Musée d'Orsay

I'm ashamed to say that until today I'd never been to the Musée d'Orsay. Either I was in the wrong part of town, I had other things planned or the queue was unfeasibly long when I got there. Today, however, I finally rectified that. And, my, didn't I feel bad when I got inside. I was one step away from phoning all my friends and relatives and saying 'Stop whatever you're doing and come here NOW. You must. You absolutely must'.

First there's the building. It seems a shame that such a beautiful structure ever housed a station (but hey, that was the Victorians for you) as it seems tailor-made for an art gallery. The light trickles through the ceiling to make even the glummest of paintings or the most serious sculptures seem positively happy.

On the principle of 'Always leave wanting more' I didn't stay too long - 90 mins was plenty to give me a good overview but, in the words of Arnie, I'll be back. Best €8 I've spent in a while.

Station/Musuem Clock


Van Gogh


Monet


Monet (again)


Degas


Cabanel


Winterhalter (Mrs Rimsky-Korsakov)


The main hall


Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's Four Parts of the World

Words and Pictures © Louise Heal 2009