Here you can find a short guide to the best masterpieces in the Orsay Musuem: first, you can find a list with the top 10 masterpieces; then, you can find a short description for every artwork. Once in the museum, take as many pictures as you can and enjoy! Degas used to go to the Paris Opera House, as a spectator but also as a visitor in the backstage and the dance studio: his favourite subjects were ballerinas at work, in rehearsal or at rest, through their movements, their gestures and their expressions.
In this painting, the ballerinas have almost finished to train: they are stretching and paying little attention to the teacher. The painter mainly focuses on the contrast between the rigour of the class and the spontaneous movements of the subjects. Using strong contrasts, avoiding depth and perspective, Manet refuses to conform to convention and creates a new kind of representation where traditional settings meet shocking characters, for a new contemporary language. Olympia is no longer a traditional beauty or a classical virginal body: she is a prostitute , comfortable and proud of her naked body.
In a way, she represents the artist himself. The painting shows the bourgeoisie lifestyle , after the urbanistic renovation made by Baron Haussmann: Paris is now a modern city, home for artists. Thanks to this new social class, the town becomes a vibrant and shiny place where people can enjoy themselves, dancing, drinking and talking to each other.
This new style and language avoids pornography, thanks to virtuosity and the clear links with Renaissance Italian painters. Looking where no one else can and show it to the people. However, not everyone knows that he painted most of his masterpieces in the last two years of his life. The painting is a clear example of the transition from Impressionism to a new aesthetics, which will become Cubism: this post-impressionist work wants to celebrate poor and common members of lower classes in Provence.
The very subject is the pond: there is no sky, nor details. The forms and the brushstrokes gives the impression of an infinite abstract landscape. Situated in the beautiful region of Alsace, Strasbourg lies on the French-German border: for this reason, it offers visitors a unique mix of French and German culture, with typical medieval houses and sights.
