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Musée de l'Orangerie & Musée d’Orsay

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Today was a Museum day that Libby and Janet were able to withstand. They even had some fun and were able to find pieces they were interested in. 


We grabbed a breakfast at a patisserie and shared a table with a couple of other Americans from Orlando. They had a neat story about having gotten really into Disney World, moving to Orlando as a result, and then got really into France so now they go there a lot. They had a tour guide before Covid they used a lot for France, and then during COVID they met over zoom to talk about travel. After COVID their tour guide stopped tour guiding, so they got together to go with each other. 

After breakfast we went to Musée de l'Orangerie where most of  Monet's famous (and huge) Water Lillies are on display. There was an exhibit of another artist just before that was kind of fun, but I can't remember the name. I (Tommy) wasn't really into them quite honestly. I wanted to be, but it wasn't really affecting me. It didn't help that there was a truck load of Instagrammers that seemed to be there in order to have their picture taken in front of the paintings. It was pretty distracting for me, and took me out of the experience.  

Libby and Janet were still able to enjoy the Water Lillies and got some pictures without the dummies.  Libby still thinks it was well worth it to sit with the paintings for a little bit.





The lower floor of the l'Orangerie was the Walter-Guillaume collection. There wasn't much there that I was head over heels about. Nothing really spoke to me. With a few exceptions late-19th century and 20th century artists don't spark my imagination. The more abstract the art gets the more disconnected I feel. 

Anyway, we moved on to Musée d’Orsay and had a bite to eat. I had a disappointing chicken sandwich, disappointing chips and disappointing beignet. The best part was the coffee and lemon flavored water. Libby had a baguette sandwich and Janet had a slice of quiche, they both enjoyed their lunches. Then again, Libby has a sandwich problem.... 

After lunch Libby and Janet went on their way about the museum and I went on mine. 

I....did not leave the first floor...in...several hours, so I still have lots to see someday. I liked what I saw though. I saw Dante and Virgil in Hell (1850) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. You may have seen it before but probably not. I took a seminar course on Dante and have a bit of an affinity for artwork that depicts scenes from the Comedia. I saw several other works from several other painters that I enjoyed--thus not leaving the first floor. 

What I enjoyed the most was the poster special exhibition they had going. The exhibition tracked the use of posters to communicate to the public through time and genre. There were a ton of art neaveaux (I think) posters that were really fun to look at, stuff from Lautrec, and the famous Chat Noir poster was there!!!! I've always liked it since I initially saw it at The Black Cat restaurant at home. 

We headed home and went to our apartment to wait until the Italian food place (Amore Mia) we wanted to go to was open, and headed over there. Janet and I had pizza and Libby had Carbonara. Libby and I had Aperol Spritzes, and we shared a pistachio cream brûlée.

Tomorrow we are going to see Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle.

 

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 5, 2025 at 8:15 PM

    I think you used the word disappointed too many times this post. It sounds like everyone stills had wins though. Amanda

    ReplyDelete
  2. JanellApril 6, 2025 at 11:29 AM

    Sounds like a cool place to spend time!

    ReplyDelete

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