Finally, I made it to l'Orangerie! It has been closed all the other times I have been in Paris. It's a fairly small museum, but it houses Monet's Water Lilies. (Plus, you get to walk through the Tuileries and have an amazing view of the Place Concorde, always a treat.) Seeing them in person was amazing. I like them even more after having been to Giverny and seeing the places he painted.
The scale of these paintings is overwhelming. (There was no way I could capture them in their entirety, so I just took some detail shots.) They were done in panels and assembled in long installations, each group of paintings connected by a thin gold frame. I found it interesting that each piece was slightly concave. I wonder, did Monet plan it that way? Or did the Orangerie do that when they installed them in the museum? Were the panels just pliable enough to bend? I would love to know the answers to these questions.
I thought I took a photo just like this, but when I went back to check, it was nowhere near as beautiful as the painting!
I love that he used scribbly brush strokes to represent the lily pads. It totally works.
This installation was inspired by Monet's Water Lilies. I'm so glad the museum provided this information, because I never would have guessed!
It's great to have two big brothers to constantly entertain you... especially when you get bored in museums!
I can't seem to get enough of these formal hedge gardens. I'd love this to be my backyard! (maybe post-Jack...)
9 comments:
love this and will add it to my ever growing list of places to see.
when you have guests are they staying with you or a hotel?
i ask b/c i would love to hear of a few hotels to check out. we love the smaller boutique hotels with a neighborhood-feel.
You made it! That is one artist I wish I could have seen when in Paris. I think the paintings would be so amazing in person that you just can't potray in a photograph.
Jill and Amy went to see the Monet paintings first and came back and said they were replicas because none of us realized how big they were! Amazing for sure! And I had the same questions about the concave mounting... let me know if you find out!
The abstract water lilies were not there when we went at the beginning of the month. Interesting.
How crazy that it's been closed the many other times you've been there, that means I had been there before you!! What are the odds of that?
I have to laugh at how Amy and I breezed through the room with those enormous paintings because we thought they were replicas. They are truly enormous. I have one picture of Jana standing next to one that captures how long it is. It was too much to take in really, but definitely cool to have gotten to see Giverny AND these paintings.
I had no idea they were so big, and the concave thing would be interesting to know. The detail shots you got are great. I so wish I can go there someday- mostly because of all the awesome posts you have been doing.
Wow, I am really loving all of your Paris posts. So much to soak up!
I feel like I am getting smarter by reading about your Paris adventures.
I love the picture of Max and Lucas entertaining Eva.
Oh wow! Love the Monet paintings! I have always wanted to see these in person!
I'm glad you posted the hedge gardens. So cool. So French.
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