Auckland, New Zealand

Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Île-de-France, France

The Musée d’Orsay is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum’s opening in 1986. It is one of the largest art museums in Europe.

Orsay Museum and the Seine viewed from the Passerelle de Solferino

David, ca 1872, Antonin Mercié and the old station clock
Old clock overlooking the main hall
Une Trouvaille a Pompei, 1863, Hippolyte Moulin

Eve after the fall, 1869, Eugene Delaplanche
Myrtho The Young Tarantine, 1871, Alexandre Schoenewerk
Sortie du bain, 1861, Paul Cabet

Sapho, 1852, James Pradier
Polar Bear, 1922, François Pompon
Penelope, 1842, Jules Cavelier
Jean D’Aire, 1884-1889, Auguste Rodin
Seated Lion, 1846, Antoine-Louis Barye
La France impériale portant la lumière dans le monde et protégeant les Sciences, l’Agriculture et l’Industrie, 1865, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

Capresse des colonies, 1861, Charles Henri Joseph Cordier
Héraklès tue les oiseaux du lac Stymphale, 1909, Antoine Bourdelle
Small Dancer Aged 14, 1865-1881, Edgar Degas

La Danse, 1868, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
View of Paris through the Orsay Clock Window
Narcisse, 1867, Paul Dubois and view of the central alley

La jeune Tarentine, 1872, Alexandre Schoenewerk
Child with Cat, 1887, Pierre Auguste Renoir
Water Mirror, 1894-1908, Johan Axel Gustav Acke
Nymphéas bleus, 1916-1919, Claude Monet
Portrait de l’artiste, 1889, Vincent Van Gogh
Small Dancer Aged 14, 1865-1881, Edgar Degas

Sculpture on the mantelpiece in the Ballroom
Sirène, 1889, Denys Puech
La Pensée, ca 1895, Auguts Rodin

La rêveuse, ca 1876, James Tissot
Nu rose, tête ombrée, ca 1919, Pierre Bonnard
Woman in her bath, 1867, Albert Stevens
Les deux soeurs, 1863, James Tissot
L’odalisque allongée, ca 1870, Benjamin-Constant
La Nuit, 1897, Henri Fantin-Latour

La chambre de Van Gogh à Arles, 1889, Vincent Van Gogh
Mademoiselle Gachet dans son jardin à Auvers-sur-Oise, ca 1890, Vincent Van Gogh
La méridienne, 1889-1890, Vincent Van Gogh
La nuit étoilée, 1888, Vincent Van Gogh
Portrait de l’artiste, 1889, Vincent Van Gogh
L’église d’Auvers-sur-Oise, vue du chevet, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh

Vairumati, 1897, Paul Gauguin
Solitude, 1893, Thomas Harrison
Arearea (Joyousness), 1892, Paul Gauguin
Les Iles d’Or, 1891-1892, Henri-Edmond Cross
La Femme Aux Gants, 1890, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Bords de rivière, la Seine à Herblay, 1889, Paul Signac

Arï Redon with Sailor Collar, ca 1897, Odilon Redon
Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, 1862-1863,  Édouard Manet
Still-Life with Chrysanthemums. 1897, Claude Monet
Le Sahara, 1867, Gustave Guillaumet
Campaign of France, 1814, Ernest Meissonier
Eléphants d’Afrique, before 1867, Charles Emile de Tournemine

Essai de figure en plein-air : Femme à l’ombrelle tournée vers la gauche, 1886, Claude Monet
En norvégienne, 1887, Claude Monet
Essai de figure en plein-air : Femme à l’ombrelle tournée vers la droite, 1886, Claude Monet
Chasse aux papillons, 1874, Berthe Monsot
La Seine à Suresnes, 1877, Alfred Sisley
Le repos au bord du ruisseau. Lisière de bois, 1878, Alfred Sisley

Le jardin de l’artiste à Giverny, 1900, Claude Monet
Nymphéas bleus, 1916-1919, Claude Monet
Le bassin aux nymphéas, harmonie verte, 1889, Claude Monet
La Seine à Vétheuil, effet de soleil après la pluie, 1879, Claude Monet
La bergère, 1881, Camille Pisaro
Vase de fleurs, 1873, Henri Fantin-Latour

Le repos au bord du ruisseau. Lisière de bois, 1878, Alfred Sisley
Londres, le Parlement. Trouée de soleil dans le brouillard, 1904, Claude Monet
La Seine à Suresnes, 1877, Alfred Sisley
Still-Life with Chrysanthemums. 1897, Claude Monet
La nuit étoilée, 1888, Vincent Van Gogh
Woman in the Orchard, 1882, Camille Pissarro

 

Le Louvre, Paris, Île-de-France, France

The Louvre is the world’s largest museum. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine. Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are .

The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation’s masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings.

The Pyramid du Louvre and the Denon Wing
The Arc du triomphe du Caroussel
The Pyramid du Louvre and the Denon Wing

The Richelieu Wing viewed from the Jardin des Tuileries
Statues along the facade of a wing of the Louvre
The Louvre near de Porte des Lion viewed from the Jardin des Tuileries

Sculpture above the entrance from the Quai des Tuileries to the Place du Caroussel
Lamppost near the Jardin des Tuileries
Detail of the walls of the Louvre

Peace riding a chariot on top of the Arc du Triomphe du Caroussel

The Great Odalisque, 1814, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
La Gioconda, 1503-1506, by Leonardo da Vinci
The Astronomer, 1668, by Johannes Vermeer
Liberty Leading the People, 1830, by Eugene Delacroix
Christ at the Column, 1476-1478, by Antonio da Messina
Bathsheba at Her Bath, 1654, by Rembrandt

Venus de Milo, or Aphrodite of Milos, 130-100BC, by Alexandros of Antioch
Winged Victory of Samothrace, 190BC
Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, 1793, by Antonio Canova

Furietti Centaurs in white marble
Mask of Mycenae
Silenus with infant Dionysus (Bacchus), 100-200AD,

The Dying Slave, 1513, by Michelangelo Buonarotti
Athena
Greek, Roman and Egyptian statues

Diana of Versailles
Greek sculpture
Satyr

Sleeping Hermaphroditus, 1620, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Galleries of sculptures
Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, 1793, by Antonio Canova

Ornate ceilings in the Louvre

Sculptures in the Louvre Garden

 

 

Palace of Versailles, Île-de-France, France

When the château was built, Versailles was a small village dating from the 11th century. Versailles was the seat of political power in the Kingdom of France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved the royal court from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789, within three months after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.

Gilded rooftops above the Marble Courtyard and the Hall of Mirrors

The Inner Gate and statues along the Inner Fence

Detail of the Inner Gate and statues along the Inner Gate, above the Chapel, and the First Gate

Fountain sculpture
Walkway in the palace
Royal Chapel Organ in the Royal Chapel
Ornamental flower girl
Statue of Louis XIV

Ceilings and murals throughout Versailles Palace

North wing of the palace viewed from the Women’s Quarters

Marble Courtyard and the Women’s Quarters
Clock above the Marble Courtyard on top of the West Wing
Sculpture and gilded roofs of the West Wing

Loire River statue along the Water Parterre and the West Wing

Statues along the Water Parterre

Latona Fountain and Parterre looking towards the Apollo Fountain

Statues along the Parterre and the Green Carpet areas

Statues along the North Parterre
Latona Fountain and Sun Vase
Sculptures and pond along the Parterre

Latona Fountain

River statue along the Water Parterre
Latona Fountain looking towards the Green Carpet area
Statue along the Water Parterre

Apollo Fountain

Colonade Grove and statue of Apollo and the Nymphs, 1666, François Girardon

 

Antwerp, Belgium

The River Scheldt links Antwerp to the North Sea by the Westerschelde estuary. The Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. Antwerp has long been an important city in the Low Countries, both economically and culturally, especially before the Spanish Fury (1576) in the Dutch Revolt.

 

Cathedral of Our Lady and Rubens statue viewed from Groenplaats

Cathedral of Our Lady viewed from Handschoenmarkt and Groenplaats

City hall of Antwerp on the Grote Markt

Main façade of the City Hall of Antwerp
Cathedral of Our Lady viewed from the Grote Markt
Carolus Barromeus Church

Brabo Statue and Guild houses along the Market Square

Golden statues on top of the Guildhouses along the Grote Markt

Rubens House Museum
Portrait of a Woman (Helena Fourment), Jan Boeckhorst, c 1630
Portrait of Elisabeth of France (Isabella Queen of France), Frans Pourbus the Younger, c 1612
Selfportrait, Peter Paul Rubens
A Lady at the Fish Market in Antwerp, Adriaen van Utrecht and Marten Peppijn
A child’s head (Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens), Peter Paul Rubens
Adam and Even, Peter Paul Rubens

Details in the city streets
Mother and child statue
Mother and child on the Grote Markt and Wisselstraat corner
Mother and child statue
Relief of lovers in a boat in the Braderijstraat
Portico statue in the Rubens House
Mother and child statue

Het Steen

War Memorial to the Canadian soldiers in WWII
Lange Wapper statue near Het Steen
Detail of sculpture on Suikerrui 11
Pieter Applemans Monument near Cathedral of Our Lady
Rubens monument on the Groenplaats
Portico statue at the Rubens House

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amsterdam’s name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city’s origin as a dam of the river Amstel. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age (17th century), a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds.  In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were planned and built. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

 

The 17th century Protestant Zuiderkerk
The Magere Brug over the Amstel
The Amsterdam Renaissance style 17th century Munttoren

The Zuiderkerk viewed from the Zuiderkerkhof

The Waag, a 15th century weigh house, on the Nieuwmarkt

The 13th century Oude Kerk

The Magna Market, or Old Post Office
The National Monument on de Dam Square
The 15th century Nieuwe Kerk

The Royal Palace, Amsterdam’s former Town Hall, on the Dam square

Houses along the Brouwersgracht
The Koepelkerk or Round Lutherian Church and Singelsluis

The Westerkerk viewed from the Westermarkt
The Imperial Crown of Austria of Maximilian I on top of the church
The Westerkerk viewed from the Prinsengracht

The Night Watch sculptures on the Rembrandt Square
Rembrandt Statue

Sluyswacht on the Sint Antoniesluis
Basilica of St. Nicholas and the Schreierstoren
Rijksmuseum

Amsterdam canals
Museumplein on the Rijksmuseum

Self-portrait, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, c. 1628
Girl in a Red Kimono (Geesje Kwak), George Hendrik Breitner, c. 1895-1896,
A Shepherdess, Paulus Moreelse, 1630
A Windmill on a Polder Waterway, Known as “In the Month of July ‘, Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël, ca. 1889
The Night Watch, Rembrandt, 1642
Self-portrait, Vincent van Gogh, 1887

Gerechtigheid, Artus Quellinus (I), ca. 1656
Tapestry, Hunting Scene
Caritas Educatrice, Lorenzo Bartolini, ca. 1842

The beguinage of Amsterdam
Statue of Beguine in Begijnhof courtyard
Statue on the entrance gate near the Gedempte Begijnensloot
Statue of Christ in Begijnhof courtyard

Detailed streetviews in Amsterdam
Gold leaf in the Rijksmuseum
House sign in de Zeedijk
Ornament on the Blauwbrug
Imperial Crown on the Westertower
Wall frieze
Amsterdam’s city emblem on the Hogesluis