mamcalice

I guess I would see both. The Louvre because it is the Louvre and has fabulous art. If nothing else, I would visit the Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo. Spend an hour. The Musee d'Orsay because you enjoy Impressionist art and it is a wonderful museum. There are so many fabulous museums in Paris and, while you can't visit them all, the Orangerie and the Rodin are both worth a stop.

kerouac

Indeed, there is no reason to spend more time than you want at either museum. A lot of people who go to the Orsay claim that they rush up to the 5th floor to see the Van Gogh paintings and don't seem to care about anything else. The same goes for the masterpieces of the Louvre, except that the Louvre has far more masterpieces.

IMDonehere

There are 36 works attributed to Vermeer.

Met Museum has 5.
National Gallery in DC has 3
The Frick in NYC has 3.
Louvre has 2.
_______

Watching the crowds head toward the Mona Lisa is like seeing a zombie movie but instead of dragging body parts, they're carrying cell phones.

nytraveler

Both museums have very comprehensive web sites where you can review what is being displayed and figure out what parts you want to see. (You can;t see the whole Louvre is one day unless you roller skate through a bunch of departments).

Figure out what YOU like and then just go see it.

tomboy

I didn't see this info above:
The Mona Lisa is smaller than most people picture it; it's 30" X 21", but I would've guessed it at half that. Couple that with a crowd (of about 150 when we were there, 200 of which were Chinese tourists), and it's not on my recommended bucket list.

europeannovice

At the Louvre, opposite the Mona Lisa is the Coronation painting that is extremely large, has vibrant colors and has very little crowds obstructing the view. Plus there is the Winged Victory and Venus de Milo for top three in the Denon Wing. The Richeleau wing houses the Napolean apartments and the Sully Wing has a large Egyptian collection.

The Orsay has loads of impressionist paintings and the architecture of the building itself is worth a visit.

dwdvagamundo

The OP said they like Impressionists. Therefore they would like the Orsay better.

mrt--you'd probably also like L'Orangerie between the Louvre and the Place de Concorde. Monet, Cezanne, Matisse. . .

Gretchen

I enjoy French Impressionist art and have read the that the Musee D'Orsay has an amazing collection.

I would say that is an understatement!! As others have said, the Orsay building is a beautiful statement--but then, the Louvre is also.

You say, I don't want to fight to see the Mona Lisa and also "I don't want to spend two days in museums". NEITHER of these needs to be a plan for seeing museums in Paris. We told Michael Osman we wanted to spend about 2 hours in the Louvre and we did--saw the ML, Winged Victory, did some of the Davinci Code "tour" (current at the time), saw the basement and how the chateau was built, and some of the Napoleon.
We spent about the same amount of time in the Orsay. Who really WANTS to spend 8 hours in a museum all at once. There are MANY ways to approach being able to partake of Paris's amazing art offerings.
An hour at the Rodin could be a target--the Orangerie, Carnavalet (we head for the French Revolution floor), the Unicorn tapestries are on tour I think, but the Cluny has some wonderful things to see for an hour or so.

AND the ML is what it is--a small painting of a smiling lady. See it if you want.

rellie2

Hi MRT

I too love the Impressionists and visited the Lourve and Musee D'Orsay while in Paris for the first time last year.

If I had to pick I really enjoyed Musee D'Orsay but as a compromise I would recommend you do the intro guided tour offered by the Lourve. It only goes for 90mins (and incs a visit to the Mona Lisa). Then head to Orsay. I printed out a map before I went and marked all the Impressionist artwork and headed straight to those rather than visiting every area of the gallery.

I would highly recommend you also visit Musee l'Orangerie to see Monet's Les Nymphéas.

I suppose the great thing about galleries is you can spend as much or as little time admiring.

ruedebuci

I'd do both in 5 days. But if I had to pick just one, the Louvre.

ssander

IMDoneHere...

Yup...we have some good Vermeers on the USA east coast -- I live in the Philadelphia area. A couple of the Met ones are great, and I love "Woman Holding a Balance" and "Lady Writing a Letter" in DC..which we get to pretty often. (I admit I have not been to the Frick.)

Best show ever was in 1996 in DC. I <strong>never</strong> will wait in a long line for anything...but I ditched work, and my wife and I waited for over an hour in cold weather for this one. It had--as I recall-- nearly every one of his works...certainly all the great ones.

SS

dwdvagamundo

ssander--We went to that show. Drove to DC to see it.

Vermeer is my spouse's (MA Art History) favorite painter.

drchris

You wouldn't need two full days for the museums you are considering. We just returned from Paris and did the Louvre, Orsay, and Orangerie. Both of the later were heaven for anyone who loves Impressionism, and as many have said, the Orsay building itself is spectacular. We did a 1 1/2 hour tour in English there and it was very interesting, but focused on only a few works and we then spent more time going back through the galleries.

Echoing others, the Louvre can be visited briefly with specific objectives and a good map or self-guided tour. We spent only a couple of hours there and saw what we wanted to see and more. The primary goal was to see the Winged Victory of Samothrace again, as it took my breath away the first time I saw it, many years ago.

I was very disappointed that the gallery with the Vermeers was closed when we visited the Louvre.

ssaanndd

I would say : dépends on the amount of times you have and wants to spend in Museums.... Louvres request a day minimum (but at least 4 to 5 hours...

Musée d'Orsay can easily be done in 2 hours, even less actually

I do love the Musee d'Orsay for its collections indeed, and actually, living for 10 years in Paris, I first visited Orsay and then Le Louvres... because indeed, le Louvres can seems impressive and frustrating at the same time.
To me, it is too big : it's quite insane to visit it in just one day : your brain melt with so many things and history, and is some ways I don't think it's Worth doing it in a day for that reason....

several visits are required to Le Louvres if you want to see everything....


Anyway, hope you'll enjoy your stay !

Gretchen

was very disappointed that the gallery with the Vermeers was closed when we visited the Louvre

Yes, not all wings are open all the time. Choose where you are going, but have a backup "wing" in mind (Green Guide will tell what is where) in case.

denisea

Easy for me D'Orsay!

jane1144

I, too, loved the Louvre, D'Orsay and L'Orangerie and would try to spend some time in all three. However, The Mona Lisa would be way down on my list. Aside from the huge, pushing crowds, the iPads will kill you! Everyone holds them up in front of you and takes selfies with every single family member in front of the painting, which, as noted above is relatively small. I waited and waited and never got closer than the fifth row of people from the painting. I had seen this painting over 50 years ago when one could actually get close to it. This last time (2012) was a big disappointment. The Louvre needs to re-think it's traffic control and/or how the painting is displayed.

jars50

Both are lovely museums, but the d'Orsay is more manageable and if you love the Impressionists, it makes the perfect choice.

The Louvre is always crowded, but this past March we were there on a Wednesday evening and had many of the rooms to ourselves. Do not miss the Napoleon apartments if you do go.

drchris

Jane 144 "I waited and waited and never got closer than the fifth row of people from the painting. I had seen this painting over 50 years ago when one could actually get close to it."
The crowds weren't that bad Whe. We visited this past May. There were lots of people taking photos of the Mona Lisa but I was able to get to the front row quickly and take a few of my own. It really isn't that impressive . It's just one of those things that many people think they "ought to see" in Paris. If it's important to you, Go for it. If you have a Museum Pass, spending enough time in the Louvre to see a few things that are important to you won't cost anything. Know the layout and where your works of interst are located so that you can get around the museum quickly.

2012moving

Just a thought. If Monet is your thing the Marmottan Museum is a lovely quiet museum with a great collection. And a nice park to relax in afterwards. It's not only Monet here. In fact the only photo I took her was Picasso because the media fascinated me. Looked somewhat like paper machee(?sp.) Have fun.