D'Orsay

The Musee D"Orsay contains works from French artists from the 1840 until 1940. It is housed in the old train station which permits the upper floor to have the light that showcases their paintings. Works of Daumier, Manet, Pissaro, Sisley, Carot, Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, and are displayed.


'Olympia' Manet	St Lazare Monet	Picnic Manet	Renoir

Edouard Manet Olympia With Olympia, Manet reworked the traditional theme of the female nude, using a strong, uncompromising technique. Both the subject matter and its depiction explain the scandal caused by this painting at the 1865 Salon. The picture portrays the cold reality of a truly contemporary subject. Venus has become a prostitute, challenging the viewer with her calculating look. This profanation of the idealized nude, the very foundation of academic tradition, provoked a violent reaction. Critics attacked the "yellow-bellied odalisque" whose modernity was nevertheless defended by a small group of Manet's contemporaries with Zola at their head.

Auguste Renoir Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre This painting is Renoir's most important work of the mid 1870's and shown at the Impressionist exhibition in 1877. Though some of his friends appear in the picture, Renoir's main aim was to convey the vivacious and joyful atmosphere of this popular dance garden on the Butte Montmartre. The study of the moving crowd, bathed in natural and artificial light, is handled using vibrant, brightly coloured brushstrokes. The somewhat blurred impression of the scene prompted negative reactions from contemporary critics. This portrayal of popular Parisian life, with its innovative style and imposing format, a sign of Renoir's artistic ambition, is one of the masterpieces of early Impressionism. Claude Monet