Musée d'Orsay

As Maggie mentioned, I couldn't resist taking advantage of my last opportunity to visit the Louvre for free on a Friday night before turning 26 on Monday. In fact, I'm proud to say that I managed to go to the Louvre every Friday night in January. Now I know the museum better than I ever expected to, and probably won't go back for a really long time.


I have no regrets about the Louvre. I do, however, regret not realizing sooner that up until Monday, I could have gotten in free at the Musée d'Orsay any time of any day since late November. That's because the Musée d'Orsay is free to citizens and residents of the European Union under the age of 26. I'm no citizen, but I did get a titre de séjour to complete the visa process, and that's all the proof of residency they need.

At least I was able to take advantage of free entrance to the Musée d'Orsay once before it was too late. We went Saturday afternoon and caught two exhibitions (James Ensor and Art Nouveau Revival) just before they ended.

The Musée d'Orsay contains (mostly) French art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, including big collections of works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Like the Louvre, the building itself  is as impressive and as interesting as the art on display. It comprises a former train station and hotel, both opened in time for the 1900 World's Fair.

It's worth comparing this picture with one of the original train station - they did a great job of retaining original features when they converted the station into a museum. And they kept several of the hotel's fancier rooms, which retain their luxury and grandeur.

Unfortunately the museum is being massively renovated and a lot of the art isn't out, but we still saw some pretty great stuff:

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Clockwise, from top left: Manet's Olympia, Gauguin's Et l'or de leurs corps, Maggie (a piece of work, if not art) in front of the painting that used to hang on her kitchen wall (the original, of course!), Monet's Le pont d'Argenteuil, and Cross's La fuite des nymphes.

As much as I love me some Impressionist art, I think my favorite thing about the museum is the rooms it devotes to Art Nouveau, which had greater influence on architecture, design, and decorative arts than on painting and sculpture. I've been to most of the cities in which Art Nouveau flourished - Barcelona, Nancy, Brussels, Vienna, and of course Paris - and I never get tired of it. The movement was most influential from 1895 to 1905, but continued to leave traces through the 1920s and 1930s. As we learned from the Art Nouveau Revival exhibition, the Surrealists reappropriated Art Nouveau in the 1930s, then pop/counter culture drew on it again in the 1960s, and finally the 1970s saw Art Nouveau placed in opposition to postwar functional design. Or so the exhibit said. Enough already with the words! Let there be pictures!


I know, I know. I'm way too excited about this stuff. I just don't want anyone to miss out during future visits to the Musée d'Orsay. Heck, I might even put aside my qualms about paying to go back to see it. Art Nouveau is that good. And so is the rest of the museum, too.