When I lived in Paris, the
Orsay Museum did not exist; there was just the old Gare d'Orsay (Orsay Station), which was no longer used as a train station. But after I left France in 1973, it became an art museum. I never managed to visit it before now, so today seemed the perfect day. After our lunch with Isobel and Martin and our visit to Starbucks, we walked down the Champs-Elysées, past the Plqce Clemanceau; the Grand Palais, and the
Place de la Concorde with its Egyptian obelisk, to the Passerelle Solferino, a new footbridge over the Seine which leads to the giant museum, which did not disappoint (when we finally got in; after queuing up for tickets for a long time under a burning sun--summer finally came to Paris today!). Photography is mostly not permitted in the museum, but I took a few photos outside and on the terrace:
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| That's the Musée d'Orsay in the distance with the footbridge over the Seine (Passerelle Solférino) visible in front of it. |
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| Crossing the Passerelle Solférino |
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| My only photo taken inside the museum |
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| Wall art on the Right Bank of the Seine as seen from the museum terrace (I particularly love the immense eyes; which look so real!) |
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| On the terrace (the Louvre visible behind me) |
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| Ditto |
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| It was so clear that you could see the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur from the terrace! |
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| Happy (though tired) |
We spent about two and a half hours and saw a lot, but nowhere near everything. We spent most of our time looking at the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, and to my delight, there was a room with 13 pastels by Odilon Redon; who has been my favorite artist for over 40 years. There were also three oils by Redon which were part of a special exhibit, "La Passion Française: La Collection Marlene et Spencer Hays," and one more in the Post-Impressionist section. I have never seen so many Redons in one place, so I was in heaven.
We saw some very well-known works; such as Whistler's Mother, Seurat's
Cirque, and Renoir's
Bal du Moulin de la Galette, Degas dancers, Monet bridges and (only one) water lilies (
nymphéas), lots of Renoirs, Gauguins, and van Goghs, and on and on. I took note of some of the paintings I liked the most and will try to find Creative Commons images of at least some of them on the Internet so I can link to them here. But there were too many of them! After a while one begins to feel overwhelmed by all the masterpieces. (I am not complaining!)
Then we walked across the beautiful
Pont Alexandre III, passing the
Grand Palais (where I was a student of Russian in 1970 - 1971) and the
Petit Palais, which is across the street from it. Both are now museums.
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| Le Grand Palais, as seen from the Left Bank with the Alexander III Bridge to its left |
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| A little girl enjoys riding on her father's shoulders on the Quai d'Orsay |
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| One of the towers of the Pont Alexandre III. I used to cross this bridge daily on my way to school, but I don't remember all that gold. |
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| Le Petit Palais, its columns adorned with color |
And after sitting a short time in front of the Théatre Marigny, we walked all the way back up the Champs-Elysées to the Etoile, where we caught the RER train back to Rueil. And now it is 1:00 AM, so I think I will go to sleep! I will try to add commentary to the Strasbourg posts tomorrow morning. We plan to stay in Rueil and (weather permitting) talk a walk along the Seine.
