| The GARE D'ORSAY is museum which has been built | | | | trains entering and exiting the station. Now you can |
| in what used to initially be a train station, the building | | | | start your visit on the top floor and work your way |
| itself is exceptional and interesting. The museum has | | | | down. The museum is most famous for its |
| an extraordinary art collection, which dates back to the | | | | Impressionist works including those by Monet, Renoir |
| early 19th century. However its fame lies in its | | | | and van Gogh, just to name a few. There is also a |
| magnificent impressionist and neo-impressionist | | | | wonderful Art Nouveau section. Finally the café |
| collection. The museum also endeavor to promote art | | | | is a nice place for a light lunch, offering views of the |
| by organizing festivals, special shows, exhibitions, | | | | Right Bank through the station's giant clock. |
| conferences and concerts on a regular basis. | | | | With nearly a hundred works using many different |
| Jacques Chirac, who was once the mayor of Paris | | | | techniques, the Rodin/Carrière exhibition gives a |
| got the abandoned Orsay train station converted into | | | | rare opportunity to compare a painter and a sculptor |
| a world class museum. The building itself is a beautiful | | | | who were linked by a deep friendship and strong |
| site and mark of respect to the great rail stations of | | | | stylistic similarity. The museum also strives to promote |
| Europe. As soon as one enters, climb to the top of the | | | | art by organizing festivals, special shows, exhibitions, |
| staircase and look back to envision trains entering and | | | | conferences and concerts on a regular basis. |
| exiting the station. The starting point start of the visit | | | | Shining on the gallery walls, the paintings reveal idyllic |
| can be on the top floor and work one's way down. | | | | and rural scenes, and abstract and cubist art. This |
| The Impressionist works including those by Monet, | | | | enormous variety of art reflects the tension between |
| Renoir and van Gogh, is very well known at this | | | | adhering to the old aesthetics and absorbing the new |
| museum. There is also a wonderful Art Nouveau | | | | era. Placidly spread throughout the first floor, the early |
| section. Finally the café is a nice place for a light | | | | mid-19th century paintings are visions of ideal beauty. In |
| lunch, offering views of the Right Bank through the | | | | Alexandre Canabel's Birth of Venus, a world of fair |
| station's giant clock. | | | | goddesses and mythic heroes float in front of one's |
| With nearly a hundred works using many different | | | | eyes. |
| techniques, the Rodin/Carrière exhibition is a rare | | | | Before long people had had enough of fantasy-land |
| opportunity to compare a painter and a sculptor who | | | | and in came a new movement – Realism. |
| were linked by a deep friendship and strong stylistic | | | | Realism shows the hardships of everyday life. On the |
| affinities. | | | | third floor, the fresh life of photography breathed new |
| The current President of France, Jacques Chirac, was | | | | vitality into painting. Art could not continue to record |
| once the mayor of Paris. One of his greatest | | | | reality when the camera did that flawlessly. |
| achievements as mayor was the conversion of the | | | | The grand effect of the Railway station turned to a |
| once abandoned Orsay train station into a world class | | | | museum is a treat for modernists and traditionalists |
| museum. The building itself is a beautiful site and tribute | | | | alike having an airy, beautiful station of pillars and |
| to the great rail stations of Europe. Upon entering, climb | | | | stucco rosettes, with an enormous glass-arched ceiling |
| to the top of the staircase and look back to envision | | | | that flooded it with natural light. |