When we travel it is serious stuff, it isn’t a vacation, nor is it usually leisurely. We (read Ginny) are of the mindset that we may never have the opportunity to get back to that area again so we have to see it all. We tour and sightsee with a definite purpose, even if we have to push ourselves to the edge and often have come back home exhausted but with great memories and photographs.
There are more than 150 museums in and around Paris, a staggering number considering we were only going to be in the city for five days. With that many museums to choose from it was difficult deciding which art collections and monuments we would visit.
Thanks to the advice of the folks at the Paris Office of Tourism, www.parisinfo.com we obtained a two day Paris Museum Pass (32 Euros per person), www.parismuseumpass.com that offered direct and unlimited access to over 60 museums (permanent collections only) and monuments in the region. With this pass, there are no admissions to pay, no waiting in ticket lines, and no limit to the number of times one can visit the participating sites such as the Louvre, Orsay, Arch de Triumph, Tower and Crypt of Notre Dame de Paris, and even the Versailles Castle out side of the city. For two days, we concentrated on visiting museums and other venues covered by the pass.
Among our museum stops were: The Musée du Louvre, the largest museum in the world, containing more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in its eight curatorial departments with more than 652,000 square feet dedicated to the permanent collection.
It was established in 1793, and is one of the oldest museums in Europe. Its collections span from the birth of great civilizations up to the 19th century and its most popular piece is Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.” Six million people visit the museum each year. Be it a first visit to the Louvre, (Jim) or a return (Ginny when she was still in college), most people wants to see the museum’s three great ladies - the Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace, and Mona Lisa. The museum’s web site (www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en) offers a guide to finding its most popular exhibits.
If your heart is set on using the museum’s main entrance, the Pyramid, (designed in 1981 by famous architect I. M. Pei,) you can count on waiting in a long line. You can avoid the line by entering the museum via entrances that most tourists have no idea exist. The Museum Pass entrance is not located near the main entrance. Also used as the group entrance, it’s in the Passageway Richelieu between the Pyramid and the rue de Rivoli. We breezed in easily with no wait.
The Musee d’Orsay (www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html) may not be the massive size of Louvre, but its Impressionist collection is among the best in the world. The museum is housed in a former rail station, and has the atmosphere and personality to match. The d’Orsay attracts more than 2 million visitors annually.
The conversion of this abandoned train station, the Gare d’Orsay, into the Musee d’Orsay marked a major advance in the reorganization of the different collections. The museum is devoted to all art forms from the second half of the 19th century (painting, sculpture, architecture, music and items from everyday life). Significant Impressionist and neo-impressionist works are on display. The giant, 102-foot high and 450-foot long main hall of the station is artfully surrounded by a delicate iron construction enabling the abundant use of glass.
The collection is made up mostly from the late works of the Louvre and the Impressionist paintings from the nearby museum Jeu de Paume. You can also find works from the mid-19th century to the early 20th, chronologically bridging the Louvre and the Pompidou Center. Since we are not modern art fans and because of our time limitations, we did not visit the Pompidou collection. Displayed on the ground floor of the d’Orsay are earlier works devoted to sculpture with dance. The hall has two rows of smaller rooms on either side which are filled with works by Daumier, Millet, Rousseau, and Corot. In the last room, you can find works by Courbet and a huge area dedicated to Monet. Bazille, Delacroix, Puvis de Chavanne, Degas and
Gustave Moreau. The Orsay’s Impressionists art is highlighted by some of the world’s most iconic works including: Vincent van Gogh’s – “Bedroom in Arles” and “Starry Night;” Claude Monet’s – “The Rue Montorgueil in Paris;” and Edgar Degas’ – “The Ballet Class.”
The Musée de l’Orangerie (www.musee-orangerie.fr) — Monet’s Water Lilies museum — is an impressionist and post-impressionist museum located in the Jardin des Tulleries near the Place de la Concorde. It contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Chaim Soutine, Alfred Sisley and Maurice Utrillo among others but the museum was mainly created to house and display Monet’s the Nymphéas (Water Lilies) paintings.
Between the 1890s and 1920s, Monet painted the Nymphéas (water lilies) that he had planted in the pond of his gardens at Giverny, Normandy. His obsession of painting these flowers in different light conditions produced nearly 250 works. In 1922, he donated eight giant (6 x 18 foot) panels of Nymphéas to the French state with the stipulation that a suitable venue be found for their display. The paintings were installed in the museum following his death in 1927. A small museum by Paris standards it generally takes no more than a few hours to view the Orangerie’s small collection. However, because of its size the number of guests allowed into the museum at one time is closely controlled. We arrived at just the right time. We were allowed in immediately but noticed a long line of tourist waiting to enter as we were leaving.
Naturally, the Louvre is massive and would take weeks to see all the works on display properly so we, in fact, saw very little of what it had to offer. The buildings that make up the museum are a work of art themselves. The d’Orsay another magnificent building was a little more manageable but we rushed through there in half a day. The Orangerie, though small, turned out to be our favorite. Monet’s giant water lily murals were lovely beyond words.