Threee Hour Max

Three Museums in three days! My head was spinning. The thing is about visiting a museum -its value is in what you learn and often that is determined by how it is curated. Musée d’Orsay, Du Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Kuntshaus Zurich are all exceptional. We were inspired.

The history of the building which houses the d’Orsay is fascinating. Initially a palace -burnt out then a railway station. Gare d’Orsay was opened in 1900 for electric trains, with a travelator for passengers and a conveyor belt for luggage. It was state of the art. Flooded in 1910 and in 1939 declared obsolete as the platforms were too short for the modern trains. Later a parcel sorting centre, a processing centre for returning prisoners of war in 1945, a film set and even a parking garage, until finally in 1986 a museum.

The collection is amazing, but The Stary Night (one of 21 that he did) took our breath away and we were both a bit emotional. Pompon’s bear invited us to sit and ponder. We knew our three hours was up as our feet began to complain and our brains were going into melt down. It was enough.

There was a bit of confusion at hotel reception when the young woman recommended Du Musée des Arts Décoratifs and us thinking she meant Art Deco, anyhow we decided to buy the tickets through her and were surprised when they were €25 each but she reassured us that included all the exhibitions, and we had a timeslot- 11am.

Our train was at four, so this seemed a very good idea until we arrived at the museum. We had tickets but didn’t have paperwork for the reservation, so we had to queue in the ‘unpaid’ line. I was not happy. Imagine my horror when I discovered we had paid €25 each for €15 tickets which included all exhibitions? I was apoplectic. The woman at information was sympathetic but what could she do?

My temper was assuaged as soon as I entered the Iris Van Herpen exhibition. I often feel that fashion designers, mainly male, make fun of women with their designs often creating uncomfortable, unwearable creations. Herpen’s creations were utterly astounding. She used the form of the female body to enhance, adorn, elevate and beautify. What a stupendous artist. A dazzling collection.

The Olympics are in Paris in August and the Fashion in Sport exhibition was also fabulous. There was so much more to see but we had reached our limit and headed back to the hotel to explain the principal of letting people know when they are paying a booking fee!

The Kunsthaus Zürich was enormous. We visited the Emil Bührle Collection. A Swiss arms manufacturer who made his fortune during During WW2 where he supplied UK France, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. He used forced labour from concentration camps in his factories and bought bargain masterpieces that belonged to victims of Nazi regime.

He became the richest person in Switzerland and during the 1950s arms race, Bührle’s fortune soared and so too his collection. Happy to use forced labour -from 1941 to 1970s in state sanctioned exploitation of young women sent to work in various factories, he takes advantage….continues to enrich himself. The collection has to be one of the most impressive on the planet and the museum presents the works and challenges the viewer think about the morality of the exhibition.

The museum is an eclectic collection and includes an exhibit by James Bridle and the global ‘attention economy’ and an incredible immersive experience, ‘Pixelwald Turicum, 2021’. We were very chuffed to see Munch’s ‘Winter in Kragerø’, the fabulous village from which my Norwegian ancestors hail.