Outside Musee d' Orsay on a brilliant sunny cold winter's day
The Musee d'Orsay is second only to the world famous Lourve in terms of number of art pieces, sculptures, paintings with over 30,000 pieces mainly from French Renaissance artists such as Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Manet and Frederick Bazille amongst other world famous artists. I am a near ignorant art museum with engineering and logic being my background, so please excuse the almost simplistic decriptions of the paintings.
The view from the museum of the 7th arrondissement
It was a brilliant Sunday morning, and we took a casual breakfast (le petit dejeunner) of croissant, orange juice and coffee before heading to the I'll de Cite. In the basement are mainly sculptures of the Roman Byzantine era while those on the 2 to 5th floors highlights the more Renaissance artists. The works for Frederick Bazille are currently highlighted and they occupy the whole 5th floor. He was an artist who painted with watercolor as with all other struggling artists of the late 19th century (Monet, Manet and Cezanne). He was an accomplished pianist and came from a well-to-do family. Unfortunately he died at 30 while fighting against some uprising from the regional fishermen. Below is the picture of the artists who mostly stayed together (many were gay) on the left bank of the Seine.
Frederick Bazille's studio on the left bank
The draw for artists from all around Europe from 1700s to early 1900s was that here was a place for all to come and share ideas, discuss philosophy and perhaps pool together their money to hold joint exhibitions. It was a fervent time and many great names have stayed here for years. Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Bazille, Miro, Picasso and Dali all had legnths of time in Paris.
Men at rest and play - Frederick Bazille 1887
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