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