One Afternoon in Paris: Musée d'OrsayMusée d'Orsay

Right after class one day, I realized that the weather that afternoon was super nice. So, I went to had lunch near the river instead of at the student lounge like I normally do. However, once I got to the river, I saw Musée d'Orsay so I decided to visit for the first time after finishing my lunch. without much preparation of this place. This is one of the things that I like about Paris. Because there are many museums and touristy places for you to visit during the study abroad program, you do not really have to plan to do certain things since you will stumble across something interesting anyway. 

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

In my opinion, Musée d'Orsay is the best art museum that I have visited so far in Paris including the Louvre museum due to its size that is not too small or too big like the Lourve. Also, the exhibitions there were amazing especially an extensive collection of impressionism including paintings by Claude Monet. You will see more than enough paintings from Monet. I finally found the one that I like the most: Study of a Figure Outdoors: Woman with a Parasol, facing left, 1886. It also gave me a strong impression for the poster of a recently film called Wind the Rise by Miyasaki. I have seen paintings from him before in The Art Institute of Chicago, but they did not really give much impression on me like they did in Orsay. I think it is probably because they are many more paintings from him in chronological order, so I can see his progression in his technique from the beginning to the end.

Study of a Figure Outdoor: Woman with a Parasol,
Claude Monet, 1886

The Wind Rises Poster, Hayao Miyasaki, 2013

Another great exhibition at the museum is a special exhibition called "Van Gogh/Artaud. Le suicidé de la société" (Van Gogh/Artaud. The Man Suicided by Society). This is a new way to look at Van Gogh works and how they make the connection together as they are painted by one guys. Van Gogh  have more interesting stories about his paintings than just his most famous one: The Starry Night. There are many more interesting exhibitions in this museum, both permanent and temporary ones.

Next to The Seine River close to Musée d'Orsay

Finally, I did what I planned to do that afternoon which was finishing my reading (Lazarillo de Tormes) for the Civilization class on Monday. This book was surprisingly interesting and the fact that it is a novel making it much easier to finish in one or two settings. Then, I strolled along the river until I saw Notre Dame Cathedral once more before taking a RER from Saint Michel station back to Cité where I live. It was one of the most productive afternoon in Paris.

Update (5/8/2015): Couple weeks ago, I had a chance to visit The Art Institute of Chicago and saw this painting (Cliff Walk at Pourville, 1882) which is also by Monet. I immediately thought about a similar painting that I saw in Musée d'Orsay. This painting is actually painted four years before the one in Paris.

Claude Monet: Cliff Walk at Pourville, 1882.