old family blog

Ballerinas and Bugs

The Musee d’Orsay has its own complete collection of the Degas ballerina casts and bronzes. This collection is one of four complete collections in known existence. I have now seen all 4 collections. The other 3 collections are located at MET in NYC, National Gallery in DC. The third is still in private collection, which did tour the US 2 years ago. I took my sister and niece to see the private collection that showed at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. So I have completed another adventure in my life. I grew up loving Degas and his work and made it a mission in life to see all 4 completed casts of the Degas ballerinas.

In the third section of Musee d’Orsay, we ventured to ground level galleries. We decided to skip most of the contemporary works and explore more of the impressionist exhibits. In the lower levels there were a number of Manet’s on exhibit. Including “Le Balcon” (The Balcony) and the “”The Picnic”. What was great to see was the number of students camped out in front “The Picnic”. Working on sketches and drawings.

At the Louvre we only saw about two people working on something. In front of the picnic alone there was about 6 people. Across from “The Picnic” was a contemporary sculpture of “The Picnic” which also had 5 students sketching it. Also in this section there were a number of Degas sketches and drawings. There were a number of amazing pastels, one was a side profile of woman with the most striking red lips.

Mixed into the third section was the Art Nouveau furnishings exhibit. Let first start by saying I fell in love with all the beds. They were simply jaw dropping, from room to room the pieces were getting better and better. What I found really interesting were the fixture and hardware on show. A number of the doorknobs were in some beautiful colors not to mention shapes. Simple but very unique!

After the Art Nouveau section we finished up the remainder of the impressionist galleries. At the end were a number of Van Gough pieces. What was interesting was all the Van Gough pieces that the d’Orsay had exhibit were from a certain time frame. Van Gough was in prison right before died. When he was released he worked like crazy cranking out a number of paintings. He was averaging over 5 paintings a day and was selling that at the fraction of his normal commission. You can really see how these works were quickies! Especially compared to his earlier work that I have seen.

We finally finished our adventure in the d’Orsay. As we made our way out of the museum we glimpsed at some the sculptures in main area. We were not that impressed of the selections they made. Then at the back of the museum, hidden in a dark and poorly light area. There were a number of large-scale models showing architecture in Paris. The most amazing piece was the scale model of the Grand Opera. It was flawless, even the gilding in the main entry and parlor was authentic. I was able to get a couple of great shots.

After the d’Orsay we headed across the street to brasserie on the corner. I ordered a simple Croque and salad, while Clem ordered some soup. The weather was beginning to change today. Our clear skies and warm temps, was slowly giving way to clouds and cold gusts of wind. The waiter seemed to be on a rampage. He was running all over the place and even taking out garbage right before he serves our food. EEEK!

Then I got my Croque, which was cold and made on white sandwich bread. Then I took one bite of my salad and then went for second and I noticed little red bugs on my lettuce. I showed the waiter, and he brought me a new salad. This time I examined it and of coarse there more bugs than before. EW!!!!!!

posted by turlie @ 5:30 AM