Musee d'Orsay

The last major stop on my March 2010 Parisian tour with my friend, E., was at the Musee d'Orsay.  It houses mostly French art created from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth.  There are a lot of the heavy hitters of the art world represented in this museum.  There are pieces by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renior, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Courbet, Millet, Toulouse-Lautrec, and on and on.  The Musee d'Orsay is housed in a Beaux-Arts train station.  Not only is the artwork fabulous, the atmosphere is extremely impressive as well.

The museum was being renovated at the time of our visit.  A large portion of the building was closed and many pieces of art had been relocated.  Although it made for tighter quarters, the relocation process had been tastefully done and did not detract from viewing the artwork.

The guide books advise to arrive when the museum opens.  We got up early and made sure that we were there when the doors opened.  Unfortunately everyone else visiting the Musee d'Orsay had also read the guide books.  We arrived at the same time as several large tour groups.  Thankfully we had bought tickets in advance so we didn't have to wait in a long tine to enter.  We did get stuck among many, many, many other visitors while walking through the exhibits though.

My favorite aspects of Impressionist artwork are the squiggly marks, the dashes of paint, the brush scrubbing, and all those fine details that look messy up close but wonderful when standing at a distance.  I had been excited to easily view the painterly marks in real life.  I quickly became discouraged when I had to trot at what I considered too quick of a pace, pushed along by the throngs of people behind me.  There were hordes of teenagers who couldn't have cared less about where they were and what they were viewing.  There were also tourists who were lining up to take pictures of their friends in front of the most famous pieces.  I felt very claustrophobic and annoyed that I couldn't see the artwork without others standing in front of it.

After being at the museum for about an hour, I tried to take a different approach in order to salvage this experience.  Instead of being exasperated by the people standing in front of the paintings, I decided to think of them as a vital part of the museum environment.  I could have more time with The Luncheon on the Grass in a book or online anyways.  Could I enjoy it more by thinking of the people viewing it as part of the painting?

I began to take photographs of the people while they stood in front of the pieces.  Once my agenda changed, my enjoyment increased.  I stood back and let what had previously annoyed me become my focus.  It was more interesting when I was making my own artwork than trying to jostle elbows to be front and center with the other tourists.  It is amazing what a difference a change of perspective makes.  I do hope that I will get another chance to visit the Musee d'Orsay again.  I also hope that the next time I go more people will decide to visit other attractions that day.

Sights on the Seine

People gravitate towards water.  Whether it is an ocean, lake, river, or just a puddle, people love to be near lapping waves and rippling pools.  This is no different in Paris.

The Seine River flows through Paris, spanned by thirty-seven bridges within city limits and countless more outside the city (according to wikipedia).  Riverboats, both commercial and recreational, make the river bustle.  But the most interesting thing to me were the people who were enjoying themselves along the banks.

In March 2010, after our visit to Notre Dame, E. and I took a walk along the Seine River.  We didn't descend the stairway to walk right along the water.  Rather we walked along the streets above, looking downwards towards the river.  Despite the lack of leaves on the trees and the whip of the wind, several people were enjoying the cobble-stoned pathways that run beside the quick current.  There were solitary sitters, young couples in love, as well as people on the move.  The sun was bright and people were enjoying their moment by the water.

It is difficult to see in the photo, but this man was carrying a pigeon in a box.  

A professional photographer doing his job.  I wonder what magazine these photos ended up in?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seine_river

A Mention of Notre Dame Cathedral

I feel disloyal by writing a post about Notre Dame in Paris before writing about the cathedral in Strasbourg.  But I also feel strange leaving it out completely in the synopsis of my March 2010 trip to Paris.  So I am posting pictures from Notre Dame but am not going to write much about it.  My lack of writing about it is not a commentary of how I liked it.  I enjoyed my visit very much.  The flying buttresses alone are worth the trip to see it.  

Looking up at the Louvre

There is nothing small and intimate about the Louvre.  Everything is on a grand scale.  The artwork plus the surroundings are large, opulent, rich, and somewhat imposing.  This is art that was made to impress.  Even the ceilings are luxurious. 

Here are some photos taken while looking up at the Louvre.