The Beauty of the Musee d'Orsay

 Today (Tuesday, 4/1) was one of those days where we woke up to discover that part of the planned agenda - the visit to the Museum of the Legion of Honor - wouldn't happen because it was closed on Tuesday.   Who closes on Tuesday?  No rhyme or reason but it was only a small wrench in the works.

It sits adjacent to the Musee d'Orsay, Paris' second most visited museum (to the Louvre) and a real beauty of a place.  So we purchased six tickets for a visit at 3:30 p.m., first having lunch with Ray and Brenda while Jeff and Leigh went off one of those crazy walks again (Champs-Elysses, Arc de Triomphe, some large park on the other side of the Arc, and back - about 10 miles - before meeting us at the Musee d'Orsay.

The d'Orsay started its life in as the former Orsay railway station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. So the building itself could be seen as the first "work of art" in the Musee d'Orsay, which displays collections of art from the period 1848 to 1914.  I personally like it better than the Louvre because it is not nearly so big, there aren't nearly as many people pushing and shoving, and you can really do it justice in a couple of hours.

What was particularly enchanting about our visit was the many works of the Impressionists - Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh (so many know "Starry, Starry Night").  On prior trips to France, we concentrated on seeing tons of Monet in Giverny where he painted (and will be returning there with Aaron, Melissa, and Chloe in a couple of weeks), and Van Gogh in Arles from when we did a Viking cruise through southern France a few years ago.  These two artists appeal to me the most although there were many lovely works from many other artists.

This is particularly true of Van Gogh as Cheryl and I did a painting class while in Arles, and my assignment was to replicate the famous painting he did of his bedroom at the insane asylum.  Guess who did a better job?  Not moi.  But I do love that particular, simple, painting as it came from such a supremely talented but definitely tortured soul.

After our afternoon at d'Orsay, Jeff and Leigh split to go to dinner by themselves, while Ray, Brenda, Cheryl and I walked through the Louvre grounds and toward our apartment to a pre-arranged dinner at a Chinese restaurant, although this one was Michelin-rated and the food tasted like it.  Following dinner, Ray and Brenda stayed out to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night and Cheryl and I, the old folks, adjourned to our apartment.

Tomorrow is a pre-arranged tour of Pere Lachaise, the largest cemetery in Paris, hosting about 3.5M visitors per year.  Why?  So many famous people are buried there (e.g., Chopin, Edith Piaf, Proust), including one of my favorites, the Lizard King, Jim Morrison.  It was near there that he was staying with his girlfriend, Pam, when he died mysteriously and was buried in Pere Lachaise mysteriously.  We'll see Jim tomorrow.  And, after that, we're taking a dinner cruise on the Seine at dusk.

Should be another whopper of a great day.  Bon soir.

Comments

  1. MarianApril 4, 2025 at 1:42 PM

    Paris has soooooo much to do. Even when one place is closed, so many others are open and equally wonderful.

    ReplyDelete

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