Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Downstairs you'll see artists that bridge the Impressionist and Modernist
worlds—Renoir, Cézanne, Utrillo, Matisse, and Picasso. Together they provide a snapshot
of what was hot in the world of art collecting, circa 1920.
Cost and Hours:
€7.50, €5 after 17:00, under 18 free, €14 combo-ticket with Orsay
Museum (valid for four days, one visit per sight), covered by Museum Pass; Wed-Mon
9:00-18:00, closed Tue, galleries shut down 15 minutes before closing time; audioguide-€5,
€6 English tours usually offered Mon and Thu at 14:30; located in Tuileries Garden near
Place de la Concorde (Mo: Concorde), 15-minute stroll from the Orsay, tel. 01 44 77 80 07,
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The Musée d'Orsay (mew-zay dor-say) houses French art of the 1800s and early 1900s
(specifically, 1848-1914), picking up where the Louvre's art collection leaves off. For us,
that means Impressionism, the art of sun-dappled fields, bright colors, and crowded Parisian
cafés. The Orsay houses the best general collection anywhere of Manet, Monet, Renoir, De-
gas, Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Gauguin.
Cost and Hours:
€9, €6.50 Tues-Wed and Fri-Sun after 16:15 and Thu after 18:00, free
onfirstSunofmonthandrightwhentheticket boothstopssellingtickets (Tue-WedandFri-
Sunat17:00,Thuat21:00;theywon'tletyouinmuchafterthat),coveredbyMuseumPass,
€14combo-ticket with Orangerie Museum (valid forfourdays, one visit per sight); Tue-Sun
9:30-18:00, Thu until 21:45, closed Mon, Impressionist galleries start shutting 45 minutes
before closing, last entry one hour before closing (45 minutes before on Thu); crowded on
Tue, when Louvre is closed; cafés and restaurant, tel. 01 40 49 48 14,
www.musee-orsay.fr
.
Getting There:
The museum, at 1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur, sits above the RER-C
stop called Musée d'Orsay; the nearest Métro stop is Solférino, three blocks southeast of
the Orsay. Bus #69 also stops at the Orsay. From the Louvre, it's a lovely 15-minute walk
through the Tuileries Garden and across the pedestrian bridge to the Orsay.
GettingIn:
AsyoufacethemuseumfromRuedelaLégiond'Honneur(withtheriveron
your left), passholders and ticket-holders enter on the right (Entrance C). Ticket purchasers
enter closer to the river (Entrance A).
Tours: Audioguides
cost €5. English guided tours usually run daily at 11:30 (€7.50/1.5
hours,noneonSun,mayrunatothertimes—inquirewhenyouarrive).Oryoucandownload
Background:
The Impressionist painters rejected camera-like detail for a quick style
more suited to capturing the passing moment. Feeling stifled by the rigid rules and stuffy
atmosphere of the Academy (the state-funded art school), the Impressionists took as their
motto, “Out of the studio, into the open air.” They grabbed their berets and scarves and went
on excursions to the country, where they set up their easels (and newly invented tubes of
