Today I Fell in Love with a Painting

Today we went to Musée d'Orsay, right in the heart of Paris on La Seine. Both Georgia and our Accent trip advisor, Adrienne, said that this was their favorite museum - even better than the Louvre, so I was excited to experience it myself.
It was much more modern than any of the other museums that we have been to thus far. I found that to be very interesting and quite refreshing.

After having visited more museums in the past seven days than I have in my whole 21 years of existance, I am becoming more and more familiar with different artist's painting styles and specific works. I was surprised by my ability to see a painting from a distance and think, "oh that looks like a Renoir..". I barely knew who Renoir was last week and now I can sniff one out from a mile away.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

 ("La Pont des Arts, Paris")

 1867 - 1868

...

One piece that I was already familiar with before seeing it at the Musée d'Orsay was Claude Monet's "Coquelicots" aka "Poppy Fields" from 1873. This picture was not at all as large as I was expecting it to be. The first museum we visited, what feels like a thousand years ago but was really only last Tuesday (wow), featured many Monet pieces that were on the larger end. Most of the Monet's I saw today were smaller and more detailed. And I LOVED them. This particular one I loved for the very reason that just this past Saturday, I took a nap in what just might have been this EXACT poppy field. The EXACT place where Monet painted his wife, Camille, and his son Jean. Thinking about this makes me feel so enlightened and tranquil. 

...

Another piece we had talked about in class so I was already familiar with was Gustave Caillebotte's "Raboteurs de Parquet" or "Floor Scrapers" from 1875. This piece our professor briefly talked about in our lecture earlier this morning. Trying not to give too much away, she instructed us to note the amount of attention to detail that Caillebotte puts into this piece. She mentioned also  that this piece was actually rejected by France's most reputable art exhibition, the Salon, because it is a depiction of the working-class in their everyday lives - a subject matter that was disparaged in this time period. I think, however, that it is beautiful. It is much too hard to see in the picture, but the myriad, pint-sized features that detail and enhance this piece are enough to keep you entertained for hours. The man in the middle is wearing a gold ring on his left ring finger. The curls of the floor scraps seem to have texture. A glass of red wine sits near the right hand border. The two men on the right appear to be engaged in a conversation. The list is endless.

...

But today, like mentioned in the title of this post, I fell in love.

I was walking through the impressionist exhibit of the museum when a piece caught my eye for a reason I will inform you of shortly. It was painted in 1884 by an artist we have never mentioned before in class, and that I have never even heard of: Johan Barthold Jongkind. This piece was titled simply, "La Seine". 

Here's why its special to me: 
*And this is a fair warning that I am actually going to get a little sappy right now, which for anyone that knows me knows that this is an extreme rarity. Very, very, rare.

On May 22nd, 2015, a group of strangers and I arrived in Paris, France. 

On May 23rd, 2015, two of these strangers and I decided to pick up some Indian take out & a bottle of cheap wine, and explore a small part of this unfamiliar city. We found ourselves sitting under a bridge next to La Seine eating this amazingly delicious food, drinking wine out of cheap plastic cups, watching boats drift by, listening to children yelling things in French (that I didn't understand one word of), and talking about life and school and boys.

Then we heard ringing. It was the bells of the Notre Dame, not very far off in the distance. 

A week and a half later, none of these people are strangers and I already have I list of memories that I will hold with me forever.

This painting is a depiction from over 130 years ago, but it is exactly how I picture that night. 
                                It was perfect.