Musee d'Orsay

Ok, so I also picked the wrong day to visit the Musee d'Orsay. It houses a large collection of impressionists works -- many of which I used to go see at the Jeu de Paume, back in the 80s, before they turned the faded but glorious Gare d'Orsay into a world-class art museum. It's one of my favorite museums, and it was at the top of my priority Paris destinations for this trip -- but I'd missed it when I first arrived because of the Olympics. It was closed again yesterday - but here I am, finally!

Unfortunately, all those Olympic Game attending tourists who were with me at the Louvre yesterday seem to have followed me here today. I have a high tolerance for crowds, and pretty amazing museum stamina -- but wow. The crowds at the D'Orsay really tested my resilience.

This was the line to take a selfie in front of the clock. I decided to pass.

Famous paintings like these were impossible to see up close. It felt like most of the visitors were there to capture a photo and move on; I'm genuinely happy that so many people are still interested in art -- but it's not clear to me how many of them are actually interested, vs. checking off 'must-see' items from a pre-fabricated checklist.

Monet's water lilies: check.

This room full of 'self portraits' made abundantly clear the poor representation of women and artists of color in their collection.

Still, even with the crowds and lack of diversity, it was fantastic to visit and see the paintings in particular. I have so many master paintings to copy now!