Musée d'Orsay

     I went on a fieldtrip with my class to the Musée d'Orsay. There were so many amazing work of art to see that it would have been impossible to take time to see everything. These are a few of my favorite highlights from the trip.

    
     The museum itself was something to see. The art in this museum is housed in what used to be an old train station. Here are a few pictures of the inside.

 

 


         Musee D'Orsee Café




...and now on to the art...

"Plage a' Heist" by Georges Lemmon 1891

 

This was a painting by Georges Lemmon B. 1865 D.1916. This painting was completed in 1891 is my favorite impressionist work. According to Waterhousedodd.com Georges Lemmon (A Belgian neo-impressionist painter) presented at the Salon de Independents between 1889 and 1893. I was drawn to this painting by the bright colors and the way the light appears to highlight the sand and sea. The bright colors, and also that the image isn't a spectacular almost otherworldly scene, but rather a scene that depicts the beauty in everyday surroundings which is indicative of the post impressionistic movement. The light effects in this image are coming from the sun, a natural lighting source created at a specific time of day.

 

"Gabrielle a' la rose" Pierre Auguste Renoir 1911

 

     Gabrielle Renard was the cousin of Renoir's wife and nanny to his children. She was very important to the family and stayed with them, even moving with them and helping Renoir to paint when he became nearly crippled with arthritis. She posed for him for many paintings and even put the paintbrush in his hand when he couldn't pick it up himself.(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123817616, and Wikipedia). This painting looks almost like a photograph. This painting seems to me to be an example of how Impressionism was influenced by photography. This is another painting of an everyday scene. Nothing spectacular is going on, Gabrielle is just putting a flower in her hair.

"Les Cypres a' Cagnes" Henri-Edmond Cross 1908

 

     Henri Edmond Cross was a French pointillist painter B.1856 D. 1910 (henriedmondcross.org). He was influenced heavily by Claude Monet. I was drawn to the colors in this painting. He uses darker pigments and lighter ones to create a sense of depth within the painting. This is another image where the artist is capturing and detailing the way natural light highlights a landscape. The colors in this work are more vivid than in other impressionistic works such as the image of Gabrielle in the previously mentioned Renoir painting indicating that this is a post impressionistic piece.

 Me with Art                                                                       "Eugene Boch" Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

     This is a famous painting of Eugene Boch by Van Gogh who was born in 1853 died in 1890. This painting was completed in 1888. Eugene Boch was an impressionist painter and friend of Van Gogh (EugeneBoch.com). According to a letter written to his brother by Van Gogh, the painter chose the dark blue of the background to represent infinity. He was painting Eugene Boch as a "star in the depths of an infinite azure sky." He thought very highly of his friend. Again the use of bright colors are indicative of the post impressionistic movement. 

"La Chambre de Van Gogh a' Arles" Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

 

     This is my favorite Van Gogh painting. According to a letter the painter wrote to his brother (mussey-orsay.fr) this image was painted to express the tranquility of his surroundings. Vincent thought the room was sparse and tranquil. I feel much the same way about my dorm room here in France. Sparce and tranquil. I love it's simplicity. If only the bathroom were a little larger. Inu case however I feel as though my space is more a necessity of travel. Van Gogh was very influenced by the Japanese and loved what he perceived as their simplicity of space. Japanese homes were often more open and less cluttered which to Van Gogh was an attractive feature. Japanese culture affected and influenced a good bit of the art and culture of this time since Japan reopened it's boarders for trade after having been shut off from the world for more than a hundred years.