Why the
Museum d'Orsay
is special

This Parisian institution has become one of the world's greatest and most popular museums in just a couple of decades because of its stunning art collection.

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Museum d'Orsay
tips & insights

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Time span and focus

The Museum d'Orsay focuses on a specific period: from 1848 to 1914. The institution is most celebrated for its impressionist and post-impressionist artwork.

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Remarkable collection

It includes works by Cezanne, Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, Van Gogh, among others.

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Famous paintings

Some of the exhibited paintings in the Museum d'Orsay have been so widely published in books and other media that even an art neophyte would likely recognize them.

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Museum d'Orsay building

It began life in 1900 as the Gare d'Orsay ("train station of Orsay"). In 1939 it closed. In the late 1970s it was slated for demolition to make room for a large hotel. Public pressure stifled those plans. In 1986, after being converted, the terminus became the Museum d'Orsay.

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Main hall

The main-hall exhibition space (see photo) preserves the train station layout. And, the sky-light roof enhances the artwork by bathing it with diffused daylight.

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