27 January 2009, Tuesday—On Tuesday I was anxious to visit the Musée d'Orsay, located on the Left Bank across from the Louvre in the former train station Gare d'Orsay. The station was converted to a wonderful art museum in the early 1980's. Coincidentally I was reading The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt about the burning and restoration of the Fenice Opera house in Venice, and the architect who oversaw the d'Orsay conversion was also one of the architects interested in restoring the Fenice, Gae Aulenti. She also designed the Contemporary Art Gallery at the Centre Pompidou.

Musée d'OrsaySpecial exhibit on masksFrench kids can handle it

The d'Orsay is by far my favorite museum of all time. The works are from the period 1848 and 1914, when painting evolved through Neo-Classicism to Romanticism, Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism to Post-impressionism. Most of the works in the collection are representational and I think it was the pinnacle of the art of painting.

I spent the morning viewing the collection, then had an inexpensive, light lunch of a cheese baguette sandwich, apple, and water on the 6th level. The Orsay Visitor's Guide (€8) is informative, contains good quality graphics, and is souvenir. Also, there's a Vélib' station adjacent to the museum.

Later I stopped by Fat Tire to check email, then toured the Musée du quai Branly collection of indigenous art from around the world that Jocelyn had mentioned. Most memorable were some of the African sculptures and Aboriginal paintings.

Fat Tire Bike ToursInside Fat TireEveryone uses Vélib'

Previous | Next