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Orsay Museum

Modern Western Art Masters

The Musée d'Orsay is located on the south bank of the Seine in Paris, across the river from the Louvre. The collection of the Musée d'Orsay, created between 1848 and 1914, includes masterpieces by Impressionists such as Manet, Monet and Renoir, and sculptors such as Rodin and Rude.

The Musée d’Orsay (Orsay Museum) is located on the south bank of the Seine in Paris, across the river to the Louvre Museum. This magnificent building, constructed for the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, was renovated at the end of the 20th century and the Old Railway Station Building became a museum as Musée d’Orsay. A splendid Festival Hall remains here, rivalling the Louvre and Versailles in its magnificence.

From the mid-19th to the beginning of the 20th century, France underwent a revolution in the arts that gave birth to countless great artists and masterpieces. The Musée d’Orsay focuses on this era, with its collection of paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and architectural designs created between 1848 and 1914.

The collection of paintings at the Musée d’Orsay witnessed a major turning point in the history of Western art. Represented by French painters such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Jean-Leon Gerome, French Beaux-Arts, once was the most influential art style, the Romans during the Decadence (Romains de la décadence), prominently displayed in the lobby of the first floor of the Musée d’Orsay, is the best proof of this.

At the end of the 19th century, Impressionism rose in France, and works such as Manet’s “The Luncheon on the Grass” and Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise” revolutionized people’s understanding of painting. The Musée d’Orsay has Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and a large number of Impressionist masters’ works in its collection.

Manywhere Tips:
Manet, Monet, who is who? how to communicate with people? I’ll teach you a good way: memorize a few less famous painters, you don’t know them, and maybe no one else does either. For example: “Speaking of Impressionism, Manet is good, but I prefer Pissarro, I like his maverick style, and I like his attitude and perseverance.” See, how simple.

From the moment you enter the Main Hall, you are greeted by sculptures that take you back to a glorious time. In the center of the first floor, there is a Sculpture Gallery lined with masterpieces by French sculptors such as Francois Rude and Jean Baptiste Carpeaux.

The balconies on the north and south sides of the second floor display the most famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin's Artworks, The Age of Bronze, The Walking Man, Monument to Balzac, and The Gates of Hell. Also on display are sculptures by Emile Antoine Bourdelle, Camille Claudel, and others.

There are also sections such as Decorative Arts and Architectural Design, bringing every aspect of French art to life.

The exhibits at the Musée d’Orsay only span a short but marvelous seventy years. Neoclassicism, French Beaux-Arts, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism … They broke the tradition to create the future and made an indelible contribution to the emergence of modern art. This ever-changing history of art will continue to be played out on the never-ending stage of the Musée d’Orsay, forever.