The tours, led by national museum guides, concentrate on an examination about ten works relevant to the chosen theme.
Information sheets are available, and can be downloaded from the website to help with preparation of certain works.
The works presented here are suggestions. The guide leading the group is free to choose those which best illustrate the theme of the tour.
Tours indicated here are those with English-speaking guides. For other tours please consult the French version of the website.
On this trail you will discover some of the major works of the collection, and be given an overall view of the Musée des Beaux-Arts from 1848 to 1914.
The originality of the Musée d'Orsay lies both in its unique building, a former station, and in the diversity of its collections: paintings, sculptures, objets d'art, architectural models, etc. In this tour you will also look at the role of a museum.
Pupils from 8 to 11 years old
First the Realists, then the Impressionist painters challenged tradition and public tastes. Taking the role of the official Salon jury, the children ask questions about the criteria for choosing pictures in the 19th century. They also compare how the works were exhibited then and nowadays.
The tour presents a wide selection of paintings, striking in their use of colour, and explains the artists' approach and techniques.
Sculpture is both an art and a technique. The sculptor models clay or wax, or carves stone or wood. He can also create a model in plaster, and then, with the help of a technician, transform it into marble or bronze.
Pupils from 6 to 8 years old
The theme of the seasons frequently appears in painting and the decorative arts. The children look at the different ways used to express points in time, the "moments" in the year.
Pupils from 8 to 11 years old
Artists reacting to rapid urbanisation started to favour working directly from nature, and landscape painting became very popular during the 19th century. The painters of the Barbizon School, the Impressionists and their successors, all contributed, in their different styles, to reviving the genre.
Pupils from 6 to 8 years old
Painters, in many different styles, have always represented the four elements: water, air, earth and, to a lesser degree, fire.
