The Impressionist gallery
Monet, Renoir, Degas and Pissarro under the glass-roof light — the highest density of masterpieces on any single museum floor anywhere.
Sanchezn — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cheng-en Cheng from Taichung City, Taiwan — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Benh — CC BY 2.5 · DXR — CC BY-SA 3.0
Paris's eternal question. If you love the Impressionists and Van Gogh, Orsay is more enjoyable and far less exhausting; the Louvre is grander in scope and history. With two days: Orsay first, then a focused Louvre route.
Two hours for a focused route (fifth floor + Van Gogh), three to four for a comfortable tour including sculpture, decorative arts and the café behind the clock.
Yes, without flash, in the permanent collection — and behind the clock is the most famous silhouette shot in Paris. Some temporary exhibitions prohibit it.
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Few museums have a building that rivals their collection; Orsay is one of them. A 1900 railway station with a vast glass vault and two gilded clocks, saved from demolition to house French art from 1848 to 1914 — which is to say, quite simply, the greatest Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection on earth. Monet, Renoir, Degas and Cézanne line the top floor under the light of the glass roof, and in the Van Gogh rooms people stand before "Starry Night Over the Rhône" and the self-portrait in a strange, collective hush. Between floors, the great hall itself keeps surprising you: the old station concourse with its sculptures stretching beneath the vaulted ceiling — the most beautiful museum hall in Europe, no contest. The shot nobody misses: Paris seen from behind the giant glass clock on the fifth floor, where Concorde and Sacré-Cœur turn to silhouettes behind the numerals. Book ahead, and avoid Tuesdays — the Louvre closes and everyone floods here instead.
Monet, Renoir, Degas and Pissarro under the glass-roof light — the highest density of masterpieces on any single museum floor anywhere.
The self-portrait, the Bedroom at Arles, Starry Night Over the Rhône — Paris museums' rare moments of collective silence happen here.
From the fifth floor, look at Paris through the numerals of the station's glass clock — the most famous window in the museum world.
The old station concourse with its vaulted roof and sculpture line — stop in the middle and look up; the building itself is exhibit number one.
Esplanade Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 75007 Paris