Last Of The Orsay, 2026

On May 10th we made our last visit to the Orsay for the year, visiting the Impressionists, a special exhibit on the identification of stolen art in WWII, and a section of non-Impressionist late 19th century work. 

Personal favorite, always to re-post, Manet's Luncheon on the Grass, 1862

Gustave Caillebotte, The Boating Party or Oarsman in a Top Hat,
1879; acquired by the Musee d'Orsay in 2022 for nearly $50mm;
Caillebotte painted, usually more realistic scenes, but is most remembered
as a patron and collector of the Impressionists; his collection, donated
to the state, is the core of the Orsay's Impressionist department

The identity of the top-hatted oarsman is unknown, 
but I vote for Manet, here shown from a nearby Fanton-Latour
group portrait; Manet and Caillebotte were known to be close,
the former much influencing the latter's realist tendencies

Another Caillebotte, The House Painters, 1877

And more famously, his Floor Scrapers...1875; reminded us a scraping
and caulking the floor of our home in Montana...

Very late Renoir, reverting to his Rubens period?

Van Gogh, Church of Auvers sur Oise, 1890

One of the three Starry Nights

The post-Impressionists had an interest in (manually-operated)
fans and designing images for fans...this one by Gauguin

Another by Toulouse-Lautrec

Unusual Renoir landscape...Algerian scene, 1881

Henri Gervex, A Session of the Painting Jury, before 1885;

a raised umbrella (Paris is more beautiful in the rain") was 

a yes vote; Gervex himself was disqualified from competition 

in the Salon some years earlier (painted a nude that was

considered in poor taste)

An interesting exhibit funded by the American Friends of

the Musee d'Orsay...some of the Orsay's holdings,
recovered from the Germans after 1945, for which proper
owners have never been found...most likely all murdered...

One of Cezanne's many Mt. Victoix landscapes...ruled 

a fake after the war, now considered genuine

An important earlier Renoir, Madame Alphonse Daudet, 1876

Alfred Stevens, Brother and Sister by the Sea at Honfleur, 1891;
there were many such paintings, many by well-known artists

From a great video on the whole sordid affair... Goering examining
his latest hoard

Due credit to the US Army "Monuments Men," who recovered much
of what had been stolen; watch the movie! read the book!

Rose Valland, museum curator, member of the Resistance, kept meticulous
secret notes on the German plundering, leading to the recovery of many works

Now moving on to another part of the museum...a great sort-of Romeo
and Juliet scene, Alexandre Cabanel, The Death of Francesca de Rimini
and Paolo Malatesta, 1870; not Romeo and Juliet...

William Bouguereau, Equality Before Death, 1848

William Bouguereau, Birth of Venus, 1879

Cabanel, Birth of Venus, 1863

Jean-Leon Jerome, Young Greeks Attending a Cock Fight, 1846