A short walk across the Tuileries gardens, and we are at the Musée de l’Orangerie where Claude Monet’s famed Water Lilies get most of the attention, even though works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Alfred Sisley, Chaim Soutine, and Maurice Utrillo, have plenty to say for themselves.

Our feet hurt now, but we don’t care. We are seeing things we’ve only seen before in books, and they are far more compelling in real life, where you can lean in and see the artist’s brush strokes and signatures. Believe it or not, the museum was designed by a guy whose last name was Bourgeois, which seems an unfortunate moniker to be saddled with.

The Water Lilies are displayed in two oval rooms, lit by direct diffused light. Fans of Woody Allen’s movie Midnight in Paris will remember these paintings and the museum from a key scene in the film.

Our visit is just one more wonder of our trip, and as we leave, we pass Rodin’s iconic The Kiss on the way by. The men, however, are totally taken with the underpants advertising in the Metro. Oh well.

 

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