Paris: Musée d’Orsay and Musée Rodin

Continuing our packed tourist agenda, we visited the Musée Rodin and Musée d’Orsay on August 16 and 17.

On Tuesday, we visited the Musée d’Orsay. We had watched the Netflix series, Lupin, while in Fontainebleau so the boys were excited to see both the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay which feature prominently in the series (Xavier also bought the book, Arsene Lupin: Gentleman Thief, from Shakespeare & Co. while we were there!). For anyone who hasn’t watched Lupin, it’s highly recommended.

Maps continue to baffle the Dupuy boys. (But Xavier seems to be helping!)(( Xavier wrote that part. He helped with some captions for this post, marked with XD.))

We saw signs like this all over the city at the older entrances to train stations. XD

*Starry Night* is such a beautiful painting, I wish that is what the real night sky looked like. XD

The book *Framed* mentioned this painting and the idea of Paul Gauguin cutting off Van Gogh’s ear. XD

Alexander was very excited to see a version of *Woman with a Parasol* by Monet. The version of this painting on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC featured prominently in a book he just finished called *Framed* by James Ponti, so it was a nice surprise to see this one.

We stopped to admire *Petite Danseuse* by Degas for Auntie Cacky. This wax sculpture mixing clay, wax, human hair, and textiles caused quite a stir when it was first exhibited in 1881. It was the only sculpture that Degas allowed to be exhibited during his lifetime.

*Bal du Moulin de la Galette* by Renior. During the early days of the pandemic, we received a card from Auntie Kerry that featured this painting. I’ll never forget that one of the boys saw the card and said, “Look at all those people so close together.”

Figures based on Daumier’s famous political cartoons.

On Wednesday, we visited Musée Rodin. The children’s audio guide was excellent here. It sent the boys on a scavenger hunt, visiting some of Rodin’s most famous pieces and gave them lots of interesting information to consider when observing each sculpture.

The audio guide began with one of Rodin’s most famous works, The Gates of Hell, which illustrates a scene from the Inferno by Dante. We discovered that, with Rodin, it all comes back to The Gates of Hell. Many of his most famous pieces either came from (The Thinker) or were intended to be a part of (The Kiss) this sculpture.

*Monument aux Bourgeois de Calais*. We saw the original in Calais a few weeks before.

Although this one is called *Walking Man*, Xavier and Alexander learned he wasn’t actually walking. You try it. Stand up, start walking. Notice that both of your feet are never on the ground at the same time, unlike the *Walking Man*.

My favorite sculpture was La Danaide from 1889. It depicts one of the Danaïds, the daughters of Danaos, who were made to fill up a bottomless barrel with water in punishment for killing their husbands on their wedding night. This sculpture represents her despair “as she realizes the pointlessness and absurdity of her task. Exhausted, she rests her head “like a huge sob” on her arm, while her outspread “liquid” hair … merges with the water from her overturned vase.” I re-enacted this pose (exhausted, resting my head like a huge sob on my arm) a few times on this trip.

I never knew the tragic background of The Kiss. According to the museum website, it “originally represented Paolo and Francesca, two characters borrowed … from Dante’s Divine Comedy: slain by Francesca’s husband who surprised them as they exchanged their first kiss, the two lovers were condemned to wander eternally through Hell.” Rodin originally designed this as part of The Gates of Hell but felt it didn’t work because it was the depiction of happiness.