We spent the morning working on our various projects, but by mid-afternoon we were itching to get out of the apartment. Being an overcast day with gray, useless light, the next thing we thought of was a museum. As we hadn’t been to Orsay yet this trip we grabbed our cameras and headed out.

For something so seemingly relaxing and non-active, museums take a lot out of you. After three hours of ambling through a place we’re usually ready to sit, or sometimes fall, down. We also find that in most museums, fortunately, those three hours are plenty to see the “important” or otherwise notable or attractive pieces — obvious exceptions being the bigger museums in NYC, D.C., and here in Paris. Orsay is a former train station, as Lisa mentioned in another post I believe, and a feature of that past is a cavernous main hall that is quite a sight to behold. Most of the museum’s sculptures stand in the main hall, giant figures among the many ant-like figures roaming around them in the clothing of either brightly under-dressed tourists or desperately fashionable Parisians.

As you can see by the picture of the grand hall below, the museum was sparsely attended while we were there. We were glad to be able to take our time and stop in front of our favorites, rather than wrestling with the mob from place to place.

We began with the temporary exhibitions, as they weren’t there last time we were here and may not be next time we come. One was an event marking the centenary of the death of painter Ernest Hébert (1817-1908) which consisted of his and his contemporaries’ paintings of Italian peasants. While portraiture is not my favorite type, his depictions were very impressive. One of my favorites was a little peasant girl. Cute as cute gets.

After that exhibit and some of the surrounding content, we decided to get a late lunch at the Cafe on the top floor. As we ate, we considered possible plans of attack. As we have enough time to return at least once or twice before we leave for the south, we decided to take our time on the top floor (impressionists and others) like we haven’t been able to do before, on shorter, more concentrated trips.

Orsay houses a few of my favorites by Van Gogh and others, and most of them are on the top floor. We took the next 3 hours to make our way through them. It was wonderful. I highly recommend it, as it necessarily comes with the highly recommended slow travel method we are experimenting with as well.

As always, though, after four and a half hours in the museum, we were ready to call it a night. We may have to rush the other floors on our next visit as we have many other museums to visit during our last weeks in Paris.

When we got home and settled in I looked out the window to see the crescent moon setting in a path toward the Eiffel Tower. I grabbed my camera and tripod and set up on the balcony to capture some nice long exposures for the collection. See below (click to enlarge).

Photographs and text © 2009 Larry L. Hanson