Today we tackled Le Musee D’Orsay, a must-see museum if you are a fan of the Impressionism & Post Impressionism movements of art during the 19th Century.
We went prepared, we thought, arriving early with pre-paid tickets in hand. We heard the lines were not long if you pre-buy your tickets. MYTH NUMBER ONE: Pre-paid tickets do not lessen the wait; the secret is out. Early means 30 minutes before the museum opens, which is 9:30. We arrived at 10:15.
A serpentine line of people with tickets in hand stood stunned at the crowd—miles of no smiles.
The wait on this windy morning was behind us. As soon as we saw the inside of the museum, we were no worse for wear, but a bit tempest tossed.
A big gilded clock hangs at the entrance
The actual museum structure is striking in itself.
To give our feet & backs a rest, we decided to get some coffee in the café before the crowds filled the room. Jill is completely at ease reading a French newspaper with her morning café au lait.
It didn’t take long for waiting lines to form in the restaurants.
We heard that the elegant restaurant is actually quite good.
The galleries are laid out sequentially so that you can follow the evolution of art through the century. This painting by Edouard Manet begins the journey into Impressionism because it served as a bridge between Realism and Impressionism. Although the painting’s subject matter–that of a naked chick mingling with a couple of clothed dudes–shocked many people, the actual painting had elements that the Impressionists built on. The background is starting to look impressionistic and the skin tones play with the temporal quality of light.
The galleries that followed contain rooms of Impressionist painters like Degas, Monet and Renoir.
The Post-Impressionist rooms come next with rooms full of paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cezanne.
We can see the thickness of the paint globs on the canvas by the Post-Impressionist Van Gogh. Before this movement visible brush strokes were considered bad form.
Later in the sequence come the pointillists like George Seurat.
Anyone remember the play Sunday in the Park with George? The title is a reference to George Seurat. We saw his gravestone in Pere Lachaise Cemetery the next day.
The exhibit winds up with early Picasso cubist works.
We were so glad we saw the rest of France before we went to Paris because we spotted so many paintings of places that we visited, such as Monet’s footbridge in Giverny and . .
. . . . Rouen Cathedrale and . . .
. . . the Entretat Needle and . . .
. . . . of course, the wild poppies.
The museum also had a righteous display of Art Nouveau furnishings.
One floor was devoted to the Austrian, British and American varieties.
Another area was devoted to Swedish Art Nouveau.
Looks like early Ikea!
Continuing on, we walked through a huge gallery featuring French Art Nouveau furnishings.
Well, at this point we had been walking for five hours. Jill’s fake smile failed to cover up her aching back and feet. But we decided to push ourselves in order to see the special Paul Bonnard exhibit, an impressive extensive collection.
Early in his career Paul Bonnard belonged to a school of art that came after Impressionism & Post-Impressionism called Les Nabis, which means “the prophets” in Hebrew. They were highly influenced by Japanese prints and the Art Nouveau Movement. These elements are reflected in the above panels painted by Bonnard.
Wall-sized photo of Paul Bonnard.
After his Les Nabi phase, he focused on psychological depictions of himself and his mistresses. This painting depicts an uncomfortable silence and detachment occurring after a sexual encounter.
Many of his paintings at this stage have a voyeuristic quality. Here the painter is looking on at his lover looking at herself in the mirror.
Many of his bath pictures depict the artist as a voyeur.
Bonnard had a long-time mistress who killed herself after he developed an obsession with one of his models, whom he eventually married.
He also painted many pictures of his family life. Many of his friends and family members became his models. This picture depicts the feeling guests have after eating a big lunch.
Traveling extensively to escape from domestic turmoil, he painted his vacation spots, especially those in Italy.
His last painting shows an unusual fervor as if he were trying to make the most of the remains of the day.
After spending over 5 hours in the museum, we hobbled back to our hotel. This is a picture of the flower shop across the street.
Jill did some blogging before dinner.
We decided to change it up this evening and go to one of the local jazz clubs, Chez Papa.
Sax and piano players put together a wonderful show.
People from all over the world have autographed the walls of Papa’s Jazz Club
We were pleased to see young people enjoying jazz.
C’est la vie en rose!
P&J
4 Comments
Despite your aching feet, wasn’t it worth seeing all those beautiful paintings at the museum? I would have enjoyed “all that jazz” also.
Yes, we are making hay while the sun still shines.
I was glad to see that you viewed the lovely art nouveau furniture and stained glass at the D’Orsay in addition to the impressionists paintings. Hopefully you will have time to go back to le Jardin de Tuileries and visit the Musee de l’Orangerie (metro stop Concorde) where you can see Monet’s Water Lilies and an impressive collection of Impressionist and modern Classicism paintings.
We will try to see it, but are a bit burned out because of all the long museum lines. L’Orangerie is easy walking distance from our hotel. We might go to the Delacroix museum instead today because it closed unexpectedly the day we showed up. It is supposed to rain today and Pete is coming down with a cold, so we do not want to exert ourselves too much today. CU soon.