Musée d'Orsay Exhibitions

The Musée d'Orsay was originally a railway station built between 1898 and 1900, opeing just in time for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, the 1900 World's Fair held in Paris.  The museum focuses on French art from the period 1848 to 1914, including the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world.

Today it is open and we enter to see the the special exhibition devoted to Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas, contrasting the two and exploring the similarities and conflicting aspects of their work.

Manet/Degas

The other exhibition currently showing is titled Pastels, a medium  that flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, used almost exclusively for portraits due to the ability to create textured effects and render the softness of skin.  Pastels are sticks made of pigments mixed with a white substance such as clay and a binder. which enables the colored powder to solidify.  The medium is very fragile, some pigments are light sensitive and the paintings are sensitive to mold, dust, and vibrations leading to the requirement to protect the paintings with glass and display them in reduced light.

Pastels

We leave the special exhibitions and wander into the museum to view the permanent collection.