Musee d'Orsay

Today my Paris Civilization & Culture class had a trip to the Musee d'Orsay.  Usually we go on trips on Thursdays, but because of tomorrow's strike it got switched to today.  Speaking of the strike...we got tickets to see the ballet tomorrow at the Opera Garnier (the setting of the Phantom of the Opera,) and of COURSE, the workers are among those striking tomorrow.  Luckily we'll be able to get tickets for another day.

The Musee d'Orsay is probably my favorite museum that I've been to so far.  It's an old train station, the layout and lighting is very complimentary to the works, and it has a wonderful Impressionist collection.  This means lots of Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Degas, and Renoir, and my personal favorite, Delacroix!  

Today we spent most of our time in front of Manet's Olympia.  For yesterday's class, we had a seventy page reading about it.  I didn't really enjoy the reading as I was doing it, but today I was able to appreciate it-- it was so much more interesting to know the story behind the work rather than just stand there and think, "oh, that's pretty!" 

We learned about and analyzed the (extremely negative) critical response to the painting.  It was extremely controversial at the time (1865) because instead of displaying a goddess or an otherwise idealized woman in the nude, Manet painted a prostitute, and didn't try to hide it.

We also spent a good amount of time examining Manet's Le dejeuner sur l'herbe (lunch on the grass).  This was again controversial, but the most interesting part is that the face of the woman in the foreground is by far the most detailed part of the painting.  You can't tell from the photo, sorry!  I also liked the gradient of green from very, very dark in the foreground to light in the background.

Finally we spent a few moments looking at a bunch of other paintings, this one was my favorite.  It's Delacroix's Chasse aux lions  (lion hunt).    

Once again, the awesomeness of the painting isn't really demonstrated by this photo so you'll just have to take my word for it!  If you can, try to spot a lion, a few horses, and at least two men.  I just love that it's much more about color and movement than it is about form.  

I am off to start my homework, I'm not sure how it is possibly 8pm already!  Tomorrow should be fun:  I'm still debating whether or not going to class is even worth it, but since I have both grammar and phonetics tomorrow, I think I'm leaning towards at least attempting to go.  Supposedly there will be 1 metro for every 3 that usually run, meaning it will be impossibly crowded.  

As tempted as I am to just sleep in, I also feel like strikes are such a big part of the French culture that it would be a travesty to miss out on it.  I'll report back tomorrow!