Just across the river from the Louvre sits one of our all-time favorite museums: the Musée d’Orsay. The former Beaux-Arts train station with its imposing clock is home to pieces from France’s national art collection dating to between 1848 and 1914, it’s a top stop for visitors who love the Impressionists as much as we do. Here are just a few of our favorite things to see when you visit!
1. Olympia, Edouard Manet
This painting shocked Parisians when it was first displayed in 1865 due to the woman’s confrontational gaze at the viewer – especially because a number of details, including the orchid in her hair, identify her as a prostitute.
2. Femme à l’ombrelle, Claude Monet
Orsay hosts several different studies or essais of this subject by Claude Monet. We love the way that the windiness of the day is evoked through Monet’s brushstrokes as well as the way that the figure’s face is almost entirely hidden.
3. Petite Danseuse de 14 ans, Edgar Degas
Degas’ paintings of ballet dancers are famous among lovers of the Impressionists, but he also brought this love of ballet to his sculptures, as with this bronze and cloth work. The iteration on display at Orsay is actually a copy of an original statue, made of wax with cloth and a wig, which is displayed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
4. La chambre à coucher, Vincent Van Gogh
The Orsay’s Van Gogh collection is a big draw, featuring a version of Starry Night and one of Van Gogh’s mesmerizing self-portraits. But we love this painting of his bedroom in Arles, where the viewer gets a keen sense of claustrophobia, despite the bright colors used.
5. Sculpture Garden
There are several individual sculptures to which we could draw your attention, but what we love most is to wander through the sculpture garden as a whole. What was once the hall of the train station now welcomes a vast array of marble sculptures with a wonderful view of the interior clock.