Self portrait - Vincent Van Gogh

Musée d’Orsay : a real must-see (2 videos below, on this page)

Not only a great museum, but a great building too. The building itself is worth a visit.

The Musée d’Orsay is located on the left bank of the river Seine, in the 7th arrondissement (= district) of Paris. 
Carte Paris avec Musée d'Orsay
It shows the arts of the period from 1848 to 1914 (it picks up where the Louvre ends) : paintings, sculptures, furniture and photography. It’s the world’s largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art work from the period 1848 – 1904

The collections :

The museum exhibits impressionist and post impressionist collections and let a lot of space to the earlier Realists. Also temporary exhibitions

The impressionist and post impressionist paintings include works by Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Vincent Van Gogh….      

The French impressionists :  the great revolution of the 19th century, began in Paris in the 1860s. The artists started to break with the academic values of the past.

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Impression (1872) – Monet

The Impressionist movement has no founder though Manet and Courbet inspired many of the younger artists. However, one says that the name “Impressionism” comes from a painting by Claude Monet : “Impression” (= “Sunrise »), a view from Le Havre in the mist from 1872.

The impressionist artists aimed to capture the impression of what the eye sees at a given moment. Their favourite subjects were : landscapes, and scenes from the urban life.

The leading neo-Impressionist was Georges Seurat.

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“Le déjeuner sur l’herbe” – 1863 – Edouard Manet

It took later generations to fully appreciate the work of the Impressionists. In 1863, Manet’s “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe” was rejected by the officiel salon of that year. Cezanne was rejected all his life. Degas sold only one painting to a museum an dSisley died unknown. Only Renoir and Monet were ever acclaimed in their lifetimes.

  • Ground floor : all paintings prior to 1870 : Degas before 1870, first Monet’s paintings, Toulouse, Lautrec, Cezanne, Manet, Courbet…
  • The museum central aisle : an assorted selection of sculptures of the middle of the 19th century.. and a copy of the Statue of Liberty. 
  • Level 2 : Gauguin and Van Gogh (number 70,71,72 rooms) …
  • Level 5 : the collection of impressionist art (Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Pissaro, Sisley…)—————————————————————

A quick visit of The Orsay Museum before you come !

ORSAY : The story of an old railway station

Orsay train station, built in 1900

The museum building was originally a 19th railway station called “Orléans station” after the name of the city of Orléans.  The trains were going from Paris to the city of Orléans. It was built between 1898 and 1900.  The railway station closed late 19th century. It reopened as the Musée d’Orsay in 1986.

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Gaetana Olenti, architect

The Italian architect Gaetana Aulenti (1927 – 2012), reinvented the  Orleans train station, She was a defiant figure in a field dominated by men,  one of 2 women to graduate in the class of 1954, of the Milan Polytechnic School of Architecture. “…She’ll be remembered for the audacity of her vision.” (The New York Times)—–—————————————————

 

A 1 minute video, to know more about Orsay museum amazing story :

Practical details :

  • Address : 1 rue de la Légion d’honneur. +33 (0) 1 40 49 48 14
  • Metro stop : Solférino  – RER C :  Musée d’Orsay Buses : 24, 68, 69, 84 – Batobus stop : « Musée d’Orsay » nearby
  • Opening time : 9.30 am – 6pm Tues-Sun (9.45pm on Thursdays) Closed on Mondays, on 5/01 and on 12/25 – Last ticket sold 1 hour before closing.
  • You can take photos inside the museum (but with no flash) – A great news for all the photographers !

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    “Le restaurant” on the 1st floor

  • Audioguides are available in English (and in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japonese, Chinese and Russian for 5 euros
  • 2 restaurants : Ground floor, level 1 (« The restaurant ») and Level 5 (Café Campana)
  • and a café (“Café de L’ours” : for a light lunch – at the ground floor )
  • One of the restaurants called “Le restaurant” is located on the 1st floor. It’s the former restaurant of the Hôtel d’Orsay (which was a part of the Orléans (=Orsay) train station. It is still as it was when it opened in 1900 and is listed as a Historic Monument.

Ticket purchase

My advice :

  • A real must-see on your visit to Paris especially if you are an impressionist art lover. A gem. The architecture is beautiful and the building itself is worth seeing. I love it. But the collection of impressionist and neo impressionist art is fantastic. This is one of my favorite museums in Paris. This museum may be your favorite in Paris !! Don’t miss it.
  • Choose to visit the Musée d’Orsay at opening time. (for a more peaceful visit). The crowd and the queues can be quite large. Better not choose a weekend day.
  • Prepare your visit before you come : look at the map of the museum and choose the artists and paintings you want to see first. Allow a minimum of 2 hours for your visit, A whole morning or afternoon is better. but you could easily spend an entire day looking at everything !
  • My advice would be to start visiting the 5th floor. Don’t miss the 5th floor where the most famous works are located
  • Important : buy your tickets on line It’s highly recommended. Sometimes if you’ven’t got a ticket, you may wait more than one hour.
  • Don’t miss the several giants clocks which are wonderful and very impressive (at the ground floor – a golden huge clock and at the level 5 – a glass clocks)
  • Also a great view over central Paris from the level 5‘ : from the terrace and through the large glass clock !. But this winter (2016) it had to be seen though the museum’s windows (terrace not opened)
  • Other paintings by Monet are exhibited in Paris or nearby Paris : at Musée Marmottan Monet (in Paris), Orangerie Museum (in Paris) and Giverny (located 75 km west from Paris)

La Closerie nowadays

“La Closerie des Lilas” means “Small enclosed lilac garden”. It’s a place, with an enormous charm, calm and elegant, which makes Paris magic. It’s one of the mythical brasseries of Montparnasse neighborhood.  The ambiance of old-world Paris.

WHERE ?

La Closerie des Lilas

“La Closerie des Lilas” is located in Montparnasse neighborhood which was, between WWI and WWII, the heart of the artistic and intellectual Parisian life (after Montmartre and before Saint Germain des Prés heydays). On the corner of Boulevard Montparnasse and Boulevard Saint Michel. A bit off the beaten path. Most regulars are Parisians.

A ONE MINUTE VIDEO FILMED ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON :

A bit of History : 

You can’t forget the richness of its past… La Closerie des Lilas is over 100 years old. It has entertained visitors from all over the world. And many writers and artists met up at the Closerie des Lilas.

Here, you can feel the presence of Hemingway

The only decent café in our neighborhood was La Closerie des Lilas, and it was one of the best cafes in Paris. It was warm in the winter and the terrace was lovely in the spring and fall,” Hemingway – A Moveable feast

Also the hang-out for : Verlaine, Apollinaire, Beckett, Man Ray, Sartre, Baudelaire, Cezanne, Modigliani, Oscar Wilde, Emile Zola, André Gide to name a few.

A revered haunt for the Lost generation writers  : Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Hemingway who used to come here to write. La Closerie des Lilas was one of Hemingway’s favorite cafés, where he wrote parts of “The sun also rises here”, and where Scott Fitzgerald showed him “Gatsby” for the first time. Behind the bar, one can find a picture of young Hemingway in an army uniform form WWI.

THE SETTING

A warm and cosy ambiance.

A restaurant with a pleasant terrace, a quaint little tree-enclosed patio, a brasserie, and a bar.

The bar : a gorgeous setting, low-lighted, with furniture made in polished mahogany, red-leather confortable banquettes, A brass and chrome bar. There are one-by-three-inch brass nameplates on the corner of the tables with engraved names of literary figures who supposedly sat there. The bartenders are dressed in white jacket. They will serve you a customized cocktail. Live music most evenings and the sunday afternoon too make the place even more special…. and a wonderful Art Deco bathroom. Probably the most beautiful bathroom in Paris  … and a wonderful Art Deco bathroom. Probably the most beautiful bathroom in Paris.                                                        

Practical details :

  • La Closerie des Lilas – 171 boulevard Montparnasse, Paris 6 –  Hours: 12 noon – 1:00 a.m.  Web site : www.closeriedeslilas.fr    Tel. : + 33(0)1 40 51 34 50
  • Metro : Vavin (line 4) or Raspail (line 4 and 6) (Both metro stop at about 7 min walk) RER : Port Royal (just beside the Closerie des Lilas), Bus : 38 (a bus stop just nearby)

My advice :

  • a must-go on your visit to Paris,
  • Why not a drink (a cocktail, a coffee, a hot chocolate or whatever) in the gorgeous bar, where the bartender will serve you a customized cocktail if you wish to !
  • When you have a drink , you can have a pastry too. The “assiette gourmande” is delightful (An “assiette gourmande” is an assortment of a few very littles pastries). 
  • Or for a lunch or dinner either at the restaurant (but quite pricey, an upscale restaurant) or the brasserie.
  • After a lunch, you can either go for a walk in the Observatoire garden, (nearby –   ) then the Luxembourg garden (10 minutes walk from La Closerie), or go for a walk in the Montparnasse neighborhood (around Vavin) then to the Luxembourg garden (an entrance nearby Vavin street)
  • … And don’t miss the bathroom, which is really gorgeous ! Beautiful Art Deco style. 
  • The 4 other popular literary cafés/brasseries in Montparnasse neighborhood are : “Le Select’, “La Rotonde”, “Le Dome” and “La Coupole”

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