I'm sure that many of you are already familiar with this museum, it was the only major one that I missed out when I visited to Paris in 2007 and so it was top of my list for this trip. We visited the Orangerie on the morning of free museum day last Sunday (always the first Sunday of every month). It was stunning. So stunning that, for the first time, I broke my personal rule of never taking pictures in galleries or churches.
Some interesting facts...
The building:
The Orangerie once housed an orange grove (surprise surprise). Orangeries are a fairly common feature of palaces (this one was attached to the palais des tuileries). I have heard elsewhere that gentry often grew orange trees and positioned them around their vast palaces so that the strong fragrance would mask the stink that came from having a house full of people and a cultural dislike of washing. During the Third Republic the Orangerie became a public building (used for storage, as an exams hall, etc). Fast forward to 1918 when Monet, a giant among French impressionist artists (which is saying something) decides that he would like to showcase his most epic water lily paintings in two specially designed eliptical rooms.
The painter and the paintings:
The water lilies (Nymphéas in French) were a 30 year obsession for Monet. He painted approximately 250 depictions of various parts of his garden in Giverny and worked on the water lilies series up to his death at 86 and in spite of his near blindness in the later years of his life. The scale of the series displayed in the Musée de l'Orangerie is massive, two metres tall and, if the paintings were placed end to end, they would stretch to 91 meters (or 298.5 feet). Just amazing.
If I could choose one famous painting to own it would be without question a Monet. The likelyhood of this dream coming true is very slim since the last water lily to come up for auction fetched $41 million. In the meantime I'll just have to be content with multiple visits to this gallery while I'm here!
p.s. For those who may not get the chance to visit Paris anytime soon, Wikipedia lists the locations of some of the other water lily paintings on display in other galleries around the world, check here to see if you might have one near you!
Some interesting facts...
The building:
The Orangerie once housed an orange grove (surprise surprise). Orangeries are a fairly common feature of palaces (this one was attached to the palais des tuileries). I have heard elsewhere that gentry often grew orange trees and positioned them around their vast palaces so that the strong fragrance would mask the stink that came from having a house full of people and a cultural dislike of washing. During the Third Republic the Orangerie became a public building (used for storage, as an exams hall, etc). Fast forward to 1918 when Monet, a giant among French impressionist artists (which is saying something) decides that he would like to showcase his most epic water lily paintings in two specially designed eliptical rooms.
The painter and the paintings:
The water lilies (Nymphéas in French) were a 30 year obsession for Monet. He painted approximately 250 depictions of various parts of his garden in Giverny and worked on the water lilies series up to his death at 86 and in spite of his near blindness in the later years of his life. The scale of the series displayed in the Musée de l'Orangerie is massive, two metres tall and, if the paintings were placed end to end, they would stretch to 91 meters (or 298.5 feet). Just amazing.
If I could choose one famous painting to own it would be without question a Monet. The likelyhood of this dream coming true is very slim since the last water lily to come up for auction fetched $41 million. In the meantime I'll just have to be content with multiple visits to this gallery while I'm here!
p.s. For those who may not get the chance to visit Paris anytime soon, Wikipedia lists the locations of some of the other water lily paintings on display in other galleries around the world, check here to see if you might have one near you!
Don't let your luggage define your travels, each life unravels differently.
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