8 Interesting Facts about Musée d’Orsay

Do you want to learn some interesting facts about Musée d’Orsay?

The Orsay Museum, also known as the Musee d’Orsay, is an excellent destination to visit if you are searching for a location that will broaden your appreciation of art from a variety of historical periods.

It has a collection of paintings, photography, and sculptures making it an ideal destination whether you’re traveling alone or with a group.

This national museum in Paris will allow you to gain new knowledge in a form of art as it contains the masterpieces of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, and more.  In addition, visiting the museum will also provoke your imagination as you discover the meaning of each art you see.

Musee d’Orsay played an important role in preserving the historical legacy of France. The exhibitions are one way of giving us the stories of the country, which contain its culture and beliefs, and they are designed to assist visitors in better comprehending a variety of points of view. 

If you’re interested to know more, here are some of the interesting facts about Musée d’Orsay.

8 Interesting Facts about Musée d’Orsay

1. Three young architects designed the Musée d’Orsay

Like any other prestigious place, Musee d’Orsay has a history of how it was made. The creation of the Orsay Museum was made possible by three young architects namely Pierre Colboc, Renaud Bardon, and Jean-Paul Philippon.

A competition was held in 1978 to design the Musee d’Orsay. But out of the six proposals sent, only the company ACT Architecture (team of three architects) won. Later that year, the creation of the museum started including the construction of 20,000 square meters of new floor space across four levels.

The museum was finally ready to accept its exhibits in July 1986.  President François Mitterrand officially opened the museum in December 1986.

2. The Orsay Museum used to be a train station

The celebration of the city of Paris’s centenary in the year 1900 inspired the construction of a new train station that year.

The city organized the Universal Exhibition in order to showcase the progress it has made over the last century. More than fifty million people went to see the exhibition, and as a result, the French government made the decision to construct a train station and gave it the name Gare d’Orsay in order to provide accommodations for all of the attendees.

The station is notable for being the world’s first urban rail terminal to be electrified. However, 75 years later, the train station was transformed into the Musee d’Orsay, which is one of the world-famous museums today.

3. Musee d’Orsay features plenty of glass

35,000 square meters of glass were used in the Orsay Museum. Its glass roof brightens the atmosphere inside and literally lights up the whole building.  The experience you get throughout your visit is enhanced by the natural light penetrating the glass.

The Orsay Museum’s usage of 35,000 square meters of glass is equivalent to five football fields and is twice as huge as the Kennedy Center Opera House, which is the Center’s second-largest theater with 2,364 seats.

Moreover, the glass used in the museum is also equivalent to approximately half the total floor space of the official residence of the British monarch, Buckingham Palace.

4. 6 months were spent to display the exhibits at Orsay Museum

Due to the massive size of the museum, plus the number of art pieces, the curators needed enough time to put everything perfectly in place. The installation of the 2000 paintings, 600 sculptures, and other pieces took around 6 months.

On the other hand, ever since the decision was made to build the Musee d’Orsay, it took nine years for President Francois Mitterrand to finally open it. The museum was opened to the public in December 1986.

If you’re planning to visit the Musee d’ Orsay, it is recommended to spend at least 2 to 4 hours to finish touring around the museum.

5. The Musée d’Orsay held the first photography exhibition in France

Musee d’Orsay hosted the first photography exhibition in France in the year 1980. Mr. Joseph Nègre donated to the exhibition, which was dedicated to Charles Negre.

As a result, the museum was widely regarded as having one of the most outstanding photography displays in the world. Visitors to the museum can see over 45,000 paintings dating back to 1839 and continuing through the golden age, including pieces by Maurice Denis and Edgar Degas. 

6. A minister ordered the Musee D’Orsay to allow photography within the museum.

A non-binding charter that photography is allowed at all French museums and monuments was passed in 2014 and Musee d’ Orsay wasn’t part of it.  However, everything changed in 2015, when the culture minister at the time, Fleur Pellerin, snapped a picture of a well-known painting and uploaded it to Instagram. 

That photo became controversial because people thought that prominent people, such as the culture minister, receive preferential treatment led to the creation of a contentious debate surrounding that photograph. Later on, Musee d’Orsay was forced to concede that photography would be permitted on the premises.

However, despite the fact that the restriction has been lifted, there are still essential warnings for tourists, such as no flash and tripods should be used.  The most important thing to note is that you are permitted to take photographs so long as you do not disturb the other guests or put the artwork in any danger.

7. Musee d’Orsay houses a remarkable 19th-century collection

Musee d’Orsay is home to a vast collection of Impressionist masterpieces. Due to this, it became widely known as the ‘Impressionism Museum’. Impressionism was a revolutionary art style that started in the late 1800s and was mostly focused on painters in Paris.

The Impressionists disdained the use of classical subject matter and instead embraced modernism in their art. They did this with the intention of producing works that were reflective of the modern environment in which they lived.

The museum features artwork from the 19th and 20th centuries, including paintings, sculptures, photography, and other forms of decorative art. There are around 500 Impressionist paintings and nearly 1,100 post-Impressionist masterpieces in the museum.

Witnessing the works of some of the most well-known impressionist artists, such as Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait, Gustave Courbet’s The Origin of the World, Edouard Manet’s Lunch on the Grass, and Renoir’s Bal du moulin de la Galette, is one of the best things to do when inside the Musee d’Orsay.

8. The interior design of the Orsay Museum was once became controversial

Despite the popularity of the Musee d’Orsay, it also became controversial. The interior design of the museum was designed by architect Gae Aulenti. 

She was selected to design the interiors of the museum in 1981, including everything from the decoration to the furniture and the fittings.

The design of the museum by Architect Aulenti aroused controversy because many art enthusiasts believe that the museum’s elements were ‘Mussolininian,’ which is an Italian word that refers to the style of the Italian fascist dictator Mussolini. 

In addition, the Musee d’Orsay has been referred to by a variety of terms, including the following: “likened to a funeral hall, to a tomb, to a mausoleum, to an Egyptian burial monument, to a necropolis.” This comparison was made by the French newspaper Liberation.