Museums Night 2019 at the Musée d’Orsay

Museums Night is a unique night, first because it's free and also because museums often offers many entertainments providing a new light on the collections. At the Musée d’Orsay the teams enjoy the success of the "Black Models" exhibition to throw an exceptional event this Saturday May 18, 2019: the Night of the Models.

All night long, from 6 p.m., lecturers, students and dancers will come to the spaces of the former railway station to take us behind the scenes and show us the process of creating works visible in the musuems, thousands of works created in Occident between 1850 and 1914!

Among the masterpieces displayed at the museum, L'Origine du Monde (1866) by Gustave Courbet, Emile Zola (1868) by Edouard Manet, Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1863) by Edouart Manet, the Autoportrait (1889) by Vincent Van Gogh, the Little Dancer of Fourteen Years (1865-1881) by Edgar Degas, Les Raboteurs de Parquet (1875) by Gustave Caillebotte.

On the menu of Museums Night 2019 at the Musée d'Orsay:

• Free tour of the "Black Models from Gericault to Matisse" exhibition
  From March 26 to July 21, 2019 Black Models are displayed at the Musée d’Orsay with an exhibition aiming at being historic. Over 100 works return on the representation of black figures in visual arts, from the abolition of slavery in France (1794) to nowadays.
  
  
• Presentations of works at 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
  All evening long, national museums lecturers and students from Académie de Versailles ESPE will present a dozen of works including The Birth of Venus (1879) by William Bouguereau, Emile Zola (1868) by Edouard Manet, Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1863) by Edouard Manet, The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years (1865-1881) by Edgar Degas.
  
  
• La Classe, l'oeuvre from 6 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
  As part of the La Classe, l'oeuvre operation, 300 students worked on the Black Models: from Gericault to Matisse exhibition and made plastic works to discover on the level 4 walkway.
  
  
• Danced performance by Raphaëlle Delaunay, at 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.
  For a 15-minute performance, dancer Raphaëlle Deulaunay reproduces the poses of famous black models on an electro music played by Pierre Boscheron. We can see Josephine Baker or even Edgard Degas's famous Little Dancer!
  
  
• Introduction workshop to living model sketching at 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
  Make the best of Museums Night to get introduced to sketching a living model, supervised by a museum's plastic artist. A woman and a man will pose for 20 minutes, come draw them, sketch books and pencils will be provided by the museum.

That's a fantastic program you don't want to miss. Note that the Musée d'Orsay is one of the most coveted museums: last year, about 10,000 people chose to go to the Musée d'Orsay for Museums Night, so don't hesitate to come as soon as 5 p.m. to enjoy the night.

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For even more ideas, check our following articles:
Museums Night 2019 in Ile de France:

• Museums Night 2019 in Paris (75)
• Museums Night 2019 in Seine-et-Marne (77)
• Museums Night 2019 in Yvelines (78)
• Museums Night 2019 in Essonne (91)
• Museums Night 2019 in Hauts-de-Seine (92) 
• Museums Night 2019 in Seine-Saint-Denis (93)
• Museums Night 2019 in Val-de-Marne (94)
• Museums Night 2019 in Val d’Oise (95) 

You don't know where to start and it's too hard to choose? Have a look at our special guides: 

• Museums Night 2019, Châteaux and monuments to visit
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• Museums Night 2019 for kids in Paris
• Museums Night 2019 in Paris, top 10