Day 3 in Paris- Musée d'Orsay (and family encounters)

 

a photo I took back in 2014

Ten years ago, I took a trip to Paris with Arta and Bonnie.  

What a trip that was!  

Amongst other things, we spent a day in the Musée d'Orsay.  Here is a link to the blogpost where Arta reported on our visit:

https://larchhaven.blogspot.com/2014/04/museums.html

As you might imagine, the return visit was a lovely experience. 

It felt like I was spending time drenched in art, feeling like I was standing both in the present and the past at the same time. 

the 2024 version

I felt that particularly in a moment where I found myself standing in somewhat the same place, taking a similar photo!

I will say that there were lots of people there today.  No surprise, I suppose, since the Olympics have been in town (increasing tourist traffic?) 

But what this means is that all museum visits this month are by reservation only with timed entry. 

the view from across the cafe...

Oddly enough, and though it felt like there were more people there, it was pretty seamless getting in. 

Last time (2014), Arta, Bonnie and I started at the bottom of the building, and worked our way to the top.  

This time (2024), I decided to head straight to the top, and then work my way down.

I took the elevator up (getting a bit lazier in my 'old age'), and so I entered through the cafe, which means encountering that amazing view out the clock window.

...Sacre Coeur in the distance

While my first thought was the possibility of sitting down at a table to more fully enjoy the ambiance, I was also feeling the pull of my desire to hang out with Van Gogh, which I knew would be in the very next room.  

So I pushed ahead, moving in the opposite direction of the crowd, so see what I could see.   

Even if the crowds were significant, and there were a press of people, all with cameras over their heads taking pictures, I could still get in there, and pretend I was playing 'Pokemon' (ie. using my camera in a 'gotta catch 'em all' kind of way.)  

In the spirit of just reminding me of some of those much loved paintings, here are some of my favs....

just can't help loving Dr. Gachet

looking at this IS going to church for me

what's to say?!  it vibrates!

It is such a treat to get up close, and really be able to see the brush strokes... the paint on these canvases.  I found myself moving back, and then moving up close, and then shifting back again.  The paintings seem to invite you to spend time with them.   It was fun looking at the three paintings below as a cluster (as they are set alongside eachother).  Something really struck me about the yellow background, then the green sky with the caravans, then the vivid blue.

Nadia, Michelle, Mia and me!

As I found myself again stepping back into the centre of the room, someone touched me on the shoulder.  I expected that I was about to accidentally bump into someone, but then a voice said, "Hi cuz!"  

To my total surprise, there was my cousin Michelle LeBaron (who also teaches in law but at UBC). 

another selfie out on the terrace

What the heck?!  

Who knew that the museum day would involve a visit with family afterall!  

Turned out she had been visiting Paris with another law friend (Nadia, and her daughter Mia), and they were heading off to Nancy for a law/business conference... they were just about on their way out.   

So... of course we returned to cafe to spend some time enjoying eachother's company! (and Mia and I [she is only 10] discovered we had a surprising amount of sassiness in common]. 

Monet - Rouen cathedral

After they headed off for their next adventure, I returned to the business of visual pleasure, wandering through the collection.  

There were so many things I loved.  One was 

Monet's Rouen Cathedral paintings. 

I have seen versions of these in many different museums during my life.   This one is typical.  

But it was so lovely seeing 4 of them them alongside each other, seeing what changes from canvas to canvas. 

This time around, I was really struck by the one that feels the most 'blurry'.  It has the whitest light of the lot, and makes me want to blink my eyes to see if I can focus better (or perhaps even clean my glasses). 

detail of above

I found it interesting getting close up to the canvas.  

Looking at the paint, i had a better sense of how it was contributing (though the built up messiness of the whites) to my inability to focus.  

It felt as if there were edges and angles in the paint itself that were catching light, and leading my irises to expand or contract in ways that facilitated the feeling of misty shimmer.     

Such fun thinking about that.

And then I got preoccupied, looking at paintings from a distance, and then up close at the brush work (like Grover doing "Near"/"Far" on Sesame Street

close up on the sunflower

close up on the flowers/roses?

close up of the water

Close up of the snow

I was also reminded that I really really love Manet.  His paintings just grab me.  It was a treat to see so many of them in one place!   

And so fun seeing Berthe Morriseau both as an artist in her own right, and as a figure in so many of Manet's paintings.

here she is!

and again...

and again....

And having both Olympia, and the portrait of Zola in the same space is just the most fun of all (seeing the one appear in the upper right hand corner of the other.

But... maybe I will stop for now.  Tomorrow is another day and other museum.  I consider myself lucky (and Steve considers himself lucky that he doesn't not have to come to the museums with me, but can instead pursue his own joys of simply walking the streets)