Musée d’Orsay

The Musée d’Orsay, located on the Left Bank of the Seine in Paris, is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum primarily exhibits French art from 1848 to 1914, including the world’s largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces by artists like Monet, Degas, and van Gogh. Opened in 1986, it has become one of Europe’s largest and most visited art museums, attracting 3.2 million visitors in 2022. Originally constructed for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, the Gare d’Orsay’s design juxtaposed a historic facade with modern technology. The station served as a railway terminus until 1939 before being transformed into the museum.