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Photo: Sanchezn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

About the museum

The story of the Musée d'Orsay

The Musée d'Orsay sits inside a Beaux-Arts railway station built for the 1900 World's Fair, on the Left Bank of the Seine opposite the Tuileries. It opened as a museum in 1986 to show French art from 1848 to 1914, picking up where the Louvre leaves off.

It holds the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world: Monet, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Cézanne, Gauguin and a celebrated group of Van Goghs, all under the station's vast glass roof and giant clocks.

The collection

The Orsay's collection covers the decisive years of modern art, from 1848 to 1914. Its Impressionist galleries bring together Monet's paintings of Rouen Cathedral and his garden, Renoir's Paris dance halls, Degas's dancers and Caillebotte's Floor Scrapers.

Beyond Impressionism it shows the academic painters the Impressionists rebelled against, the Realism of Courbet and Millet, and the Post-Impressionists: Cézanne, Seurat, Gauguin's Tahitian works and some of Van Gogh's most famous canvases, including his self-portrait of 1889 and The Church at Auvers.

At ArtLogia you can order 385 of its paintings as hand-painted reproductions, by 102 artists led by Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet.

paintings to order
385
artists
102
art movements
10
years covered
1844–1952

The building

The Gare d'Orsay was designed by Victor Laloux and finished for the Exposition Universelle of 1900. Its iron and glass hall, once the terminus for trains to the south-west of France, was saved from demolition in the 1970s and converted by the architects of ACT and Gae Aulenti into a museum that keeps the station's grand nave and its two great clocks.

Masterpieces to see

Planning a visit

Head to the top floor first: the Impressionist galleries are there, beside the clock windows that look across the Seine.

Hand-painted in oil

Famous paintings from the Musée d'Orsay

Each reproduction is painted by hand by a professional artist, following the original's composition, colour and brushwork. Choose your size, and have it rolled, stretched or framed.

312 paintings

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Artists in the collection

Musée d'Orsay: frequently asked questions

What is the Musée d'Orsay famous for?

It holds the world's largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, by artists such as Monet, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh.

Was the Musée d'Orsay a train station?

Yes. The building opened in 1900 as the Gare d'Orsay railway station and became a museum in 1986.

Which Van Gogh paintings are at the Musée d'Orsay?

Highlights include Starry Night Over the Rhône, the 1889 Self-Portrait, The Church at Auvers and Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles.

Where is the Musée d'Orsay?

The Musée d'Orsay is in Paris, France. You can find opening hours and tickets on the museum's official website.

What are the most famous paintings at the Musée d'Orsay?

Its best-known paintings include Bal du moulin de la Galette, Luncheon on the Grass, Olympia. ArtLogia offers 385 hand-painted reproductions of works from its collection.

When was the Musée d'Orsay founded?

The Musée d'Orsay dates from 1986. See the history above for how its collection grew.

Is the Musée d'Orsay one of the best museums in the world?

Yes. It ranks number 6 in our list of the 100 best art museums in the world, ranked by the famous paintings in their collections.

Can I buy a reproduction of a painting from the Musée d'Orsay?

Yes. Paintings such as L'Origine du monde and Luncheon on the Grass can be ordered as hand-painted oil reproductions on canvas, in any size, rolled, stretched or framed, with free worldwide shipping.

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