Musee d’Orsay rehang
A visit to the newly rehanged Musée d’Orsay in Paris — impressionism, the new layout, and personal reflections on what changed. (3 min read)
About 20 years ago, when I was a student in Paris, I spent 3 days a week in the Musee d’Orsay. It is the art museum of the 19th century, and most famous for its collection of paintings by the impressionists (Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, etc).
On Friday I visited the Orsay to catch up with some of the paintings I love and to experience the recent rehang of the collection and refurbishment of some of the spaces.
Let’s deal with the rehang first. It is only partially successful for me. The lower floors, which I think are the collection highlights, are fabulous. For example, the museum now hangs Manet’s “Olympia” (1865) next to Cabanel’s “Birth of Venus” (1865) – we spent weeks studying these two paintings and arguing about their significance in art history, to the impressionist movement and to each other… so this was great.
However, this was not an isolated experience. There are many little galleries in the Orsay where the re-hang is clever and stimulating (for example, Cross’ “L’Air du soiree” is hung next to Denis’ “Le Paradis”, opposite Alexander Harrison’s “En Arcadie” and Constant Montald’s “Paysage Symboliste” – superb!
As for the collection, many of the favourites of my youth continue to delight, but I also found myself drawn to some “new” works. Unfortunately, my favourite painting (“Ill d’Or” by Henri Edmond Cross) is now in the Orangerie Museum and Courbet’s “Birth of the World” was nowhere to be found. I’m over the trauma now and will try to make time to visit the Orangerie next week.
I love the Orsay. It is like coming home. But I have to say that while the grey walls complement the impressionist paintings on the upper floors, the tone of grey is too close to that of the timber floors. As the floors are greatly scuffed, the upper gallery, which is already very challenging because of the large numbers of visitors, looks tatty. This is a disappointment.
© Paul McCarthy & Iluminar.au
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