Spring exhibitions at Musée d'Orsay - review

There are two temporary exhibition treats to enjoy at d'Orsay this spring.

1.  Gustave Doré: Master of Imagination - This one was a nice surprise, as I went in knowing very little about Doré...so much so that the gallery staff felt sorry for my ignorance, and she gave me the audio guide for free!

The exhibition covers Doré's life works, from his early caricatures, his illustrations (his strongest body of work), his paintings, as well as other things he dabbled in such as sculpture.

Some of the highlights include the creative illustrations he did for the bible, his illustrations of Shakespeare's plays, and his landscape paintings (my personal favourite). You'll also see how his works have had a sizable influence on the comic book world, and the cinema world.

Recommended if you are a fan, or interested in expanding your knowledge about Doré.

••  Runs 18 Feb - 11 May

"These are immense stretches of wheat under troubled skies and I
shamelessly endeavoured to express sadness and extreme solitude"

2.  Van Gogh / Artaud: The Man Suicided by Society - Van Gogh is one of my favourite artists so it's virtually impossible for me not to give this a good review. The exhibition tries to take a new approach to Van Gogh's works, with paintings grouped according to topics taken from Artaud's writings.

Artaud, a writer/actor, had some first hand experience with mental health suffering, which seems to have given him a deeper appreciation of Van Gogh. In short, he basically wrote a book about Van Gogh's brilliance.

I'm not sure if the concept fully works, but it does explore a key theme of Van Gogh - how his mental health influenced his paintings, or how his paintings influenced his mental health, or how true genius and 'mental illness' often come together.

And putting all that aside, you simply get to enjoy lot's of Van Gogh paintings, many of which are borrowed from other galleries around world. The number and diversity of paintings is more than satisfying, and I can't recommend this one enough.

••  Runs 11 Mar - 7 Jul

For general information regarding Musée d'Orsay, refer to my guide.