Saturday, August 2, 2014

trees, cows and naked ladies

When we arrived at the Musée D'Orsay, about 20 minutes before opening, nobody was there yet. We decided to go around the corner to a café for something warm to drink and a croissant to fortify us for the morning of art. When we came back round the front of the museum at 9:30am for the opening, there was already a moderate line - but luckily we were still in time to not have to wait long.

Musée D'Orsay
The old train station in which the museum is housed is incredible. It originally opened in 1900 for the Universal Exhibition, and served as the main train station for central Paris until modern trains became too long in the late 30s. After a few more years of service (local, post, for soldiers in the war), the train station was closed down, though the attached hotel continued to be in service until the 70s. After a period of disuse, it was repurposed and renovated to serve as a museum and opened in 1986.

The large rail clock rightfully receives a lot of attention, as does the building in general. I really liked how they preserved, and even showed off, various aspects of the structure - for example the names of French cities (presumably stops along the various train lines) at the tops of columns in a few of the galleries, and the rivets and beams of the construction.

As for the art itself, I found the museum to be very well organized. The audioguide was a nice supplement, but ultimately probably not necessary (though admittedly, there was very little signage in English beyond the basics; most of the explanatory notes for anything beyond the introductory sign for each room/theme, were in French). However, if one has internet access, many of the more important works are commented on the English version of the official museum website.  The flow of art over time and by style was easily followed (even for an art neophyte like me), and the overall theme of the museum - mid 19th to early 20th century, mostly French artists (or artists who spent significant time in France) - helped tie everything together.

There were a lot of paintings, as one might expect in an art museum. They professed to follow themes of the art of the time - academic art, art produced for Le Salon, art reacting against the rules of academic art and rebelliously showing things like peasants in formats previously reserved for great religious or historical themes... art studying the way light changes, or the human condition, or painting the outdoors in the outdoors, or recreating historical events, people, and myths... art in different styles (symbolist, realist, impressionist, pre-and-post this and that, pointillage, etc.)... but really. I'd wager that three quarters of the paintings at the Musée D'Orsay contain at least one of three things: trees, cattle or naked ladies.

The statues overall didn't make much of an impression on me - I find that more than paintings, they seem to blur together a bit. I didn't spend more than a handful of minutes glancing at the current temporary exhibit - more statues. However, the work of one sculptor in particular stood out - François Pompon (link to French Wikipedia article due to more pictures). My favorite piece is probably his most famous - the polar bear who presides over the cafeteria named after it. I also rather liked the black panther; G was taken by the running rabbit (photo of a reproduction; I can't find a picture of the original).

I also found the Art Nouveau section rather interesting, mostly showing furniture and doors. In the decorative arts section, there was also a gallery highlighting pieces done after Japan had finally allowed the Western world in, and French artists and manufacturers were enthusiastically producing pieces in the Japanese style - there was a collection of plates, in particular, which was memorable.

Railway Clock
Interior of ceiling
Sacré Coeur from the roof terrace of museum
For lunch, we stopped at the museum restaurant. The room was part of the original hotel and has been restored to its original glory (along with a handful of other rooms, including the ballroom, which was stunning). If one is going to eat overpriced museum food, one may as well do it in surroundings like this. Though the food wasn't anything special, it was real sit-down restaurant with waiters (something I haven't seen in a museum restaurant before; usually it's more cafeteria-style), with proper tablecloths, nice presentation, reasonably fast service, and, of course, the surroundings.

Part of restaurant ceiling and walls
More restaurant ceiling
Presentation of main dish. Unfortunately, fish was slightly overdone.

Dinner was at Il Campionissimo, the first of two visits to this restaurant during this trip. They have a menu of (supposedly) 100 varieties of pizza. Some of the offerings are a little unusual for pizza - I had a carpaccio and wild mushroom pizza, which was mushroomy, cheesy, and very tasty.

Many menu choices
Pizza: Carpaccio
Pizza: Pollo Della Nona
On our way home from dinner, we passed by a church... typical of crowded Parisian streets, the building next door has been built up directly up from the property line.
Looks pretty ordinary from here...
But a little amusing from here :)

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