A trip to Orsay Museum, Paris

Only stayed in Paris for one day:)
Chose to visit Orsay Museum because of the impressionist collection. It is one of my favourite art periods and although I was there two years ago, I would love to revisit again to have some new inspiration.

I rented a audio guide so I can have a better understanding of the paintings and I hope to learn more about art.

I will introduce some of the best paintings in the museum. Hope you enjoy the tour:)



Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870), Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
Bazille's Studio

French Impressionist, Frédéric Bazille was one of the greats of his time, in the same tier as Monet, Manet, and Renoir. Born in Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Bazille came from a wealthy family who encouraged his love of painting only if he studied medicine. So 1859, Bazille began studying medicine, moving to Paris in 1862. There, he met Renoir and Alfred Sisley, drawing him into Impressionism. In 1864, he failed his medical school exam and began painting full-time. He began close friends with Sisley, Monet and Manet as evidence in the painting shown here.

The full title, L'Atelier de la rue Condamine, Bazille’s Studio on 9 rue de la Condamine, was completed in 1870 and shows the artist and his friends within his apartment studio. Inside the studio, Bazille is showing one of his paintings to friends and fellow painters, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Pierre Auguste Renoir(who he shared the studio with) and famed French writer Émile Zola. On the left, we see Renoir in conversation with Zola who stands on the staircase. In the center of the painting is Bazille himself showing one of his works to Manet and Monet, who stands behind him. At the piano on the right of the painting is one of Bazille’s musician friends, Edmond Maitre, who is entertaining the artistic geniuses present. The painting is a clear example of Impressionism, showing the details of studio and the features of the artists present. This en plein air painting shows the artist in an open area to give the views the sense they are there, in the moment. Ironic enough, this painting was rejected shortly before Brazille’s death.

The painting shows Bazille’s bold modeling of figures, and the broad handling of colors that became his hallmark. Dying four years before the first Impressionist exhibition by a bullet while serving in the Franco-Prussian War, Bazille is linked to the movement for his radically new way of painting that recorded his everyday life.

information from http://artstoryinamedium.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/bazille-artists-studio.html

What I like about the painting: the setting of the painting
The half curtain--enable the light to get in
Paintings inside the painting-includes still-life, nude woman, landscape, so in love with the details
everyone in the painting is occupied with sth. Playing piano, talking
The empty chair in the foreground, who was sitting there before?