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.

Claude_Monet,_Impression,_soleil_levant

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.

aulenti-2

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)

Montmartre and the Sacré Coeur

Montmartre, a Paris neighborhood,

but still a village atmosphère.   

On of the most visited Paris neighborhood – One of the city’s most famous landmarks.

Montmartre is a hill. On its summit : the Sacré Coeur (=Holy Heart). For some Parisians, its nickname is “Paris’ beauty spot

Sacre Coeur – Édouard Leon Cortès (1882–1969)

A village until 1860 and the feeling still nowadays that you’re not totally in Paris.

Cobblestones narrow and winding streets, quaint houses, vineyards (yes : still nowadays ! A Harvest Festival every 1st weekend of October), 2 windmills, romantic alleyways and long stairways, restaurants and cafés that could be located in Provence, quiet squares. The feeling that you’re far from a big city…

And it’s where Amelie, (the movie) was shot.              

       

And from the Sacré Coeur terrace : a beautiful view over Paris.

Montmartre : the highlight of artistic life 

From the end of the 19th century ,  Montmartre is the center of artistic life in Paris, the model of a free , bohemian existence.  Composers, writers, painters, poets are gathering, lived and worked in Montmartre

Impressionist painters :Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissaro, Utrillo, Cezanne, Sysley…

Other painters : Modigliani, Picasso (he painted “Les demoiselles d’Avignon” in Montmartre), Van Gogh, Dali, Braque, Toulouse Lautrec, Seurat, Léger…

Writers, singers, poets, musicians : Appolinaire, , Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Stravinsky, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Proust, Edith Piaf, Boris Vian, Jean Cocteau, Truffaut,  ,, the Surrealists…etc lived  there too.

To enjoy Paris as a local : take a walk in Montmartre with “Ann Jeanne in Paris”

More photos :

My advice :

I’m a bit sad to see visitors going straight up to the top of Montmartre hill, stay for a while near the Sacré Coeur and Place du Tertre, then get back to the Metro stop Abbesses or Anvers. Yes, they’re missing a lot of what makes Montmartre a charming and quiet place, a village with its narrow cobblestone streets, its quaint houses…etc They’re probably missing the most important.

  • Visit Montmartre in the morning so to avoid too much crowd and if possible, plan to stay at least 3 or 4 hours in the neighborhood, the best would be the day with a break in a nice and quite restaurant or café not too close from the most touristic spots.
  • Why not start your walk from the Metro Stop Lamarck Caulaincourt (north of the Sacré Coeur) or from the Metro Blanche ? (see the Metro Map – Menu : Useful informations) – Metro Pigalle or Anvers possible too

Plan de Montmartre

How to get to Montmartre ?

Lamarck Caulaincourt  or Abbesses (line 12)

Blanche, Anvers (line 2)

Buses : 30, 54, 67 or Montmartrobus.

 

Some addresses :

  1. Le tracteur rouge – 41 rue Caulaincourt – Paris 18 : for a lovely lunch, brunch, or dinner in a charming and very welcoming place. Metro Lamark Caulaincourt (at the bottom of Montmartre hill)
  2. L’Hôtel Particulier – Charming hotel in the middle of Montmartre
  3. L’été en Pente douce – a nice colored tarrace – a quiet village atmosphere – a very pleasant place for a lunch, a drink, a break
  4. Le café des 2 moulins (the café of Amelie (movie)) – 15 rue Lepic – Paris 18 – Rue Lepic : where much of the movie Amelie was shot)
  5. Grenat et Taffetas –  Beautiful vintage jewels – 25 rue Houdon – Paris 18 nearby the Place des Abbesses – Metro Stop : Abesses
    75018 Paris –  0142592249      –   Tuesday to Saturday : 11 am to 7 pm, Sunday : 12 am to 6 pm
  6. Bakery Boris Lumé – 48 rue Caulaincourt – Paris 18

Here is a video shot a rainy winter day in Montmartre

Visit Montmartre, with “Ann Jeanne in Paris”, native Parisian : 

(cobblestones winding streets,  romantic alleyways, long stairways, vineyards, windmills, authentic cafes …)

  • You’d like to feel like a local and having a tour in a Paris neighborhood, but you don’t feel having a tour with a group ?
  • You’d like to discover Montmartre off the beaten path and get a real feel of an authentic Paris ?
  • You’d like to see Paris in another perspective and to know more about Paris lifestyle and Parisians ?    Feel free to contact me

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WELCOME !

  • I’d be delighted to welcome you and show you “my” Paris. And Paris will become “your” city too 🙂
  • The tour is private (with you only or you and the person you choose), at your pace. Duration : Half a day
  • For more details : The tours – Booking and Pricing
  • Feel free to contact me

 Ann Jeanne in Paris’ Private walking tours