Paris was a whirlwind of activity - churches, museums, historic sights, amazing food! The highlight of our last day (May 25) in Paris was a visit to the D’orsay Museum which houses the Impressionism and post impressionist paintings. I think in some ways it is fitting the Impressionists have a museum to themselves because they had such a time getting any recognition in the 19th century from the established art world in France called the Salon. The term Impressionist comes from a critic, Louis Leroy, who dismissed a work by Claude Monet suggesting it was only an impression of a painting. I don’t pretend to be an expert on Impressionism at all, but do note the impressionists intentionally sought to paint “real” subjects and loved to paint outside in particular which was unusual at the time. They employed a new brighter color palette and focused on changing light patterns during the day. They also used a broader brush stroke that could be easily detected.
I love impressionist and post impressionist painting and the Orsay Museum has the finest collection I have ever seen. It was amazing. My son, Terry, asked us to take lots of pictures, so here are some of my favorites.
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| Renoir |
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| Cézanne |
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| Renoir |
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| Monet |
Signac
Van Gogh
Van Gogh
Van Gogh
Van Gogh
Van Gogh
