Approaching the end of the second to last week of class, we are all getting more and more tired. Right now my two roomies are asleep as is, I think, most of the program. I'm hoping to go to bed early when everyone heads out for pre-gaming celebrations. So in the meantime, as I'm not journaling or reading for class now, I will peacefully blog!

Today was the Impressionist day. We first went to the Orangerie, near the Louvre, and saw Monet's Nympheas paintings. They are part of his waterlily series, painted when he was in his eighties, and they are huge! There are four in each room, two rooms, and they really are gigantic. They are also curved, and housed in an oval room that is completely white with lots of sunlight coming in. The paintings really envelop you when you're anywhere in the room. It felt good both to see an artist's work that is so familiar and also approach it from a more academic point of view. And you know what, as an art history student, I only find the paintings more incredible than I did before! At the same museum we also saw other Impressionists, a lot of Renoir, some Cezanne, and we saw a temporary exhibition of Paul Klee's work. There weren't very many of his works in the show, but what was there seems a good representation.

Next we walked over to the Musee d'Orsay which I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the trip. It did not disappoint. I thought I had gotten over my amazement at museums, but walking into the Orsay, I was starstruck. It was like a real-life art history coffee table book! We started with Courbet's huge paintings and had two student presentations and a small lecture. I was told that these paintings were the size of history paintings, but the two we looked at were twice as big as a Delacroix or David history painting! Next we moved onto Manet, one of my favorite painters! We first talked about Luncheon on the Grass, and that was really fun because our professor encouraged us to contribute with any information we had about the painting, and there are a million little tid bits you can know about it! We also looked at Manet's other very famous painting, Olympia. This is one of my favorite paintings and the one most discussed at my art school. It was unreal to be right in front of it. I could picture myself in a bourgeoisie top hat, shocked by this painting. I could see how radical it would have been, even though now it's part of the artistic cannon. It also made me wonder whether radical artists like Manet weren't stronger instigators of women's rights than we give them credit for. After all, what is more feminist than giving a woman back her power of sight and the ability to engage a man without shame or inferiority? See why I love art yet?

Anyways, after those two museums, class was over so I hung out in the gift shop for a little while and then headed home. I didn't stay longer because I'm convinced I will go back for longer than we had another day. I want to sit and sketch! So the photos today are of one of the waterlily paintings and the ridiculous knot I tied my shoes together with when I attached them to my backpack this weekend. Finally getting around to fully unpacking...

Tomorrow we are heading on a field trip to Giverny, so I'm excited! I might stay longer and sketch if we don't get downtime. I'll tell you about it tomorrow night! Bonsoir!

I'm back to blogging in the morning again. Got up earlier just for my readers! :)
So yesterday we visited the Musee Carnavalet, which had a collection of artifacts (bits of facades, prints, furniture, etc.) that were from the destroyed buildings in the 19th century, when a man named Haussmann rebuilt and designed a lot of Paris. Unfortunately, some of the rooms we wanted to go see where closed that day for staffing reasons, but we did get to see some rooms that were recreated, which were pretty cool. The strange and odd objects were the most interesting to me. I saw this case that had old chess pieces and a tiny doll set (think size of your thumbnail) of soldiers and a drummer that said it was made for a Dauphin of France.
After the museum was my favorite part of the day, the covered passages for shopping and theatre. The first one is from 1799, and there are a bunch of them. The intimate shops and tiles floors are really quaint in that seen-it-in-an-impressionist-painting kind of way. I could have sat there all day and sketched if I could! I will most certainly go back before I leave. Along the way we also saw a famous old cafe that is still operating, and I think some of us have plans to go eat there one time. You could just feel the atmosphere that must have been there two hundred years ago when you walk through the passages!

Lastly we went to the Opera house. It was stunning! I love the colored marble, and grand staircases. We even were able to walk in and look at one of the private rooms and onto the stage. There was this hall that was gilded and had huge chandeliers that may have rivaled the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles for its sheer surprise. The whole place really made me want to own a ballgown to where there!

Anyways, that's all for yesterday. Today will be more of an Impressionism day, spanning from Courbet, Manet, and through to Monet. I'm quite excited! :)

Have a good day, all!