Station museum - the gare d'orsay
The GARE D'ORSAY is museum which has been built in what used to initially be a train station, the building itself is exceptional and interesting. The museum has an extraordinary art collection, which dates back to the early 19th century. However its fame lies in its magnificent impressionist and neo-impressionist collection. The museum also endeavor to promote art by organizing festivals, special shows, exhibitions, conferences and concerts on a regular basis.
Jacques Chirac, who was once the mayor of Paris got the abandoned Orsay train station converted into a world class museum. The building itself is a beautiful site and mark of respect to the great rail stations of Europe. As soon as one enters, climb to the top of the staircase and look back to envision trains entering and exiting the station. The starting point start of the visit can be on the top floor and work one's way down. The Impressionist works including those by Monet, Renoir and van Gogh, is very well known at this museum. There is also a wonderful Art Nouveau section. Finally the café is a nice place for a light lunch, offering views of the Right Bank through the station's giant clock.
With nearly a hundred works using many different techniques, the Rodin/Carrière exhibition is a rare opportunity to compare a painter and a sculptor who were linked by a deep friendship and strong stylistic affinities.
The current President of France, Jacques Chirac, was once the mayor of Paris. One of his greatest achievements as mayor was the conversion of the once abandoned Orsay train station into a world class museum. The building itself is a beautiful site and tribute to the great rail stations of Europe. Upon entering, climb to the top of the staircase and look back to envision trains entering and exiting the station. Now you can start your visit on the top floor and work your way down. The museum is most famous for its Impressionist works including those by Monet, Renoir and van Gogh, just to name a few. There is also a wonderful Art Nouveau section. Finally the café is a nice place for a light lunch, offering views of the Right Bank through the station's giant clock.
With nearly a hundred works using many different techniques, the Rodin/Carrière exhibition gives a rare opportunity to compare a painter and a sculptor who were linked by a deep friendship and strong stylistic similarity. The museum also strives to promote art by organizing festivals, special shows, exhibitions, conferences and concerts on a regular basis.
Shining on the gallery walls, the paintings reveal idyllic and rural scenes, and abstract and cubist art. This enormous variety of art reflects the tension between adhering to the old aesthetics and absorbing the new era. Placidly spread throughout the first floor, the early mid-19th century paintings are visions of ideal beauty. In Alexandre Canabel's Birth of Venus, a world of fair goddesses and mythic heroes float in front of one's eyes.
Before long people had had enough of fantasy-land and in came a new movement - Realism. Realism shows the hardships of everyday life. On the third floor, the fresh life of photography breathed new vitality into painting. Art could not continue to record reality when the camera did that flawlessly.
The grand effect of the Railway station turned to a museum is a treat for modernists and traditionalists alike having an airy, beautiful station of pillars and stucco rosettes, with an enormous glass-arched ceiling that flooded it with natural light.
