how to see the museum, check out my video below!!!!
For an In-depth Review:
For a more in-depth review and tour, check out my Youtube video!!! And while you are there please hit the like and subscribe button so you can follow along on my journey and never miss an update on cool things to see or places to go!!!!!