The Musée d’Orsay, close to our hotels, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this autumn!

To start the festivities off is the exhibition The Spectacular Second Empire, showing works from a period of French history that was much maligned in its time, positively hated after its fall, and yet prolifically creative…

Here’s all the info.

It was a joyous time, a time of prosperity and economic euphoria… And yet, behind its celebratory air the Second Empire hid some major upheavals in society.

Much of the Musée d’Orsay’s collections come from the Second Empire period (roughly 1850-1870), which probably explains why the museum has chosen the theme for its 30th anniversary celebrations. The Spectacular Second Empire shows the ostentation of the period while also exposing the moral and aesthetic crisis of artists who wanted to leave the past behind, but had little sense of the future they aspired to.

A dizzying number of events are being organised around the exhibition:

– four different guided visits (“Rendezvous with the Second Empire”, “The word of the opponents”, “Spectacular Carpeaux” and “Glory and scandal in the art of the Second Empire”),
– the showing of a new documentary “Second Empire, le pouvoir en scène”,
– a cycle of films about the Second Empire,
– concerts,
– an operette “A dinner with Jacques”,
– workshops for kids and visits for families,
– a debate (“Should the Second Empire be rehabilitated?”),
– a talk (“Views on the Second Empire”),
– an inaugural conference…

A catalogue is also being published (45€ here at amazon.fr).

The exhibition Spectacular Second Empire is at the Musée d’Orsay (here) from 27th September 2016 – 16th January 2017

Open every day except Monday from 9.30am-6pm (9.45pm Thursdays)

Admission: 12€ / 9€

Website: www.musee-orsay.fr

Facebook: facebook.com/museedorsay

Twitter: twitter.com/MuseeOrsay

Instagram: instagram.com/museeorsay