Visit Musee d’Orsay In Paris For An Unforgettable Art Experience

Musee d'Orsay's greatest sculptures

Dance, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

Dance, featuring a couple of young women performing an unbridled dance, is probably the liveliest sculpture in the Musee d'Orsay’s extensive collection. Commissioned for the inauguration of the Opera Garnier, the sculpture caused quite a shock once unveiled. Besides the art of movement, which is the main subject of the Dance sculpture, Carpeaux potentiated the beauty of women through the dancers’ nakedness.

The Four Parts of the World, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

Another of Carpeaux’s masterpieces features four slightly more covered females, holding a celestial sphere. Each figure represents a different continent – Europe, America, Africa and Asia. Even the fifth figure was considered (Oceania), but was left out because of the symmetry. You’ll distinguish the representative of each continent with ease through their visage. Since slavery was abolished in the USA at the time of the sculpture’s creation, a symbolic stepping on the chain that is connected to the African woman’s ankle is performed by the American.

Woman Bitten by a Snake, Auguste Clesinger

In contrast to such a dramatic subject and name of the sculpture, Clesinger created a masterpiece (refer to the photo) that exudes utmost serenity, even suggesting pleasure since the protagonist lies on a bed of flowers.

Overview of several famous paintings

Decadent Romans and the Roman Orgy, Thomas Couture

This painting (refer to the photo) is an allegory to the July Monarchy (1830 – 1848), or rather its final days. The author subtly compared the last days of the Roman Empire with the moral downfall of the French state. As the end drew near, the Romans kept reveling while the statues of illustrious Romans seem to condemn such conduct. Two men at the right side cast disapproving glances. The painting features unusual proportions: 4.72 x 7.72 meters (~15.48 x 25.33 feet).

The Wheel of Fortune, Edward Burne-Jones

The Wheel of Fortune relates to each person’s lifetime. Shifting fortunes are illustrated by a wheel to which a slave, a king and a poet are pinned. As the goddess turns the wheel, the king and the poet move to the bottom while the slave tops them.

Dante and Virgil in Hell, William Bouguereau

This painting is so skillfully conceived that you’ll be under the impression that you’re standing in front of a photo. Deep fury is an overwhelming sensation in the painting, depicting Gianni Schicchi’s and Capocchio’s wrestling in Dante’s eighth circle of hell. Dante and Virgil, standing sideways, observe the merciless clutch, while a winged devil clearly enjoys the sight. The cause for such a composition was Bouguereau’s failure to win two consecutive competitions for scholarships. He poured his entire rage into the painting that eventually brought him acknowledgment and worldwide fame.

Poppies, Claude Monet

Poppies is a masterpiece of one of the leading Impressionists of all times. The painting illustrates the idyllic scene of the countryside, featuring a large meadow flanked with distanced trees and abounding with poppies. Blue sky is permeated with white clouds while a couple of passers-by enjoy the walk.

The Gleaners, Jean-Francois Millet

The Gleaners painting describes deep social divisions with fieldwork as a backdrop. At first glance, you’ll notice only a few females trying to pick something from the field. If you take a closer look though, you can perceive other workers carrying out fieldwork under the watchful eye of the landowner on horseback. Dramatic contrast is underlined by hunched stances of the gleaners in the forefront while they’re struggling to collect whatever remains.

Additional information about d’Orsay and related curiosities

The list of works of art that shouldn’t be missed continues with masterpieces of Degas, Manet, Rodin, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and other famous artists you’ve probably heard of. Ugolino (Carpeaux) and The Gates of Hell (Rodin) are other expressive and dramatic sculptures you shouldn’t overlook.

If the Musee d'Orsay strikes you as an unusual place for the display of works of art, know that this edifice served many purposes. Initially, it was a train station, which can be easily concluded by the museum’s architecture. Housing the museum, however, isn’t the strangest purpose of the former train station because it also served as a shooting range and reception point for prisoners of war. Before eventually becoming a museum, it was a theatre and parking garage for a period of time.

Bonus knowledge: perhaps the strangest thing about the Musee d’Orsay is that a larger quantity of metal was used to build the museum than the Eiffel Tower.