Orsay Museum

Orsay Museum is definitly one of the most famous museums of Paris, mainly for its amazing collection of Impressionist paintings, the largest in the World. You will find there masterpieces of Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and of course Van Gogh.

With paintings, sculptures, and furniture from 1848 to 1940, Orsay makes the link between the Louvre Museum and the George Pompidou Modern Art Museum collections. Most of the Impressionist collection was brought from the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume.

Initially, the Museum was a railway station built at the place of the ruins of Orsay palace. It was uses from the Universal Exhibition of 1900, until 1939. Being too short for modern trains, it was first used as a sub-urban station, than closed for a long time. Several times saved from destruction, it was finally decided to be transformed into a Msueum during Valérie Giscard d'Estain Presidency.

Tips for the visit:
It is essential to buy tickets in advance in order to avoid the huge queue. In case you have ones you can go straight to Entrance C and avoid the queue of Entrance A (vistors without tickets).

Of course, as for most monuments and museums in Paris, you can buy the Paris Pass and avoid the queues almost everywhere.

Orsay is one of my favourite musueums in Paris, and it is definitly a must if you like impressionist and post impressionist art.Less