One of Europe’s most important museums is oh so beloved.
Photo by Armand Khoury on UnsplashThe Louvre may be one of the most important museums in the world, and one that most travelers need to see in Paris. But another museum truly inscribe tenderness in most people’s hearts is located not too far away. Musée d’Orsay is not only beloved by so many, it’s also one that travelers continue to talk about long after a trip to the City of Light.
Even its architecture is historically unique, Musée d’Orsay is a former train station built between 1989 and 1900. Constructed by three architects: Lucien Magne, Émile Bénard and Victor Laloux; the station would hub southwest-bound trains from Paris. When the station’s platforms became unfit for longer trains in 1939, it became the set of quite a few films including Orson Welles’ The Trial.
PHOTO WENDY HUNGThe concept of a museum to connect the dots between the Louvre, Georges Pompidou Centre and the National Museum of Modern Art came around 1970. 16 years later, after the installation of 2000+ paintings, 600 sculptures and more, Musée d’Orsay officially opened to the public with a focus on Impressionist and post-Impressionist artworks.
Today, the museum has grown to be one of the largest in Europe and certainly one of the most significant due to plentiful masterpieces by Manet, Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Sisley, Van Gogh…and many more. Key pieces include: Manet’s “The Luncheon on the Grass,” Degas’ “L’Absinthe,” Cézanne’s “Apples and Oranges,” Monet’s “Blue Water Lilies,” Van Gogh’s famous self-portraits and “Starry Night Over the Rhone” which shines in sheer magnificence regardless of how many hours one can observe a classic treasure.
PHOTO WENDY HUNGWhy does Musée d’Orsay mark a lasting impression in a way that is furthermore poignant than any other museum in Paris?
The techniques of Impressionist art is based on the freedom from classical techniques the focus on religious subjects or historical portraits that were acutely painted. Impressionists’ broken brush strokes and emphasis on nature as well as modern life were groundbreaking for its time. Breaking the mold is a quality embedded in artistic and ambitious human character, regardless of time periods. Today, whether you’re an entrepreneur, a scientist, or an artist; innovation is the seed for passion that translates to drive results. Hence, Impressionists in mid-19th century may have shown such a push through their art, but we, as people in the 21st century, can still appreciate the cutting-edge revolution.
Prior to Impressionism, French art was dominated by polished brush strokes that would precisely disguise the artist’s personal flair. Monet and Sisley, for example, popularized an avant-garde approach to painting with free strokes crossing contours, which signified a different way of implementation. Even today, playing with alternatives heavily exists in most professions. Teachers are constantly looking at various ways to deliver the same course, doctors are often discovering better techniques to save lives. As a visitor browses through Musée d’Orsay, regardless of his/her profession, the inspiration to explore diverse methods of execution transpires through every decorative hall.
From different ways of doing to different ways of seeing, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art are timeless because of divergent portrayals. From how far one can stare at a painting, how long is spent studying the painting to the angle it is being looked at; every piece in Musée d’Orsay can speak a thousand words to solely one person, even at different times of day depending the person’s emotions. Besides Monet, Pointillism, for instance, allows the viewer to see a completely contrasting painting from near and afar. It can be said that Signac’s technique of small dots of color painted in patterns to structure an image is comparative to the wisdom of living modern life – an attempt to examine life experiences not from one single angle but in multiple point of views. Our journey seeking happiness or even as we travel, can be symbolized by the way Impressionists urged us to look at life.
PHOTO WENDY HUNGThe masterpieces drawing the most captivating crowds in the museum certainly belong to Van Gogh. The Dutch Post-Impressionist painter became one of the most influential figures who only sold only one painting during his lifetime then committed suicide at the age of 37. Beyond the nostalgia that viewers feel while gazing at his paintings, it’s also a sense of relativity with his mental illness struggles. In today’s society, many suffer from similar symptoms as this great artist: overworked, insomnia, and bipolar disorder as experts have suggested. His self-portrait series may have been technically revolutionary, but immensely indicative of self-scrutiny – a human trait that lives inside of all of us even if it may be painfully hidden at times.
So much more can be said and analyzed through this extraordinary era of French art, as Impressionism ignited numerous styles that continued to provoke later artists who sparked: Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Pointillism, Fauvism and Cubism. In many ways, the struggles of mid-19th century artists do not veer too far off from our experiences in the 21st century. This may just be the reason why Musée d’Orsay speak to so many, remaining as the ultimate beloved gem
