d’Orsay:
Musée d’Orsay, what can I say…. I think anytime a building can find a new purpose instead of being demolished it’s a win. The art is housed in what was previously a train station, you can tell as soon as you walk in that it was not always a museum. I really enjoyed the feeling of compression and release between the smaller side galleries and the huge main area. It was pleasant because you don’t feel compressed in the smaller spaces (as someone who can get claustrophobic, this is important), but when you enter the expansive main gallery you are immediately relieved. Personally, the building and it’s interior architectural design was my favorite part about the Musée d’Orsay.
There was definitely plenty of amazing artworks, furniture pieces, and architectural models to wow, but it also felt overwhelming to try and see it all. Going in with no expectations, I would want to try and see as much as possible. I quickly realized this was going to be a daunting task. Unlike the Louvre where I had already heard of its exhaustive collections, I assumed d’Orsay would be more relaxed. There were less tourists than the Louvre which was nice, but it seemed like the artworks were still never ending. I felt accomplished making it through the Van Gogh exhibit, but then essentially speed-walked the rest of the floors, only stopping for something that caught my eye. I still managed to spend about four hours in the museum & gift shop, which I thought was mediocre.
Louvre:
Good gracious. I’ve been avoiding writing this part of the post because I have PTSD from the Louvre. I think I experienced the tourist Mecca of Paris, but my personal hell. The building was hard to judge because it was so large and I never got a good sense of what it looked like from the outside, on the inside it was a never ending maze. In comparison to d’Orsay, I thought the art of the Louvre was far more exceptional and recognizable. It was just too big. Going into it my expectations were set that I would walk around to certain pieces in the beginning to make sure I saw the big things I wanted, and then just discover afterwards. I saw the Italian paintings and frescos of the Grand Gallery, the Mona Lisa, Venus, and Victory. I also spent an absurd amount of time in the Egyptian collection, only to miss Hammurabi’s Code (grrrr). We also walked through Napoleon’s apartment, which were reminiscent of Versailles and now also Fontainebleau.
Now I need to rant. The Louvre being known as a museum that if you spent only thirty seconds at each work of art (which is not enough time to enjoy each piece) it wold take multiple days to see everything, is problematic. This was even more apparent walking through the Egyptian collections that spanned two floors. After the fifth case of tombstones, I was starting to feel like it was becoming unnecessarily repetitive. Why do so many need to be in Paris? Instead of enjoying it, I felt very strongly that the Louvre had stolen these artifacts and they did not all need to belong in France.
After spending five hours in the galleries and making it through one and a half floors, the Louvre was closing. EVERYONE in the building then made their way through the gift shop creating even more tourist chaos. I will say, I thought the Louvre gift shop was fantabulous! There were gifts for every type of person, and the kids section was top notch. I got my grandma and brother gifts after elbowing my way through and I am very pleased and can’t wait to bring them home. That being said the gift shop between trying to find items between all the people and checking out took another hour, finally totaling to six hours spent in the Louvre.
I enjoyed both museums in different ways and found flaws for both as well. d’Orsay was more of a neutral experience all around, the Louvre I felt much more extreme up’s and down’s. I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced both at all, but I still feel bad after viewing only a fraction of the Egyptian exhibit in the Louvre. In terms of art, the Louvre obviously took the cake, but in d’Orsay I felt much more in touch with the architectural story and history of the building.