The new Orsay Museum in Paris

The new Orsay Museum in Paris

Step inside the Musée d’Orsay and you may just wonder where you are. Le Nouvel Orsay has been the talk of Paris lately. So, after 18months of renovations, what exactly is new about it?

• More gallery space. Most of the new space comes from additional levels built inside the Amont pavilion. A welcome change for anyone used to elbowing their way through the crowds. New works will be brought out from storage, especially from Orsay’s decorative and graphic arts collection.

• New color, new floors, updated lighting. The white walls have mostly been replaced by blues, grays, and greens, and hardwood now covers the previously stone floors. Plus, with its warmer lighting you may think you’re in a living room rather than a museum. Overall, the New Orsay has a cozier, more intimate feel. Less, in fact, like a train station.

• New, more thought-provoking presentations. “We will put the artworks into context with other disciplines: history, literature, music, even philosophy and psychoanalysis,” says Museum director Guy Cogeval. Look for similarities, make connections. You’ll find Rodin sculptures, for example, in the Impressionists Gallery.

• Bigger cafe! The Café de l’Horloge was refurnished and expanded. More room for hungry crowds and souvenir shoppers.

• And that’s not all. More changes are to come, beginning in 2012 when renovations will begin again in the smaller galleries; projected finish date: 2015.

One thing about the Nouvel Orsay is NOT new, however: its October 20^th opening date was delayed a week by a workers’ strike !