The Musee d ’Orsay, with its focus on art from a more modern time, is a counterbalance to the Louvres' focus on thousands of years of art and antiquities.

Originally built as a railway station (the Gare D’Orsay) it was abandoned in 1939 and began its transformation into a museum in 1978. The museum, with its grandiose ceilings and maze like use of space, is a masterpiece of architecture as well as home to some of the world’s finest art.

Today the Musee d ’Orsay houses over 4,000 works of art starting from about 1850 onward. In the d ’Orsay one can view the works of such artists as Renoir, Gauguin and Van Gogh.