As I reflect on my Musée d’Orsay visit today, like any good American would, I’m still struck most by the 5th floor impressionism exhibit. Beyond the effect of the individual paintings themselves, seeing each work with greater historical context, as provided by Paul, really demonstrated for me how a didactic experience in a museum enhances each work so drastically. The knowledge of whether a painting was intentionally made to fit comfortably within a domestic setting versus attempting to stand out loudly within the cacophony of the Salon’s walls not only helps the viewer better appreciate it today, but gives them a sense of how it might have been viewed in its time. You can attempt to step in the Salon goer’s shoes and intimate their reactions. Further, the ways in which the curation complements the two interpretations of the Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe scene imparts more than just the ways in which each piece is working individually, but the conventions in which all of Impressionism was building upon or disparately attempting to destroy.
    With the value of didacticism in mind, I would have appreciated a layout that lent itself more to demonstrating the development of the Impressionist movement over time through all of its many interpretations. While the exhibition is currently vaguely chronological in nature, seeing the abstraction of Monet’s Water Lilies from 1914-1915 next to his impressionist works from decades prior does give a sense of whiplash despite the demonstration of change over time that the two works’ proximity inevitably conveys. Further, what if, like Vanessa was saying at our conversation at the end of the day, this piece was presented with some of its early 20th century contemporaries across media that similarly foreshadow the later American Expressionism? Sure, it was presented as an important Monet among other Monets, but without the didactic support to convey its importance, the fact that it’s not just any Monet seems to get lost in the noise. Of course, there’s only so much you can do in one exhibition, but if these pieces are some of your greater treasures, why not do the best you can to demonstrate why that is? If they’re important because they’re influential, I’d like to do the best I can to demonstrate that influence.