Paris Musée D’Orsay

62, rue de Lille, 7ème. Solférino, RER Musée d’Orsay. Access to visitors at entrance A of the square off 1 rue de la Légion d’Honneur. ☎01 40 49 48 14; www.musee-orsay.fr. Wheelchair-accessible; call ☎01 40 49 47 14 for more information. Open Tu-W and F-Sa 9:30am-6pm (last ticket sales 5pm), Th 10am-9:45pm (last ticket sales 9:15pm); June 20-Sept. 20 Su 9am-6pm. Admission (includes most exhibits) €7.50, ages 18-25 €5, under 18 free. Su and after 4:15pm (after 8pm on Th) €5.50.English tours 1hr. usually Tu-Sa 11:30am and 2:30pm; call ahead to confirm. €6.50/5. Bookstore open Tu-Su 9:30am-6:30pm, Th until 9:30pm. AmEx/MC/V. Tickets available online through FNAC.

If only the unimaginative Académiciens who turned the Impressionists away from the Louvre salon could see the Musée d’Orsay today. Now considered masterpieces of art, these “rejects” are well worth the pilgrimage to this mecca of 19th and 20th century modernity. The collection, installed in a former railway station, includes paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and photography from 1848 until WWI. The museum is one of the most popular in Paris and has crowds to match. Visit on Sunday mornings or Thursday evenings to avoid the masses.

Entrance: A clearly marked escalator at the far end of the building ascends to the Impressionist level, and maps and English-language information are available at the entrance.
Guides and Maps: Guide to the Musée d’Orsay: (€15) by Caroline Mathieu, the museum’s director, is worth the splurge. Practical Musée d’Orsay Pocket Guide €6. Handheld audioguides (2hr.; €5), available in English and other languages, provide anecdotal histories and analyses of 60 of the museum’s masterpieces.
Tours: Every 1hr. from the group reception area
Cafes: Café des Hauteurs sits on the 5th fl. behind one of the huge iron clocks (open Tu-W and F-Su 10am-5pm, Th 10am-9pm). A self-serve food stand is located directly above the cafe (open Tu-Su 11am-5pm). The Restaurant du Musée d’Orsay on the middle floor is a museum piece all its own; designed by Gabriel Ferrier in Belle Époque style, it features magnificent chandeliers and a spectacular view of the Seine (open for lunch Tu-Su 11:30am-2:30pm; tea 3:30-5:30pm except Th; dinner Th 7-9:30pm).

History

Built for the 1900 World’s Fair, the Gare d’Orsay’s industrial function was carefully masked by architect Victor Laloux behind glass, stucco, and a 370-room luxury hotel, so as not to mar the elegance of the 7 ème . For several decades, it was the main departure point for southwest-bound trains, but newer trains were too long for its platforms, and it closed in 1939. After WWII, the station served as the main French repatriation center, receiving thousands of concentration camp survivors. Orson Welles filmed The Trial here in 1962. Twenty-four years later, Musée d’Orsay opened here as one of Mitterrand’s Grands Projets, gathering works from the Louvre, Jeu de Paume, Palais de Tokyo, Musée de Luxembourg, provincial museums, and private collections.

Collection

The museum is curated in a chronological fashion from the ground floor to the top floor to the mezzanine. The ground floor, dedicated to Pre-Impressionist paintings and sculpture, contains the two scandalous works that started it all, both by Manet: Olympia , whose confrontational gaze and nudity caused a stir, and Déjeuner sur l’Herbe , which shockingly portrayed a naked woman accompanied by fully clothed men. At the back, the detailed section study of the Opéra Garnier is definitely worth a visit. The top floor includes all the big names in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art: Monet, Manet, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Degas (his famed dancers and prostitutes are a highlight). In addition, the balconies offer supreme views of the Seine and a jungle of sculptures below. Among the decorative arts on the middle level, Rodin’s imperious Honoré de Balzac and Pompon’s adorably big-footed Ours Blanc are not to be missed. Besides the permanent collection, seven temporary exhibition spaces, called dossiers , are scattered throughout the building. Call or pick up a free copy of Nouvelles du Musée d’Orsay for current installations. The museum also hosts conferences, special tours (including children’s tours), and concerts.