Orsay Museum Tour
Follow our Orsay Museum Tour whith your dedicated licensed tourist guide. Explore art evolution from Academicism to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Figure out how and why the Impressionist Art Revolution happened in Paris in the 19th century. Discover the main masterpieces of Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, or Mary Cassatt. Understand impressionism’s key factors of success in Paris and the USA. Identify posterior art transformation with Post-Impressionists as Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Paul Sérusier, Vincent Van Gogh, or Paul Gauguin.
Musée d’Orsay Tour: The main hall of the Orsay Museum. This open space, illuminated by the natural light from the huge barrel vault glass roof, is dedicated to sculptures. Meanwhile, paintings are installed in lateral rooms that are protected from direct bright light.
Orsay Museum Tour essentials
From 145 € for 1 to 2 people + 45 € per extra pers
- Two duration available: +/- 2 hours and 2.5 hours
- Genuine private tour in English = your party only (6 people max.)
- Postgraduate (MPhil) certified French national guide
- Flexible schedule – Evening Tours on Thursdays
- Not available on Sundays & Mondays
- Timed ticket (not included) to buy online (16€ per adult)
Warning: Guided tours in d’Orsay are forbidden on Sundays and during public holidays (bank holidays).
Public holidays 2025: (January 1th; April 21th; May 1th, 8th, 29th; June 9th; July 14th; August 15th; November 1th, 11th; December 25th).
KNOW MORE / BOOK NOW
For a full introduction to French painting, follow the Louvre’s cycle of French paintings from the 14th to 19th centuries before your Orsay tour. As a complement to the Orsay tour, also see our Van Gogh in Auvers or our Saint-Germain-des-Près & fine arts tours.
What’s the tour about?
Before Impressionism
Impressionism
After Impressionism
Transgression
Light
Innovation
Color
Air
Tour Masterpieces
Paintings hanging change quite often in Orsay, and the tour route is subject to contingencies; nevertheless here are some examples of masterpieces you can expect to see during the tour: Olympia, Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (Édouard Manet); Poppies, Blue Water-Lilies (Claude Monet); Bal du moulin de la Galette, Dance in the Country (Auguste Renoir); Red roofs in the corner of the village, La Seine et le Louvre (Pissaro); Young Woman Sewing in a Garden (Mary Cassatt); L’Absinthe, La classe de danse (Edgar Degas); The Cardplayers (Paul Cézanne); Circus (Georges Seurat); The Talisman (Paul Sérusier); Thatched Cottage at Cordeville, Portrait du Docteur Gachet (Vincent Van Gogh); Le Cheval blanc, Arearea (Paul Gauguin) and lot more!
What about Van Gogh on the Orsay Tour?
If Van Gogh means a lot to you, tell your guide at the beginning of the tour, and he will skip some content from the preimpressionist period to dedicate more time to speaking about Vincent. It is not a problem for our guide, as he curated the content of our 4-hour Van Gogh at Auvers-sur-Oise tour.
Your Private Orsay Museum Tour Guide
Certified French national guide
BA, Magna Cum Laude, Heritage Development & Preservation
from Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers (Grande Ecole established in 1794)
Postgraduate from Paris Dauphine-PSL University
Reviews
Yves. MPhil, Licensed Tourist Guide
Yves from Broaden Horizons (by Arsbrevis) gave us an unforgettable experience at the Museum d’Orsay. My 17-year-old son, an aspiring fine arts student, described it as the best day of his life. Over the course of three hours, Yves kept us completely engaged with his expert knowledge and entertaining sense of humor. He brought the art to life in a way that resonated with both adults and teenagers—a rare skill. We can’t wait to return to Paris with the rest of our family for more private tours with Yves at the Orsay, the Picasso Museum, and the Louvre. If you’re seeking a passionate, knowledgeable, and endlessly engaging guide who will make the city’s artistic treasures truly unforgettable, Yves is the perfect choice.
A fast paced yet very informative tour
Yves provided us with a truly enjoyable and very educational whirlwind tour of the Orsay museum. Amazingly covering the classic art traditions of France through the revolution and modernity to the wonderful impressionists.
Yves quickly established rapport and made sure we were in sync with each other. Even if we are familiar with and love much of the art and history he shared, he filled a lot of blanks for us too.
Especially the more detail about the societal context and the regime of the academy and the salons was very enlightening. As was the influence of technology in detail.
We will definitely want to do Louvre with Yves next time.
Why Visit the Orsay Museum?
The Musée d’Orsay is the most famous museum in Paris, along with the Louvre. It houses modern art from 1848 to 1914. Its impressionist and post-impressionist collections are the largest in the world!
The d’Orsay is also famous for its impressive collection of sculptures by artists as famous as Claudel, Bourdelle, Bartholdi, Daumier, Degas, etc., including masterpieces such as the Gates of Hell by Rodin.
The Orsay Museum also exhibits an important collection of Art Nouveau furnitures and houses a huge photography collection (sadly rarely shown).
A model of the Opéra Garnier is presented at the end of the main hall.
Last, the Orsay Museum regularly organizes first-class temporary exhibits of artworks by nineteenth-century artists.
Why a Musée d’Orsay Private Tour?
Orsay is big (one of the largest museums in Europe), so your local tour guide will ease your route through the five floors of the museum.
You will go straight to the main masterpieces by Manet, Courbet, Monet, Van Gogh, etc.
You will get an overview of French painting from 1850 to 1914 and understand the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist revolutions in art.
Skip-the-line Tickets and Priority Pass Clarification
Skip-the-line Tickets
Some agencies communicate about skip-the-line tickets, which are timed tickets purchased online for a specific schedule (day/time slot).
So yes, you don’t line up with those who come to Orsay without a ticket, but you definitively line up with all the others who have purchased their tickets online in advance, like you, for the same schedule! Your guide will line up with you.
Priority Pass
Since 2023, Orsay has commercialized a priority pass (named ARC Pass). This pass can only be purchased by an official tourist guide to give their private tour group a real skip-the-line privilege.
Orsay sales this pass 40 €, and that amount has to be added to the price of the tour and the tickets. We don’t propose this service as we consider that the waiting time for normal-timed tickets is usually not so long. We think it is better to focus on doing the tour in a schedule where the museum is usually not too crowded (Lunchtime, Evening).
Nevertheless, if you really want a priority pass, we can normally get one; please ask at the beginning of the tour booking process.
Warning about the crowded days at Musée d’Orsay
Crowds mean time lost entering the museum and a non-optimum experience once inside, more specifically in the rooms housing the van Gogh paintings.
If there is a popular Orsay exhibition during the period you plan to visit, you better choose your visit day carefully. Generally, avoid high season, French bank holidays, the first Sunday of the month (Orsay is free for all), or Thursdays, as the Louvre is closed; more people usually come to Orsay on Thursdays. Usually, the best time to visit the Musée d’Orsay is during lunchtime and evening.
Musée d’Orsay Evening Tour
An evening tour is the best choice to make the most of your Orsay Museum Discovery. Why visit Orsay during the most crowded hours when you can enjoy a quiet Orsay after-hour private tour?
Evening tours are possible on Thursdays as the museum starts to close its rooms at 9:15 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m. the other days. For an evening tour, select Thursday on the booking calendar with a departure start between 6 and 7 p.m. (when the crowd starts to leave the museum).
Organization of the Tour
Our Orsay Tour is designed to give you a solid overview of the French painting of the 1848-1914 period, but is also an impressionism guided tour, organized chronologically around the core theme in three parts:
Part 1: Before Impressionism
Starting with the “Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture” heirs, the “Salon de peinture,” with Ingres Neoclassicism, Cabanel or Gérôme Academism.
We continue with impressionism precursors such as Delacroix’s Romanticism, Courbet’s Realism, and Barbizon school (Millet, Daubigny, Rousseau, etc.).
And then Boudin, master of Monet in Normandy, Corot often called the first of the impressionist and early Manet’s alla prima answer to Couture’s “finished painting” principles.
Part 2: Impressionism
Claude Monet, Frédéric Bazille, Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissaro, Édgard Degas, Gustave Caillebotte, etc.
Part 3: Neo-Impressionism & Post-Impressionism
Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Odilon Redon, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, etc.
Orsay Private Guided Tour: the Impressionist Gallery, in the background Luncheon on the Grass by Édouard Manet © Musée d’Orsay / Sophie Crépy
What are the differences between the 2-hour and the 2.5-hour Tour?
The full version of the tour is the 2.5-hour tour.
The 2-hour tour is a shortened version. The cut is mainly done at pre-impressionist level.
Glimpse of the Tour Content
Historical Context
- European Imperialism
- Opening of Japan to the outside world (1854)
- Rural flight (rural exodus) / Industrial Revolution
- Paris World’s Fairs
- Massive renovation of Paris
- Second French Empire (Napoléon III)
- Franco-Prussian War (July 1870-January 1871)
- French Third Republic (Belle Époque)
Monet displayed at least eight versions of his Saint-Lazard Station at the 1877 Third Impressionist Exhibition. One is in Orsay. It is an iconic subject depicting industrialization and the train station to reach favorite painters’ places in Normandy and the north of Paris. But as you will see in the tour, these kinds of paintings were before all light studies. Credit The Yorck Project – GNU Free Documentation License.
Art Evolution
Classification is not so easy in the arts
Using a classification (before impressionism, impressionism, post-impressionism) makes things easier but does not always work:
- Neoclassical Ingres, for instance, is also a precursor of modern art, with his naked figures’ expressive distortions.
- Gustave Caillebotte (impressionists’ patron and impressionist himself) most famous painting, The Floor Scrapers, is outstandingly realistic.
Our Orsay guided tour enlightens these kinds of questions and tries to answer interesting matters such as: Were Degas or Manet impressionist?
Impact of Technical Innovations on Art
The 19th century was a century of innovations, but our Orsay tour guide will show us that three drastically impacted Art.
- The painting tube will ease the outdoor painting.
- Photography will influence painting, become art itself, and take to painting the lead in representing the real.
- Synthetic pigments provided new shades of green, blue, and yellow never used by painters before and authorized the full application of the new color theories.
Understand the evolution of the use of colors
In the 17th century, the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture members discussed the value of drawing and color. Two centuries later, the debate took a new dimension with “Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors” by Chevreul. Till Ingres was a drawing apostle, Delacroix was aware of color discoveries later used by Impressionists and Post-Impressionists like in:
- Poppies by Monet: contrast of complementary colors
- The Circus by Seurat: Divisionism and Pointillism
- The Talisman by Sérusier: Cloisonism and the triumph of color
Painters in this color revolution were also influenced by the experimental works of Helmholtz or Ogden Rood, who linked in his Modem Chromatics (1879) the new color theory with available pigments, including the synthetic ones brought by 19th-century innovation.
Painting by Ingres the apostle of the drawing.
Styles
- Neoclassicism (in reference to ancient Greece and Rome)
- Academism (the art of following rules and conventions)
- Romanticism (medievalism, imagination, and emotion)
- Orientalism (inspired by Egypt and Algeria expeditions)
- Realism (an expression of 19th-century society)
- Impressionism (our Orsay guided tour central subject!)
- Neo-Impressism (pointillism, chromoluminarism, etc.)
The Birth of Venus by Cabanel, purchased by Emperor Napoleon III, the painting is a symbol, an icon of academism.
Social Relations Impact
The Key Role of an Impressionism Patron
Forward-thinking art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel had a major influence on the development of Impressionist Art. During his career, he bought hundreds of Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, etc., and established impressionism’s popularity in the USA.
Consequently, remarkable impressionist collections are now in the USA, such as the one in the MET (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art), which we may do some parallels to during our Orsay Guided Tour.
Influences Received by Impressionist & 19th-Century Artists
- Industrialization, with its technical innovation and human misery, inspired the impressionists greatly.
- Japonism with the influence of ukiyo-e prints, original use of color and composition on the work of impressionists and post-impressionists.
- Photography has multiple impacts, for example, the influence of Marey or Muybridge’s photos on Degas, for whom movement variation was a central theme, as was light, air, and water for Monet.
Relations and Influences Between the Artists
Socially, all these painters were often also linked together, sometimes surprisingly as avant-garde Édouard Manet and academic Ernest Meissonier or Thomas Couture. They are also surprises speaking of influence between the artists like the one received by Pissarro and Monet during their 1870 stays in London, by Turner‘s light treatment, or Constable‘s use of emerald green. Van Gogh‘s tribute to Millet‘s Paysans painting is another interesting example.
The world of literacy was also linked with this art revolution via novelist Emile Zola or poet Charles Baudelaire.
Women and the 19th-Century Painting
You will also discover that some iconic painters of the period were women, such as Rosa Bonheur, with her artistic Realism, Berthe Morisot, Eva Gonzalès, and the American Mary Cassat, who actively participated in the impressionist revolution.
Geography of Impressionist & 19th Century Painting
Normandy: Region where begun Monet, following Boudin. There is Giverny with Monet’s Water lily garden, but also Le Havre, the port of “Impression, Sunrise” and Rouen, city of the “Cathedral Series”.
Sud of France with Aix-en-Provence city of Cézanne and Zola, or Arles where Van Gogh looked for Japan’s light and met Gaugin.
North Africa: Land of inspiration of Orientalism.
Musée d’Orsay Tour Focus: the Master Pieces
Example of Masterpieces You Can Expect to See
Olympia by Manet or his no less famous Luncheon on the Grass (“Déjeuner sur l’herbe”), like the one by Monet are normally part of the tour. The Orsay Museum owns close to 80 Claude Monet paintings, so we will show you more than one with:
- The Saint-Lazare Station, depicting modern life.
- Rouen Cathedral Series, light study.
- Blue Water Lilies, on the way to abstract arts.
Our Orsay Guided Tour Route will also cross Cézanne works as:
The Card Players is probably an adapted motif from Le Nain brothers’ 17th-century genre painting. One of the five versions of this canvas has been sold for around $250 million in 2011.
The Hanged Man’s House, presented at the 1874 first impressionist exhibit, shows the importance of volume for Cézanne. An aspect of his work that inspired Picasso and Braque in the early 20th century in a new art evolution called cubism.
The Hanged Man’s House still exists and is situated in the charming small town of Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris. It is where Van Gogh spent the last days of his life.
Orsay’s Impressionist Masterpiece Example “Poppies” by Monet
Poppies (“Coquelicot, la promenade”) by Claude Monet
The painting was presented like “Impression, soleil levant” (Impression, Sunrise) at the first impressionist exhibit in 1874. The canvas combines impressionist principles: small-scale canvas compatible with “Peinture de plein air” (outdoor painting). Luminous juxtaposition of short brushstrokes of unmixed colors and sketched details to convey the ephemeral instant atmosphere.
Musée d’Orsay Tour Focus: Van Gogh
The Orsay tour itinerary normally ends in the newly installed (since 2019) post-impressionist gallery. There, most of the Orsay 27 van Gogh’s stellar paintings are usually shown.
A few paintings are from Van Gogh’s early painting period in the Netherlands and some others are from his Parisian one.
But, the most famous Orsay’s Van Gogh paintings are from its later periods in the south of France and at Auvers-sur-Oise.
From Arles, Orsay owns Bedroom in Arles, a masterpiece in which Van Gogh combines his passion for complementary colors and Japonism and Starry and Night over the Rhône one of the most famous Van Gogh’s masterpieces.
If the famous Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is visible in the MoMA (New York Museum of Modern Art), Starry Night Over the Rhône (“Nuit étoilée sur le Rhône“), is in Musée d’Orsay. The canvas depicts the reflections of the gas lighting, an expression of 19th-century innovation, across the dark blue water of the river.
The rest of the paintings originated from Docteur Gachet’s collection, the one who cared for Van Gogh in the last 70 days of his life in Auvers-sur-Oise. At least 3 of them are also among Vincent’s most famous ones.
The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise differs from the impressionist works, as Van Gogh does not give the impression of a church; its expression anticipates fauvism or expressionism.
The Van Gogh’s self-portrait which was in Docteur Gachet’s Living Room in his house at Auvers, and last a portrait of Docteur Gachet painted by van Gogh in the same place.
If you are a Van Gogh enthusiast, do not miss our Van Gogh in Auvers Walking Tour to discover the village, in which, at +/- 22 mi (35 km) north of Paris, Vincent spent the 70 last days of his life, the most productive ones as he painted more than 70 masterpieces there.
Auvers-sur-Oise is a charming village (now a little city) beside the river Oise. It is one of the famous “painter’s villages” of the Paris region, linked not only with Van Gogh but also with Cézanne, Pissarro, Daubigny, Corot, etc.
Photo of van Gogh painting “The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise, View from the Chevet”. The Yorck Project – GNU Free Documentation License.
More about the Musée d’Orsay
A Great View of Paris During Your Musée d’Orsay Private Tour
The Orsay Museum’s eastern big clock (5th floor just before the impressionists’ gallery) offers a great view of Paris with Le Louvre, Opera Garnier, Sacré-Coeur Basilica, and Montmartre, the place of the famous canvas “Moulin de la Galette” by Renoir.
The Orsay Museum’s eastern big clock offers a great view of Paris. The other Orsay clock is right after the impressionist rooms at Café Campana.
Musée d’Orsay a Former Train Station
The Musée d’Orsay is located along the River Seine, in a former train station, a fabulous looking 19th-century building designed by Architect V. Laloux for the “Paris, Exposition Universelle de 1900” using iron framing to maximize interior spaces and fenestration. Transformed by architect Gae Aulenty, the building was inaugurated as Musée d’Orsay in 1986.
View of the Orsay Museum facade along the Seine River quay. The architecture of this fabulous-looking 19th-century building, a former train station, is also part of the Orsay Guided Tour.
After Your Orsay Tour: What’s Around?
The Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens, on the other bank of the Seine River, are easily accessible via a walking bridge. Le Musée de l’Orangerie, in the Tuileries Gardens, shows Monet’s water lily murals and has a great impressionist and Ecole de Paris gallery.
Last, if you like the Napoleonic period the Musée de la Légion d’honneur is just in front of the Orsay Museum entrance parvis.
Complement to the Musée d’Orsay Tour for Art Lovers
The Musée d’Orsay Tour is Part of our French Paintings Tours Series
Our Orsay Tour is an autonomous museum discovery tour covering the period from 1850 to 1914. It is also the fifth part of a series of French painting tours from the 14th to 19th centuries. The first four parts are Louvre tours: 14th to 16th-century French paintings, 17th-century French paintings, 18th-century French paintings, and 19th-century French paintings (until 1850). These Louvre tours can also be followed as a 3-hour crash course French paintings challenge.
If you want to continue your art journey in the Parisian museums, you should ideally follow: for painting our Orangerie Museum Tour (Monet’s Water Lillies Mural and Ecole de Paris paintings with Picasso, Matisse, Utrillo, Derain, etc.) and for sculptures our Rodin Museum Tour (Tree van Gogh painting are usually also shown there).
Also as a complement to our Orsay tour, we also propose a Saint-Germain-des-Prés fine arts and painting tour and a Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise tour.
More Impressionism Places in Paris and Outside
In Paris Area
There are plenty of impressionism-related places in the Paris area, such as Montmartre district, Musée Marmottan, Musée Montmartre-Jardin Renoir, Musée Millet, Propriété Caillebotte, Musée Pissaro, Musée de la Grenouillère, Maison Van Gogh , etc. Do not hesitate to ask our Orsay Tour guide; he will gladly inform you about it. In Broaden-horizons we offer a Montmartre Private Tour and a Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise private tour (30km north of Paris).
MuMa Impressionism Outside of Paris
For more impressionist paintings, MuMa Musée d’art moderne André Malraux, exhibits the biggest impressionist collection in France after the Musée d’Orsay. The Muma is situated in Le Havre, the port of “Impression, Sunrise” and houses works by Boudin, Monet, Manet, Guillaumin, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, Jongkind, etc., but also paintings by Delacroix, Courbet, Corot, Matisse, Duffy, etc.
Thinks to Know Before Booking
Meeting Point
In front of the Orsay Museum by the rhino statue, Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 75007 Paris, France. Access: Métro Line 12 station Solférino. RER C station Musée d’Orsay.
Orsay-Tour Attention Points
- Prices do not include food, drinks, or any other extra services.
- Tour duration and content are indicative. Tours may vary due to contingencies.
- A private tour means a tour for you and your party only, not that Orsay is privatized.
- Timed ticket means a ticket bought online for a determined day/time slot; nevertheless, you must still line up for security and sanitary controls.
- Refund: If, for any reason, we are not able to do the tour, we refund the tour but not the tickets.
Book Your Private Tour of Musée d’Orsay
Just request the date, time, number of people you want for your Orsay tour in our calendar and follow the below four steps online easy process.
(1) Receive our OK email (free reservation valid 48 hours)
(2) Buy your Orsay tickets on line (compatible schedule)
(3) Once you have your tickets pay your tour on line
(4) Receive our
confirmation (email)
- Nota bene : Step (1) free reservation is lost if no step (3) payment received after 48h.
- A full price online Orsay ticket is 16 €. Free for all kids under 18 years old, free under 26 years old for the European Union residents – Check last updated info and only buy your tickets on Orsay Museum web site.
Musée d'Orsay Private Tour
2.5 hoursFor 1 to 2 people + 45 € for any extra person
A group of maximum 6 people exclusively yours
English language
Tickets not included
Musée d'Orsay Private Tour
2 hoursFor 1 to 2 people + 45 € for any extra person
A group of maximum 6 people exclusively yours
English language
Tickets not included
The Laundress is a realist painting by Daumier showing hard work in the cities meanwhile Millet was depicting the one of the fields. There are three versions of this canvas the MET one (here) is brighter than the Orsay one.
Orsay Museum Guided Tour: Bazille and Camille study for “Déjeuner sur l’herbe” by Monet.