Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Musee d'Orsay

So in my new little neighborhood, St-Germain, there lies Musee d'Orsay.  When I asked my friends what they thought the "must sees" of Paris were, Musee d'Orsay was at the top of the list.  

Can you see why?
Musee d'Orsay was the former "Belle Epoque" train station.  Don't the curved ceilings and gorgeous walls give you that feel?  There is a restaurant upstairs where people dined during the 1900 World's Fair.  I'm SURE in a past life I had a cocktail there ... with Michael Vartan.  Oh wait, no ... that's what I wish for in THIS life.  Are you there Michael?  It's me, SSG.

Not only is the building gorgeous, but it holds some of the most famous and beautiful works of the Impressionist era.


Like this one ... I THINK this is Seurat.  If someone knows, please correct me!


And Renoir ...


And Mr. Manet ...


And the lovely Seine River.  One of my favorite things about Paris ... and much too beautiful to be contained in a museum.


Hi Van Gogh!


Well hello again, Vincent!


And Mr. Monet, wonderful to see you again.


And sweet Degas. 


All I can tell you as I walked around these amazing paintings was that I was in shock.  They're so entrenched in our daily lives--walk into any Pier I Imports  or Cost Plus (or my old dorm room) and you can have inexpensive access to the color, texture and life that these paintings still breathe.  But to see the originals.  To sit before the same canvases that VanGogh, Monet and Renoir did.  To look at their strokes and admire as they must have, their subjects.  It still blows me away.

And I wish ... like I did this whole trip.  That I had more time.  This was Tuesday afternoon.  Thursday morning we'd leave Paris.  We had one more day.

Snapshot of Coco:

Amazing (George Michael)
Until I Fall Away (Gin Blossoms)
Luxurious (Gwen Stefani)
Forever, For Now (Harry Connick Jr.)
Drops of Jupiter (Train)

 

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I am still dealing with my severe jealousy about your WONDERFUL trip and the way you present it to your readers! You are amazing and the paintings...omg, the paintings...I will go wallow in my self pity. The men of france rock!!!

Candy said...

These little vignettes are wonderful. I can't stand how much I envy you this trip.

And we have the same taste in music. Weird...you're like 20 years younger than me!

Big Hair Envy said...

Another unbelievably beautiful post. Another day of Paris envy here:) Those paintings are breathtaking...even the ones from Pier 1 make me swoon.

Ditto what Candy said about the music. Ditto the age as well..

Anonymous said...

Seurat? Certainly appears to be his style, but I do not know that painting (how horrible is that!)

Since we are on the subject, What, no nudes?