Manet and Monet and Munch

Today I spent most of the day at the Musee d'Orsay. Great impressionist collection!

But it was so crowded! Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Seuret, Renoir Degas, Pissaro but often very hard to see. The main special exhibit was Edward Munch. 

Before "The Scream"

This is what you can't avoid seeing: people taking photos! What are they doing with all these photos? Do they not realize there are better photos online? Are they putting them all on a stupid blog or what? (This work is called "Madonna", by the way: one of the most famous paintings from "The frieze of life".

Kehinde Wiley sculpture, The Young Tarantine

Like so many buildings in Paris,  the museum was huge. Never ending. My audio player's battery gave out and I had a long way to walk to get it replaced, 5 floors! 

Speak for yourself, critic! I think it is a great painting. 

They had a couple of female artists represented, Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot.

I was not aware of Rosa Bonheur,  a renowned animal painter and feminist, a lesbian and an early animal rights advocate. 

But I was dismayed that she had her own mini zoo with lions and dead animals furs for rugs!

After the museum, I walked quite a ways to get to the Bibliotheque National de France. I had to stand in line for 15 minutes to get in and have my bags checked but it was so beautiful!

A librarian helped me find books by a great French cartoonist (they have a huge cartoon collection), Claire Bretécher, and there were about 10 books, most unknown to me and untranslated. I wish I could read French! Oh, no, I just read on Wikipedia that she died in 2020 in Paris at the age of 79 (Alzheimer's)!

Long walk home with a break at a cafe and the question on Quora, why do some public places in France (and Italy) have toilets without toilet seats? This café I went to tonight didn't and one yesterday didn't.  The server said it broke. And why not replace it? And these are nice places!