On Saturday, we went to the Musée d’Orsay, which is primarily known for their collection of impressionist paintings. This is not an artistic style which I am necessarily very fond of, but the rest of my family is.
On payback Sunday, I dragged the family out in the pouring rain to watch the Tour de France. Which would have been more pleasant if it hadn’t been pouring rain. But the Tour de France was one of my favorite sporing events as a kid, and I wasn’t going to be in Paris and not see it.
Housed in an old rail station, the Orsay looks imposing. However, it still has the wide open central space of a train station, so it’s not as large as it first appears. It would be possible to see everything in the Orsay in a single day. It would be a long day, but it would be doable. (It would not be possible to linger over every piece of art, but presumable not every piece will grab you).
As I mentioned above, I’m not a huge fan of impressionist painting. I am, however, a fan of horse sculpture. Four of Rodin’s horses are part of the impressionist gallery.
The impressionist gallery on the fifth floor is the largest space, but the museum has plenty of other works. They have paintings from several other periods, a large sculpture collection, and some rooms set aside for the art of decor, which is to say furniture, vases, paintings commissioned for homes, etc.
The sculpture collection is quite good. I was particularly moved by Denys Puech’s The Muse of André Chénier.
Back to paintings, I guess I’m a sucker for dead saints. This is Etienne Gautier’s The Death of St. Cecilia.
The weather for the tour was miserable. I suspect that many of the Parisians stayed home who would normally have watched it. There was a lot of English being spoken on the Rue de Rivoli, most of it with a British accent and there to celebrate Froome’s pending victory. (It’s a little hard to see, but that second flag is a Scottish flag).
As the Peloton was about to come through, I pointed my phone at the street and took the shot blindly, hoping it would come out. Not perfect, but I’ll take it. It shows Team Sky with Tour winner Froome in the yellow jersey, as well as a few of the cyclists behind them.
Had the weather been better, we might have stayed for more laps, but we were all cold and wet, so we headed out for dinner after they’d been around a few times.
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