Musee D'Orsay and L'Orangerie

May 18
Today we started the day at the Musee D'Orsay. Because of the crowds of people, we arrived early and were among the first people to enter the museum. The D'Orsay had been remodeled since the last time I was there and it was great to have the whole museum back open.

 Musee D'Orsay Exterior

 Famous Clock in D'Orsay (D'Orsay web page)

We began our tour of this museum with the work of the Impressionists. This museum houses some truly iconic works of art and it was amazing to get to stand in front of them and see the brush strokes and color choices of masters like Monet, Renoir and Degas.

 Above, Degas: La classe de danse (The Dancing class), c.1873-75 by Edgar Degas, Museé d'Orsay, Paris. 


The Musee D'Orsay does not allow photographs of the artwork at this time. These images were sourced on the internet.

Below, VanGogh

La meridienne ou La sieste, d’apres Millet, 1889-90. Vincent van Gogh

The new renovated interior of the D'Orsay. The renovations allowed for a lot of natural light in the museum.

The Musee D'Orsay began its service as a train station. Here is a picture from the Museum website.

Next we looked at post-impressionists like Cezanne, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Seurat. When we left the museum we all felt like we were steeped in beautiful art works.

As we were walking over to the Orangerie from the Musee D'Orsay, we walked over this bridge where the railings were covered with little locks. These locks were from Parisians and tourists committing their love to each other.

After a quick lunch we went to L'Orangerie which originally served as a greenhouse for the royal citrus trees.

Dr. Luehrman is working with the museum people to get our group inside.

When the building was renovated to serve as an art museum, Monet arranged and designed two rooms of the interior to showcase two full oval panoramic views of his pond with water lilies. These monumental works illustrate the pond and lilies capturing the changing quality of light and color throughout the day. 
This museum also houses a significant collection of Renoir paintings and many post impressionist works as well.

Again, the museum does not allow us to take pictures, so I have found these on the internet to give you an idea of the experience.

After the museums, we scurried back to the hotel and the local shops to assemble a picnic dinner that we took up to Montmartre. Montmartre is a hill above the city of paris and a district that is now encompassed by the city of Paris. It used to be a small town outside of Paris and a home for artists and other bohemians. It is also near the famed Moulin Rouge. Montmartre was a favorite place to paint and study for artists such as Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Salvador Dali and Amadeo Modigliani. A fitting place for our students to hang out and relax after some really pretty grueling days of museum walking!

 These pictures are the Neo Byzantine designed Sacre Coeur at the top of the hill at Montmartre.

This image was taken from the Arc de Triumph and shows the Sacre Coeur and the hill at Monmartre.

The following images are from our evening picnic.