Impressionism and Waterlilies

This all happened on Sunday, after I got going. Many (but not all) Paris museums are closed Mondays, so it was important to get to them on that day.






But, I did take a little walk and took some pictures around the apartment complex and around the neighborhood. I don't think schools are sex-segregated anymore, but this elementary school has a permanent record of that history.


Sunday mornings are very nice in that it is the one day when significantly less business happens, and so that the streets are quiet, the subway is not crowded (although it runs less frequently).



Of course, because Saturday night preceded Sunday morning, there is a bit of debris lying around, as I found when descending a Metro entrance.



I wanted to see les Nymphéas (the Waterlilies) of Claude Monet at the Musée de l'Orangerie, housed in a former orange tree greenhouse. This museum underwent a thorough remodelling--essentially a gutting and rebuilding of the interior--making it wheelchair-accessible and restoring the display of les Nymphéas to their originally-intended form.



What is special about these paintings is that they are not displayed on flat regular canvases in rectangular frames, but rather are on canvases on curved walls in two oval rooms. Monet donated the paintings to the government, as a way for people to enjoy an oasis of peace after World War I. Natural light filters from above. There are benches in the middle which makes viewing even more relaxed!

The museum's basement has more impressionist paintings, and had a special exhibit, Les Enfants Modeles, about artists who had used their children as models in their works. A video room also had chairs, and rotated through various short art films and a film about les Nymphéas.

A surprise in the basement were the foundations of a rampart from the 1500s or 1600s that connected to the riverside wall along the Louvre. These were uncovered during the renovations and excavations. They were much smaller than the bases of the rampart wall in the Louvre, from one of the preceding castles.

I had purchased a Pass Orangerie-Orsay which gave same-day admission to both museums at considerable savings (13 EUR vs. about 19 EUR purchased separately). First, I walked around the Tuileries gardens a bit, and had another waffle, and reclined by the Grand Bassin. No one was sailing little boats in it today, though.

When I got to the Orsay, I had about 3 hours until closing. But the line on the plaza outside Entrance A (individual visitors) was overwhelming. I got in line, and after about 2 minutes it had advanced to a sign that said that visitors with various passes--including mine!--could go to Entrance C instead. I got out of line and went to Entrance C which had no line at all. I was through the security check, past the bookshop, and to the entrance where I showed my pass and was in. I believe Entrance C is also used for visitors in wheelchairs.



You enter into the large open space in the middle, where when this was a train station, the train platforms were located. I began looking at some Van Gogh and Gauguin, and then moved on to some Impressionist paintings (the famous Poppies by Monet). Due to renovations, the galleries were rearranged quite a bit. Signs said they were using this opportunity to display works grouped in different ways, such as artists with common influences or who communicated signficantly.




I went looking for some food in the museum; the upstairs dining room only serves "tea" in the afternoon (including light salads and tarts and desserts), but with its sit-down service and extremely high ceiling and decorated walls, looks very nice. I then went to the cafe...long, slow-moving line for pre-made sandwiches and drinks, crowded little sitting area with everyone jockeying for a table and chairs. I had a ham (jambon) and cheese (emmental) sandwich and an orange Fanta (which in France, is more like Orangina).



After eating, I explored the rest of the Impressionist galleries in detail. I saw a Monet I had never seen or heard of before, of tulip fields in Holland.



Another painting, of coal being unloaded from a barge, reminded me of some of the symmetry of Escher's work. (Just a detail shown here.)



This one, Le Balcon (the balcony) reminded me of a French saying, "The balcony's crowded"...

Another exhibit showed the Paris Opera house (Opera Garnier) in a cutaway model, with all the mechanisms for allowing set background changes.

Finally, there was a huge (and crowded) exhibit on Art Nouveau Revival, pairing works, household objects (furniture, personal objects, decorations), magazines, from around 1900 and 1960-1970s, and showing the trends in both periods that were organic and psychedelic. One of the objects was a toilet shaped like a fly; it looked very practical to me, as the wings could hold a drink or reading material or a phone while one used the facilities. The roll of paper, however, came out the mouth on the other end, so that was not particularly useful.

This was exhausting. I don't remember what I ate for dinner (something at "home"). I slept very well. I have on a couple of occasions gotten on the subway the wrong direction or even on the wrong line! I suspect I'm jetlagged, plus I'm just not good at memorizing directions (and I don't like walking around carrying my Paris map).