Treasures of the Musee D'Orsay [Hardcover]

Xavier Carrere (Author), Francoise Cachin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

This volume explores the Musee d'Orsay's collection of 19th-century art. It includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, decorative arts, architecture and photography. Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass" and Van Gogh's "Dr. Gahet" are two of the paintings in the collection.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Musee D'Orsay in Paris, formerly a grand train station, houses one of the world's finest collections of 19th-century art. Opened as a museum in 1986, its constant flow of traffic is a testament to a worldwide love affair with impressionist art. While the museum contains an extensive collection of drawings, sculpture, decorative arts, architecture, and photography from 1848-1914, its true pride is its collection of paintings. Flip through pages of work by some of history's most celebrated artists: Ingres, Delacroix, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Monet, Cézanne, Rodin, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec. While the bulk of the 240 color illustrations are devoted to paintings, a fine selection of the museum's entire collection is reproduced here.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Artabras; 1st Ediition edition (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896600548
• ISBN-13: 978-0896600546
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, June 19, 2000

By 

Michael Beyer (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Treasures of the Musee D'Orsay (Hardcover)

This book covers the amazing collection of the Musee D'Orsay very well. This book is an absolute must for an art lover, art historian, or visitor of the museum. I did not have as much time in the museum as I would have liked. One could spend days in the Musee D'Orsay, and this book brings me right back and allows me to reexamine the works I missed, forgotten, or wanted to spend more time with.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, Spectacular Museum, October 4, 2009

By 

Little Me (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Treasures of the Musee D'Orsay (Hardcover)

I'm not an art critic, but I am an expert at the obvious. So here goes. This book is not as spectacular as the Musee d'Orsay. The museum is a cathedral to fine art. It's refreshing. It's engaging. You can see masterpieces up close and personal, but with room to breathe. The book reflects just enough of the museum's grandeur to tempt me into going again, to Paris, the City of Lights.

For 25 bucks the book gives you what you deserve, a sampling of the museum's art work. It's not comprehensive. It includes some marginal works. But it serves its purpose. If you have been to the museum, some paintings will be noticeably absent from the book. For example, Cain by Fernand Cormonis is not included. This massive painting measures approximately 12 by 23 feet and occupies an entire wall of one room. However, such treasures as Madame Barbe de Rinsky-Korsakov by Winterhalter are in the book, on one whole page, in excellent color and sharp detail. The book also includes a wide selection of impressionist works for which the museum is known. Many of these painting are just not my cup of tea... Woman with a Black Feather Boa... whatever. I do, however, like one or two paintings by Pissarro, Caillebotte, Monet, and Sisley which are reproduced in the book. These impressionists hit the mark for me. I can do without the post impressionists (dot paintings, van Gogh, almost cubism, etc).

Other stunning paintings are included in the book such as The Tepidarium by Chasseriau, Ploughing in the Nivernais Region by Bonheur, The Gleaners by Millet, The Birth of Venus by Bouguereau, Count Robert de Montesquiou by Boldini, and The Floor Scrapers by Caillebotte. Thank God all of these masterpieces survived WWII. The book also includes sections on sculpture, the decorative arts such as glass, metal, and wood work, early photographic prints, and architectural drawings (some of which are quite spectacular in detail and coloration).

I recommend reading the Overview or Features section for this book on Barnes and Noble dot com which runs for over 20 paragraphs and is very informative (since it's actually the book's introduction as written by Francoise Cachin). An interior view of the Musee d'Orsay, formerly a train station, is on the cover of this book: Musee D'Orsay

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, June 18, 2011

By 

Lorraine P. Zigman (Vermont, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Treasures of the Musee D'Orsay (Tiny Folio) (Hardcover)

A family member and I recently traveled to Paris. Unfortunately, we were unable to visit the D'Orsay Museum so I purchased this as a gift. She was thrilled with it!