Musée d'Orsay
Private Tour

......a colorful journey strolling with Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin during a Musée d'Orsay private tour.

Impressionism was born in Paris, and the musée d'Orsay is home to the world's biggest Impressionist art collection. For the 150th anniversary of the birth of Impressionism, discover why scenes where people daydream on Sunday afternoons received so much scorn and loathing.

Impressionism at the Musée d'Orsay Private Tour

Have you ever wondered why the Impressionists were rejected? Understand why during an art journey inside the Musée d'Orsay.

Thirty years after the invention of photography, the French Academy of the Arts still fought tooth and nail against depictions of the modern world... Organizing the official Salon exhibition, the sole venue for painters to display their work, the Academy alone decided what art was.

In 1874, after years of futile attempts to get their paintings accepted at the Salon, young artists decided to fund their own show in a photographer's studio. A journalist visited and called it 'the Impressionist exhibition'. Not as a compliment, as he described Impressionism as an affront to artistic decency, and that wallpaper was better painted.

Others followed and called Impressionist paintings daubs splattered by monkeys playing with colors or as a war against beauty... The artists hoped to sell their works, but the exhibition ended up being a financial disaster. Trying to sell at auction also failed, when police had to be called to calm the public who argued and laughed during the sale.

It is hard, 150 years later, to understand why idyllic scenes of leisure provoked so much anger and contempt. With a private guided tour of the Impressionism collection of the Musée d'Orsay, you will discover how Monet, Renoir, and their friends quietly brought about an artistic revolution.

A colorful journey with Van Gogh and Gauguin

Van Gogh and Gauguin's daring use of color was also met with incomprehension and ridicule. The myth that Van Gogh's art resulted from madness and that he never exhibited will be debunked, resulting in a renewed admiration for Vincent's ambition and talent. ​An art journey private tour of the musée d'Orsay will not only help you understand how revolutionary Impressionism was, but learn to recognize each artist's individual style.

This colorful journey would be a conversation, where we will hear Monet telling us “everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love”. Renoir “the only way to understand painting is to go and look at it”. Van Gogh “I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day”. Gauguin “Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams”.

And be stunned at Cézanne with “the sun is so terrific here that is seems to me as if the objects were silhouetted not only in black and white, but in blue, red, brown and violet”.

Musée d'Orsay Impressionism private tour

Contact

To inquire about a private tour of the d'Orsay museum, please mention the date of the visit as well as the number of participants, using the form below, thank you.