Back in 2008 a person could take photos in the Orsay. My friend Cheryl and her other daughter Grace (from Australia) are in Paris visiting. Today they went to the Orsay in Paris. As photos were not allowed I thought of this post I wrote back in 2008….
Musee d'Orsay in Paris has Monet, Renoir, Manet, Picasso, Degas, Corot, Van Gogh… to name a few. The paintings are breathtaking and I never tire standing in awe by them. This time while at the Musee d'Orsay I asked if I could take photos. I was surprised to learn that if I did not use a flash I could take as many photos as I pleased.
So I did.
Claude Monet. As I was focusing on one of the lilies I noticed his name… Have you ever noticed his signature? I hadn't. The lilies I have seen and admired but never have I stopped to notice the signature nor the frames to these masterpieces.
I became the nutty tourist running around taking photos of signatures, corners of frames and other tiny details such as brush strokes and closeups of hands.
Renoir's
Van Gogh's golden straw. Van Gogh signed his paintings: "Vincent" and often in the strokes of color of his painting's background.
Gilded wood and plaster each frame is unique, artwork in itself. Rows and rows of art… at every angle, in perfection.
Musee d'Orsay's two famous clocks are surrounded by gilded frames. Chunky monkey frames. The Enameled numerals were my height.
Dabs of paint, splashes of color, defined brush strokes, genius works of art… frame the stories, history and lifestyles of these artists. The expressions of time, place, emotion… moments that do not change with time, layers upon layers of intertwined lives caught on canvas surrounded by golden halos.
Monet's lilies silently float.
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