Culture Vulture/Photo diary: Paris day 2 (Musee D’Orsay)

October 11, 2015

(click photos to enlarge)

The Musee D’Orsay lived up to its reputation as one of the great art institutions in the world — beautifully designed, architecturally magnificent, fantastic collection, meticulously curated and viewer-friendly — starting with the plaza out front and the statuary depicting the earth’s continents as female deities.

9-18 continents as goddesses9-18 north america9-18 asia and africa9-18 south america by aimee millet
Inside you’ve got all the French greats: Cezanne, Renoir, Rodin.

9-18 cezanne bathers9-18 renoir le poirier d'angleterre9-18 rodin l'age d'airain9-18 rodin rear
Jean Delville’s phenomenal School of Plato, which looks like Jesus conducting a Body Electric workshop at a radical faerie gathering:

9-18 jean delville school of plato9-18 school of plato left9-16 school of plato right
The most succinct description I’ve encountered of art nouveau:

9-18 art nouveau
9-18 cote d'aval9-18 snakey cabinet handle
And numerous discoveries, like this large and startling portrait of Sarah Bernhardt by Georges Clairin:

9-18 bernhardt detail
François Garas’s Temple of Thought (dedicated to Beethoven):

9-16 francois garas temple of thought
Osman Hamdy Bey’s Old Man at the Tomb of the Infants:

9-18 osman hamdy bey old man tomb of infants
Ernest Barrias’s The Alligator Hunters (aka The Nubians):

9-18 the alligators and nubians
I’m so literal-minded that I took this poster to mean, besides “no eating” and “no flash photos” and “no smoking,” to mean “don’t point”:

9-18 no pointing
Andy gently pointed out that it probably means “Don’t touch.”

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