MUSÉE D’ORSAY

Description

Essentials about the Musée d’Orsay in brief

Next to the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay is the most famous art museum in Paris and, with around four million visitors a year, also one of the city’s most popular museums. It is known far beyond the borders of Paris for its outstanding collection of impressionist art. Already the location and the building of the Musée d’Orsay are impressive. Located directly on the south bank of the Seine opposite the Tuileries Garden, the museum is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay station building.

The building of the Musée d’Orsay

The station was built on the occasion of the 1900 World’s Fair and was used until 1939 for long-distance traffic to the southwest of France. In 1977, on the initiative of French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the decision was made to turn the station into a museum. In 1986, the Musée d’Orsay finally opened its doors to the public. The special architectural setting of the large, open train station hall with its illuminating glass roof still provides a very special art experience for many visitors today.

The collection of the Musée d’Orsay

On 16,000 square meters, the Musée d’Orsay displays more than 4,000 exhibits from the period 1848 to 1914. The exhibition presents paintings, sculptures, graphics, photographs, as well as works from the arts and crafts, design and architecture. The main focus and crowd puller of the museum are the paintings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially from the artistic movements of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. The artists on display resemble a who’s who of painting. Here you can admire the legendary “Self-Portrait” by Vincent van Gogh, “The Cathedral of Rouen” by Claude Monet, “The Origin of the World” by Gustave Courbet, “The Portrait of Achille Emperaire” by Paul Cézanne and “The Absinthe” by Edgar Degas.