Sunday, 1/11/09

Outside of the Orangerie:

This was our first big chunk of free time, and Sophie suggested that we visit the Musée de l’Orangerie and said that it was a marvel. I completely agree! I’m so glad that I did. The museum is very small and it is on the west edge of the Tuileries, the large pleasant park with many sculptures. On the other side of the Tuileries is the Louvre. On this day I learned that the little red map book of Paris that we received is actually very useful. I had gone to the subway station Tuileries having no idea where to go from there, but having complete confidence that I would find it easily. After wandering around unsuccessfully however, I eventually pulled out my book and opened it to the first arrondissement. With its help I discovered that to get to the museum I had to enter the park and walk up a hill to its rightmost corner. I finally got there by 11 am, which was about half an hour later than I had planned, but it was perfect because the museum only opened at 11 that day.

Monet's Water Lilly Paintings on Display:

The first floor of the museum has two large oval rooms and each room exhibits four of Monet’s water lily paintings. I had not known that the paintings were this size! They were extraordinarily beautiful. I could have sat there for hours gazing at the peaceful ponds with the colorful water lilies. The museum’s basement had a collection of various other impressionist paintings, including some by Renoir, Sisley, and Cézanne. I was happy to look at all of them, but the first floor was far more memorable.

A.G.

A close-up: