Several people have strongly recommended we visit the Musée d'Orsay, so we have tickets for today at 1:00pm. We have a multi-day pass for the Hop On Hop Off bus, so we take it to the museum.
This museum is housed in a building that used to be a Beaux-Arts railway station, Gare d'Orsay built between 1898 and 1900. Like the Grand Palais, this railway station was originally constructed for the 1900 World's Fair. The conversion of the building to become a museum was led by architect Gae Aulenti. This article (https://www.archiobjects.org/musee-dorsay-in-paris-gae-aulenti/) highlights the challenges of blending a historical building with modern purpose.
The museum itself houses mostly French art from mid-1800s to early 1900s. Artists include Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh (a Dutch artist who moved to Paris in 1886 at the age of 33), Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet. We paid for the audio tour (self-guided headsets where you enter the number corresponding with the artwork and hear about it) - sadly it didn't work for many - mostly the ones in the 400s (many of the van Gogh and Monet).
This is my favorite of the van Gogh paintings in Musée d'Orsay. I love the colors and texture.
This one by Auguste Renoir I came to appreciate as I read about the accomplishment of this painting including the play of shadows and dappled light (a lighting situation which creates challenges for the photographer).
After our visit to Musée d'Orsay, it's time to wander the city once again. One thing I notice about Paris is how clean it is - there's very little trash litter. The one exception is cigarrettes. Here's a spot that is a popular public ashtray.
Signs: You might not be aware that I like to capture "sign of the times" images - of things, often signs, that are temporal, as a way to document the broader context within which the other photos exist.
Here, it seems Paris has a rat problem...
This one, I find somewhat encouraging.
For dinner, we head to Grand Coeur - another recommendation from my French colleague. It's a small place located inside a courtyard, and it has so much visual character.
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