Musee D’Orsay
Bonjour!
Our Musee D’Orsay tickets were for 9:30 AM so we slept in a touch to prepare for our first of two big museum days in Paris. We thought it would be a good idea to grab some breakfast, so we once again tried to go back to Maison d’Isabelle - unfortunately for us though, they had a big line that we didn’t have time to wait in. We bypassed breakfast and instead caught a bus over to the Musee D’Orsay. We made it there just in time for our scheduled entry with a plan to visit the museum cafe. Since the 5th floor restaurant (we learned later there was also one in the -1 floor) didn’t open until 10:30 AM, we decided to walk through the 5th floor - the museum’s star - instead!
Each of the rooms on this floor were as impressive as the next, including famous paintings from Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Matisse, Gauguin, and more! We spent a while admiring each of the amazing works of art. Ray also discovered a new artist he likes - Camille Pisarro - for his detailed and colorful renditions of landscapes.
I thought this series by Monet was very cool - the full series included more than 30 views of the Rouen Cathedral in Normandy between 1892 and 1893, where Monet moved between canvases to capture the effects of light and atmosphere throughout the day. He finished the canvases in Giverny in 1894.
Another Monet painting I thought was interesting was Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) - painted between 1865-1866 as a response to Édouard Manet’s famous work of the same name. Monet left the massive canvas with a landlord as security deposit for unpaid rent. When he retrieved it years later, it was damaged by mold. In 1884, Monet cut the ruined canvas into three fragments. Two of those surviving large panels are today in Paris at the Musée d'Orsay, while the third piece was lost.
I also discovered an artist I hadn't heard of and enjoyed seeing - Gustave Caillebotte, a realist - who painted both of the two below. Our tour guide for Giverny mentioned the Floor Scrapers painting below, which was one of the first representations of the "urban proletariat." Caillebotte presented his painting at the 1875 Salon (where invited artists would share their work to have a Jury help shape the future of the art world), but the Jury rejected it due to its "vulgar subject matter."
What we didn’t realize was that there was a sign saying the restaurant actually wouldn’t open until 11 the day we visited. So, we decided to continue our visit and try to come back a bit closer to that time once we could get in line. We saw the other part of the floor which had an interesting exhibit on the history of Montmartre, art by Lumiere and Seurat, and the clock. The Musee D’Orsay, beyond its fabulous art, has some interesting history too! It used to be a train station with a luxurious hotel and grand reception room; however, as trains modernized, the station was gradually abandoned and eventually converted into a museum in 1977.
We then headed downstairs to see Orsay’s sculpture gallery, featuring some excellent works by Rodin (including some mini renditions of his famous “Thinker”) and more. The museum also has a fun “Art Noveau” exhibit which featured some pieces from Antoni Gaudi’s furniture designs. It was a fun surprise to get to see some of his works in France (and pick out some furniture for my dream home)!
We closed out our visit with the other star-studded floor (zero) which featured lots of outstanding art by the same impressionists as floor five, as well as a large-scale painting of Paris that was really fun to look at!
After seeing all of the amazing art, we were hungry - so, we left the museum to have some brunch. We went to La Routine Cafe for brunch. Ray got a turkey & cheese bagel sandwich and I got some avocado toast, both with flat whites. They were good but nothing to write home about!
With the afternoon, we decided to head back over to Le Marais for a bit of shopping at Merci, a cute boutique shop with a red car in front. We enjoyed browsing in the store and I picked out a new tote bag that will come in handy for the rest of the trip!
After shopping, we went over to Moon Croissant (a recommendation from Ray’s parents from their trip to Paris last year) and got a lemonade and almond croissant. I really liked the croissant’s filling!
We then headed back to the hotel via bus for a break. On the way back, we stopped into Shakespeare and Company, which was featured in Midnight in Paris and founded by an American living in Paris. The store was renamed on the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth and at one point allowed writers to sleep on beds hidden among the bookshelves in exchange for a few hours of work and reading a book a day. It rained a little while we were taking the bus & our break, which helped to cool the city off a bit.
We went back out for dinner around 7 for our reservation at Artaban, a nice restaurant near us. When we walked in, we didn't realize how much of an adventure it would be to order - but it started early when our waiter walked outside to greet his “lover” mid-check in. Ray and I picked out a bottle of wine to share, but the restaurant didn’t end up having that one in stock. The second choice also wasn’t in stock, but we ended up with a good red wine regardless. Then, we tried to order our appetizers - one also was not available so we picked a different one (and unfortunately was not his preferred next choice). Last, neither of our entrees were exactly as written on the menu. Despite all of this, everything we ended up getting was excellent! We had Petit Pots a la Francaise to start (peas with bacon), steak frites, a panko-crusted chicken, and a chocolate mousse.
Amy
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