One of the attractions of Paris is the Orsay Museum (d'Orsay), which exhibits masterpieces of painting and sculpture, known throughout the world. In this article you will find out what interesting exhibits are worth seeing in the most famous art museum of Paris.
The Orsay Museum is housed in the old building of the railway station in the center of the French capital on the banks of the Seine. This building was transformed and reconstructed according to the project of the Italian Gaius Aulenty for ten years, and in 1986 the museum opened its doors for the first visitors.
A short trip to the Orsay Museum
The museum has collected the world's rarest collection of works of art from 1848 to 1915 from different parts of France, as well as other countries. Here art objects (and there are more than 4 thousand of them) are located on three floors of the museum in chronological order. Pictures and sculptures of famous masters coexist with little-known authors. The entire collection of the museum consists of paintings by impressionists and post-impressionists, sculptures, architectural models, photographs and pieces of furniture.
Begin your journey from the ground floor of the Musee d'Orsay, where sculptures of such masters as Paul Gauguin, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, Jean-Baptiste Carpault, Henri Schapou, Camille Claudel, Paul Dubois, Emmanuelle Framieux and others are located. On the sides of the hall are two a number of small rooms, which are the works of famous French painters. A couple of years ago on the first floor in one of the rooms was posted "Workshop" by Gustave Courbet, who is considered the founder of realism in painting. There is a room entirely dedicated to the work of Claude Monet, it stores his paintings "Women in the Garden", "Regatta in Arzhatai" and many others.
The second floor of the Orsay Museum gives us an opportunity to get acquainted with the paintings of naturalists and symbolists, examples of decorative art in the direction of Art Nouveau, and also enjoy the sculptural works of Rodin, Bourdelle, and Maillol. Be sure to find the statue of the dancer Degas and the scandalous statue of Balzac by Auguste Rodin.
The third floor of the Orsay Museum is a paradise for connoisseurs of art. Here you can enjoy the pictures of such brilliant artists as: Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh.
Near the painting "Starry Night over the Rhone" Van Gogh is always delayed a lot of visitors, it is considered a rare pearl of the museum's collection. Of great interest is also the painting by Edward Manet "Breakfast on the Grass," which shocked the public of the 19th century by the fact that a nude girl in the company of two dressed men was drawn on it. In addition, on this floor in a separate gallery displays exhibits of Oriental art.
The museum features permanent exhibitions and temporary thematic exhibitions, as well as conferences, concerts and performances.
Opening hours of the Orsay Museum
Before going to the museum of Orsay, be sure to specify its opening hours. It is closed on Mondays, and on other days it works like this:
- Thursday from 9:30 to 21:45;
- the remaining days - from 9:30 to 18:00.
Cost of entrance tickets to the Museum of Orsay
The cost of tickets is:
- 11 euros - for everyone;
- 8.5 euros: for tourists not from the EU aged 18-25 years and sometimes in the evening hours;
- free admission: for certain categories of citizens, for youth - on Thursdays from 18 hours, and on the first Sunday of the month - for everyone.
Another feature of the entrance ticket to the museum is that at its purchase you can buy discount tickets to the National Museum of Gustavo Moreau and the Paris Opera in a few days.
If you are not a connoisseur of painting and sculpture, then it is better to join the excursion group, then you will not only read the names of the exhibits, but also learn a lot of interesting things.
At the end of 2011, the D'Orsay Museum in Paris opened to the public new galleries that were created for two years. The lighting of the halls was redone, now there is modern artificial lighting, which is more in keeping with the atmosphere of the bourgeois salons and interiors, for which the canvases were written.
When going to Paris, be sure to visit the most famous museum of painting and sculpture d'Orsay.
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In addition to the Orsay museum in Paris, you should take a walk along the famous Montmartre district and the Champs Elysées.