I am impressed
Written: Jan 26 '00 (Updated Feb 25 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great collection of art, one of the world's most famous museums
Cons: No, Mona Lisa not included
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| AlexG's Full Review: Musée d-Orsay |
If I had to pick my favorite museum, it would not be the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Met in New York, the Kunsthistorisches museum in Vienna, or British Museum in London. It would not be the Louvre either.
I would choose the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Why? While this museum boasts of one of the biggest collections of impressionist art (Monet, Degas, Pissarro, and others) as well as of the other major artistic movements from 1848 until WWI, the primary reason why I like this museum is...its size. Yes, I like its size. I can handle it. I can walk inside in the morning and come out in the afternoon, having seen almost everything I wanted or hoped to see. The aforementioned museums, though undoubtedly famous for a reason, are just TOO BIG--impossible to see in one day. Well, there is a 7-minute tour of the Louvre, if you care, that includes a quick run of its 3 most famous works (yes, Mona Lisa included), but normally you’ll need a few days there just to scratch the surface.
The building where Musee d’Orsay is located is a former train station, and you can still see the train stations’ steel beams and clocks. The museum offers audioguides in English that cover 60 most famous works. It’s worth the price (when I was there in August of ‘98 the price was 30 Franks.) The audioguide is about 2 hours long and it tells you stories behind the paintings/sculptures. It’s very interesting--I highly recommend it.
On a very personal note, I think all of us have a favorite painting. Mine just happens to be in the Musee d’Orsay. It is not a particularly famous painting, but it’s something that I liked so much that I took a picture of it and put it in my photo album. It’s a portrait of Ms. Rimkiy-Korsakov (the wife of a famous composer) by E. Xavier Winterhalter, painted in 1879. This portrait struck me because the face and hair of this beautiful young woman (probably in her 20’s) look so modern that it is very hard to believe that she lived in the end of the 19th century. It was one of the most striking paintings that I have seen, and it remains my absolute favorite. This portrait is located on the first floor in either room 2 or 3 (don’t remember for sure, but these rooms are small, so you won’t miss it). I’ll be curious in your opinion.
Alex.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
AlexG
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 130
Trusted by: 237 members
About Me:
Alex has a voracious appetite for travel. Travel hasn't satisfied an appetite. It's created one.
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