Musée d'Orsay

Some works at the Musée d'Orsay caught my amateur eye. After reviewing the degraded internet images though, I have new appreciation for the works and the chance to see them in person. Maybe I should have taken some of my own photos. Here are my favorites:

Jean-François Millet
Le Repos de Fanneurs (Haymakers Resting)

The sunset in the background was the highlight for me. Is the male haymaker stretching? This is a horrendous photo of the real thing.

Mary Cassat
Jeune Femme Portant un Enfant (Young Woman Holding a Child)

I really liked the pastels in general and singled out this one for the beautiful skin tones.




Narcisse Diaz de la Peña
Les hauteurs du Jean de Paris

The sky in this painting caught my eye. In all of Diaz de la Pena's paintings there is some impressive lighting, especially in the blue-bright darkness of the storm clouds over the treeline.



Eugin Boudin
Le Port de Bordeaux

I'm partial to the marine paintings, and liked this one for the historical significance. The horizon is densely populated by the masts of docked clipper ships.






Henri Fantin Latour
Vase Des Fleurs

The texture of the flowers were the highlight of this otherwise blasé still life. A closer glance reveals them to be oily and disgusting - if you poured water on them they might fall apart and wash away.


Edouard Manet
Susanne Hecht de Profile

Another pastel, this Manet piece caught my eye with its luminescent, weightless fabric rendering in the dress on the chest. Done with bold pastel strokes, it looks like a child's painting in the image above, but in the flesh, it really is impressive.


Georges Seurat
La Lisière de Bois au Printemps (The Edge of the Woods in Spring)

Long my favorite artist, the dot extraordinaire painted an amazing sunset. The painting gave me a feeling of dusk, and I like it for no other reason.

Maurice de Vlaminck

Le Restaurant à Marly-le-Roi
Crazy colors lit up this pastel, and I couldn’t resist including it. Vlaminck was one of the originators of fauvism, the artistic movement characterized by liberal use of brilliant colors.