Private Museum D’Orsay Tour with Art Historian

If the d'Orsay Museum was a kid, they'd be the one coloring outside the lines. Even though the art within is finely painted, some of it even downright mannered, the idea of housing a major art museum in an ex-railway terminal building is just… cool. And forward thinking. 

But that fits. Because the work of these now-super-celebrated painters was itself branded "too revolutionary" in the last 1800s when it was first exhibited. The press soundly ridiculed it and serious collectors at the time turned their noses up at it. 

Of course now, if and when pieces like this not already in a museum come up for art auction, they can go for millions. If only you could travel back in time to pick a few up! Meanwhile, you'll feel pretty enriched just by looking at them now in this (appropriately) unconventional setting. 

And your kids? They'll be so busy having a blast with the intriguing stories, ideas, and Q's and A's your docent is doling out, they'll forget to complain, whine, bicker, or do any of those other things they've been known to do when restless or bored. 

What's more, they'll have learned a ton by the end of the tour. And maybe, just maybe, have contracted an advanced case of art appreciation. 

If that doesn't speak to the transformative power of the painted image, we don't know what does. But for your docent will probably have that answer, too.  

Lots and lots of green  

So. Just how valuable are these Impressionist paintings? Figures from the 2015 London auction season help paint a picture: Monet's Le Grand Canal, sold by Sotheby's for a cool $35.6 million. Matisse’s Odalisque au fauteuil noir, a portrait of the Sultan of Turkey's granddaughter, fetched $23.8 million ($6 million more than expected). Throw in a Cezanne two, a Toulouse-Lautrec, and a couple more Monets and you're talking some serious pocket change. All told, nearly $445 million changed pockets that week.