Great Galleries: Musée d'Orsay, Paris Quiz

Answer: Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in 1853 in the town of Zundert in the southern Netherlands. A truly prolific artist, his output includes some 860 oil paintings and more than 1,000 other works. He largest collection of his work is housed at his own gallery, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, including one of the versions of his famous "Sunflowers". There are plenty of his masterpieces to go around, though, and examples can be seen in just about every major gallery in the world.

Van Gogh spent the two years before his tragic early death in Arles in southern France, and it was during this time that he was at his most productive. "Starry Night Over the Rhône" is an early work from that period, and can be seen as an early version of the more famous "The Starry Night", painted the following year, in 1889, which can be seen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. One his many depictions of Arles at night, it was painted looking westwards across the River Rhone from a spot just a couple of minutes walk from the famous "Yellow House" where he lived during his time here.

The Musée d'Orsay collection includes 24 paintings by van Gogh. Amongst them are his 1889 "Self Portrait", "Portrait of Eugène Boch" (his friend), "Portrait of Dr. Gachet", "Bedroom in Arles", "The Siesta", "The Church at Auvers", "View from the Chevet" and "The Italian Woman".

Answer: Gustave Courbet

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was born in 1819 in the commune of Ornans in central-eastern France, near the Swiss border. Seen as an innovator, Courbet painted huge canvases showing scenes of peasants and workers, in a style previously reserved for historical or religious scenes. His large body of work includes landscapes, seascapes, hunting scenes, nudes and still lifes.

"A Burial At Ornans" shows a scene from an ordinary provincial funeral (actually that of the artist's uncle in 1848 in his home village of Ornans). When it was unveiled at the Paris Salon in 1950 the painting produced a storm of both positive and negative comment. The painting itself is huge, 10-feet by 22-feet, a scale usually reserved for works of great importance rather than a depiction of ordinary people attending a common ritual. It was described as "an upstart in dirty boots crashing a genteel party".

The Musée d'Orsay collection contains 48 paintings by Courbet, including "The Artist's Studio", "Young Man Sitting" and the hugely controversial up-close nude "L'Origine du Monde".

Answer: Paul Cezanne

Paul Cézanne was born in 1839 in the city of Aix-en-Provence in southern France, about 20 miles north of Marseilles. His early works were rejected by the Paris Salon during the height of the Impressionist era, but he became acknowledged as a master later in his life. His work can be divided into four distinct periods, beginning with the "Dark Period" (1861-70) -- works from this period include "The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement", on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. His Impressionist Period (1870-78) produced numerous versions of the landscape "Jas de Bouffan" which can be seen at The Hermitage in St Petersburg and The National Gallery in Prague. The Mature Period (1978-90) produced "Bather" (Museum of Modern Art in NYC) and "Mardi Gras" (Pushkin Museum in Moscow). Cezanne returned to Provence for his "Final Period" (1890-1906) in which he produced our featured work as well as classics such as "The House with the Cracked Walls" (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and "Madame Cézanne in the Greenhouse" (Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris).

The first of the five variations of "The Card Players", painted between 1892 and 1895, can be seen at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. The series depicts ordinary Provençal peasants concentrating on their cards. The models were farmhands who worked on the family estate 'Jas de Bouffan', which itself featured in many of his earlier landscapes.

The collection at the Musée d'Orsay includes 56 paintings by Cezanne including "A Modern Olympia", "Apples and Oranges", "Portrait of Achille Emperaire", his 1875 "Self Portrait", "Portrait of Gustave Geffroy", "Woman with a Coffeepot" and "Still Life with an Open Drawer".

Answer: Eugène Boudin

Eugène Louis Boudin was born in 1824 in the Calvados commune of Honfleur in northern France. In the late 1850s, he became friends with the young Claude Monet (then just 18 and 16 years Boudin's junior) and the two exhibited together at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1873. Shortly before his death (in 1898), Boudin was made a knight of the Légion d'Honneur, belatedly recognizing his significant contribution to 19th-century French art.

A number of Boudin's works can be seen at the 'Musée d'Art Moderne André Malraux ("MuMa" for short) in Le Havre, near to his home town. The collection at the Musée d'Orsay includes 33 paintings by Boudin, including "Landscape with Sunset" (a watercolour) and "The Pier at Deauville".

Answer: Édouard Manet

Born in Paris in 1832 into an upper-class household with strong political connections, the early paintings of Édouard Manet were a rallying call for the young artists who would ultimately form the Impressionist movement. Amongst those early works were our featured painting and "Olympia" (also part of the Musée d'Orsay collection today).

The female nude and her two fully-clothed male friends, plus the barely-dressed bather beyond for the centrepiece of "The Luncheon on the Grass" (which was originally entitled "The Bath"), and caused outrage when it was first exhibited. The lovely still life in the front left corner of the painting and the spectacular landscape of the background are forced by the artist's dramatic use of light to play second-fiddle to the figures to which the eye are automatically drawn. Inspired by Manet's work, Monet himself painted a work with the same title (also in the Musee d'Orsay) just a couple of years later.

The collection at the Musée d'Orsay includes 36 paintings by Manet, including "The Balcony", "Berthe Morisot With a Bouquet of Violets", an early still life "Carnations and Clematis in a Crystal Vase", "Lola of Valencia", "Portrait of Émile Zola", "Still Life: Peonies in Vase", "Still Life with Flowers" and "Bullfighting".

Answer: Odilon Redon

Born Bertrand-Jean Redon into a wealthy family in 1840 in the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France, Odilon Redon was destined to become an architect for he discovered his love of painting and sculpting. Service in the army during the Franco-Prussian war interrupted his art career, when he began working almost exclusively in lithography. "Caliban", which can be seen at the Musee d'Orsay, or "The Trees" (Museum of Fine Arts in Houston TX) are excellent examples of his work from this period.

It was a commission to paint 17 decorative panels for a Burgundy chateaux in 1899 that set him on the road from ornamental art to abstract, and 15 of the original panels are now part of the Musee d'Orsay collection, as are a number of his portraits from the same period. In 1903, his work was acknowledged with the awarding of the Legion of Honor.

The collection at the Musée d'Orsay includes the world's largest collection of Redon's work, 106 paintings including his 1888 "Self Portrait", "Portrait of Baroness Robert de Domecy", "Shell" and the spectacular "Chariot of Apollo".

Answer: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in 1941 in the city of Limoges in central France. Along with the likes of Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro, Renoir was part of the very first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, although in that earlier period of his career he was known mostly as a portrait painter. In his latter years, he became better known for his landscapes and genre paintings, particularly his nudes.

Based on the theme of the ball, "Dance in the Country" and the companion work, !"Dance in the City" (painted in the same year and also part of the Musee d'Orsay collection) both feature Renoir's close friend Paul Lhôte. The woman in our featured work is Aline Charigot (later Madam Renoir), whilst artist Suzanne Valadon (who appears in numerous Renoir paintings) was the model for the complimentary work. The dancing pair are virtually life-size and completely dominate the 3-foot-by-6-foot canvas, and yet the addition of the hat in the foreground, the woman's fan and the table in the background make this far more than just a portrait. Expert use of lighting and vibrant colours also add warmth and cheerfulness to the scene.

The collection at the Musée d'Orsay includes 81 paintings by Renoir, including the famous "The Mill of Galette Ball", "Montmarte", "Girls at the Piano", "Portrait of Claude Monet", "Nude in the Sun" and "The Reading Light".

Answer: Claude Monet

Oscar-Claude Monet was born in Paris in 1840, but it is for his work in and around the commune of Giverny in northern France, where he lived from 1883 until his death in 1926, for which he will always be remembered. He frequently painted the same scene over and over (notably water lilies), capturing the light at different times of day or during different seasons of the year. The father of French Impressionist painting, he remains that movements most prolific practitioner.

Although the most extensive collection of Monet's work (more than 300 pieces) is housed at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris's 16th arrondissement, the Musée d'Orsay displays 86 of his paintings. Included here are "The Saint-Lazare Station", "The Rue Montorgueil in Paris", "Celebration of 30 June 1878", "Wind Effect", "Series of The Poplars", "Rouen Cathedral", "London, Houses of Parliament: the Sun Shining through the Fog", "Harmony in Blue", "Blue Water Lilies", "Women in the Garden", "Poppies, the Walk" and the highly-evocative "Camille Monet on her Deathbed".

Answer: Georges Seurat

Georges-Pierre Seurat was born in Paris in 1859. He began as a member of the Impressionists, but his huge " A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", finished in 1886 after three years of work, changed the directions for many practitioners of the art and established a completely new movement. It has been argued that Neo-Impressionism was the first true avant-garde movement in the history of painting. Artists exploring new techniques and methods took on modern urban scenes as well as finding new ways to portray the landscapes and seascapes captured by their predecessors. His tragic early death at the age of just 31, probably form of meningitis, left others to carry the candle that he had lit.

At the time of Seurat's death, "The Circus" was his unfinished canvas. It was his third major work on a similar theme. following on from "Circus Sideshow" (
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and "The Can-can" (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands). The female performer is seen balancing on the back of a galloping horse at the famous Circus Fernando, which at the time was just a few minutes walk from Seurat's studio. The substantial work is more than 5-foot by 6-foot including the blue outer frame which is part of the painting.

Despite his early death, Seurat's body of work is still quite substantial. The collection at the Musee d'Orsay includes 19 of his paintings.

Answer: James McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was born in 1834 in the city of Lowell in northeastern Massachusetts, near Boston. Forever seeking tonal harmony in his painting, he gave many of his works names such as "arrangement...", "harmony..." or "nocturne...". In an artistic career spanning more than forty years, Whistler produced more than 500 canvases as well as numerous watercolours, lithographs, sketches and drawings. He was a leader in the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century and was friends with writers such as Oscar Wilde.

THe names of Whistler's works can become confusing: for example ""Arrangement in Grey" is actually the famous 1872 self portrait (aka "Portrait of the Painter") which can be seen at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Because of the confusing name, "Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1" is often now simply known as "Whistler's Mother", since the lady depicted is his own mother, Anna McNeill Whistler. Bought by the FRench state in 1891, it has been displayed in the Musee d'Orsay since the museum opened in 1986.

The largest collection of Whistler's artwork can be found at the house in which he was born, now preserved as the Whistler House Museum of Art. The collection at the Musee d'Orsay includes only three works by the American master, but amongst them, of course, is his most famous painting.