Trip to Paris and a day at Musée d’Orsay
I was especially excited about this reflection as I love art and going to art galleries and therefore already knew this is what I wanted to talk about. However, since I have moved to Lisbon I did not find the time to explore the local museums and galleries yet but do have a lot planned for the 3rd semester. This is why I have decided to write about an amazing experience in a museum in one of my favorite cities, which is Paris. A few weekends ago, I decided to visit one of my best friends from home, who lives in Paris now. My friend Lena is studying at ESCP and currently lives in the very charming neighborhood of Montmartre. This was not the first time I visited her in Paris, but I was especially excited as this time we also had a very fun activity planned: a day at the Musée d’Orsay. Since I enjoy spending time in this city so much, I already visited her three times during her studies, and we have been to the Louvre, the Centre Pompidou and the Musée des Arts et Métiers before, However, I have never been to Musée d’Orsay before and have also never heard of it. I was especially excited to go as my friend Lena told me it’s her favorite one in Paris, due to the presentation of the beautiful sculptures in the big central hall, which is an ancient railway station. We decided to go there on a rainy day as we felt this was the perfect occasion. What is great about Paris is that a lot of museums are free for EU citizens under the age of 26.
Musée d’Orsay is situated next to the Seine and is mainly known for its nineteenth-century art collection with a combination of permanent and temporary exhibitions. As Musée d’Orsay was used to be a railway station before being transformed into a museum, it features a big central part with striking sculptures and paintings on both sides of the walls. On the upper level, most of the exhibitions can be found. One temporary showing which I enjoyed the most during our visit was the photographs of Denise Zola photographed by her father Émile Zola., which are usually represented at the MET museum in NYC. I especially liked it as it was very different from the other showings of art which can be found in Musée d’Orsay and felt really personal as all the photographs were done by the artist's father.
Spending time around art has the ability to de-stress me from a normally stressful day and to calm me down. To me, it is also a great activity that can be done with friends, as it enables conversations about the history of the artworks and can lead to creative thoughts on what the artist wanted to show with his art. Paris, especially, has so many interesting places to enjoy culture and art, which is also why I hope to live there one day as well. I do think that every city has its own things to discover and that it is an important part of living abroad to spent time in the local museums.
