Art with the Masses

Thursday, May 2, was field trip day for us. In early April, Lon saw a story on the internet about a special exhibition on Impressionism that was being presented this year at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. As we're big fans of Impressionistic art, and we knew that a break from boat preparation would be welcome during these first days in Auxerre, we booked a reserved time slot for museum entry on May 2nd.  An early morning train from Auxerre to the Gare de Bercy in Paris got us to the city in plenty of time. 

The Musee d'Orsay holds the largest collection of Impressionist (think Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Sisley, etc.) and post-Impressionist (think Gauguin, Cezanne, van Gogh, Seurat) masterpieces in the world, housed in a former Beaux-arts railway station of 1900, the Gare d'Orsay.

The Musee d'Orsay, as viewed in 2017 while taking an evening tourist cruise on the Seine. 

The special exhibition, "Paris 1874, Inventing Impressionism", marks the 150th anniversary of the first exhibition in Paris of what came to be known as Impressionism. At the time, the "Salon" in Paris was the most prestigious exhibition for artists. The works selected by Salon juries for exhibition usually conformed to the traditionally accepted art techniques of the day, with highly structured realism and an emphasis on religious, mythological, and historical subjects. Impressionist paintings--with their focus on the effects of light and achieving the definition of objects by changing color hues (rather than using black)--were viewed by most critics as shapeless, formless, or unfinished, and were rarely selected for display at the Salon. As a result, in defiance of the "official" art world, 31 artists came together to create the first of what would ultimately be eight exhibitions with works of art from the nascent Impressionist movement.

This year's special exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay included a number of works that were displayed at that first Impressionist exhibition and contrasted them with paintings and sculptures that were part of the official Salon of that same year. It was interesting stuff, but the crush of people made it impossible to easily view the different works of art, much less be able to attain anything close to a state of "contemplation." We had hoped that timed entries would mitigate overcrowding overall in the museum, but that was not the case.

Our first "hint" of what was to come. At least we were in the "timed entry" line, and were able
to get into the museum at 11 a.m. as scheduled. The line for "walk-up" tickets stretched for blocks. And this isn't even tourist high season yet. Definitely a different experience from our first Orsay visit in 2012.

You might think, "the crowd's not so bad, you can actually see some
of the floor." You would be wrong.

When we finished up with the special exhibition we spent a little time among the permanent collection. Some rooms were crowded, some not so much, but we were fast approaching the 2-hour mark at the museum, which is about our limit for a museum visit.

There's a nice view over the Seine from the backside of one
of the clocks in the building.

I never knew that Monet had done a painting of turkeys.
I think, though, that it's probably for the best that he fixated on
water lilies for the bulk of his painting in later life.

The Salon de Fetes was a space done up in the best
French tradition of "you can never have too much gold."

The museum interior is beautiful, a work of art as much
as the masterpieces it contains.

A courtroom artist's sketch of former President
Trump. No, wait, it's a van Gogh.

Lunch would have been nice, but the cafe was a bit
overcrowded as well. Loved the lamps, though.

When we finally made our exit from the museum, we decided to get out of the main tourist zone and its (probably) over-priced restaurants. We headed over to the Port de Arsenal (our boat's "home" for 3 weeks last June) for a nostalgic visit and a quick bite to eat at a nearby bistro before catching a mid-afternoon train back to Auxerre.

This "Wojo" sign at the Accor Arena caught our eye on
our walk to Gare de Bercy. In this case, it's not Lon's
old nickname, but a company that specializes in coworking
and flexible workspaces.