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MUSÉE D’ORSAY · MUST-SEE GUIDE

28 Orsay masterpieces, from the top floor down

The Van Gogh room is on the top floor and the Rodin terrace is halfway down. This is the short list, arranged as a route with the room number for every stop, so you don’t walk the ground floor twice.

8 min read

28
must-sees
3
levels
~3h
to see them all
106
audio stories

STOP 1–17 · START HERE

Level 5

Take the escalator straight to the top. Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Degas and Cézanne are all up here, and it’s the busiest floor by mid-morning.

Impressionist gallery · about 1.5 hours

  1. The Luncheon on the Grass 01
    The Luncheon on the Grass Édouard Manet · 1863 Room 29 · Level 5
  2. The Luncheon on the Grass 02
    The Luncheon on the Grass Claude Monet · 1865–1866 Room 29 · Level 5
  3. The Floor Scrapers 03
    The Floor Scrapers Gustave Caillebotte · 1875 Room 31 · Level 5
  4. The Ballet Class 04
    The Ballet Class Edgar Degas · 1873–1876 Room 31 · Level 5
  5. In a Café (The Absinthe Drinker) 05
    In a Café (The Absinthe Drinker) Edgar Degas · 1875–1876 Room 31 · Level 5
  6. Mont Sainte-Victoire 06
    Mont Sainte-Victoire Paul Cézanne · 1890 Room 35 · Level 5
  7. Young Girls at the Piano 07
    Young Girls at the Piano Pierre-Auguste Renoir · 1892 Room 35 · Level 5
  8. Starry Night Over the Rhône 08
    Starry Night Over the Rhône Vincent van Gogh · 1888 Room 36 · Level 5
  9. Self-Portrait 09
    Self-Portrait Vincent van Gogh · 1889 Room 36 · Level 5
  10. The Siesta (after Millet) 10
    The Siesta (after Millet) Vincent van Gogh · 1889–1890 Room 36 · Level 5
  11. The Church at Auvers 11
    The Church at Auvers Vincent van Gogh · 1890 Room 36 · Level 5
  12. The Bedroom in Arles 12
    The Bedroom in Arles Vincent van Gogh · 1889 Room 36 · Level 5
  13. Portrait of Doctor Gachet 13
    Portrait of Doctor Gachet Vincent van Gogh · 1890 Room 36 · Level 5
  14. The Circus 14
    The Circus Georges Seurat · 1891 Room 38 · Level 5
  15. Woman with a Parasol 15
    Woman with a Parasol Paul Signac · 1893 Room 40 · Level 5
  16. Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ 16
    Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ Paul Gauguin · 1890–1891 Galerie Françoise Cachin · Level 5
  17. Tahitian Women on the Beach 17
    Tahitian Women on the Beach Paul Gauguin · 1891 Galerie Françoise Cachin · Level 5

STOP 18–19

Level 2

Toulouse-Lautrec, Art Nouveau and the sculpture terraces that look down over the old station nave.

Middle level · about 30 min

  1. Jane Avril Dancing 18
    Jane Avril Dancing Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1892 Room 68 · Level 2
  2. The Gates of Hell (plaster) 19
    The Gates of Hell (plaster) Auguste Rodin · 1880–1917 Rodin terrace · Level 2

STOP 20–28 · ON THE WAY OUT

Ground floor

Manet, Millet, Courbet and the pre-Impressionist rooms, laid out along the old station platforms.

Along the nave · about 1 hour

  1. The Spring 20
    The Spring Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres · 1856 Room 1 · Ground floor
  2. The Birth of Venus 21
    The Birth of Venus Alexandre Cabanel · 1863 Room 3 · Ground floor
  3. The Angelus 22
    The Angelus Jean-François Millet · 1857–1859 Room 4 · Ground floor
  4. The Gleaners 23
    The Gleaners Jean-François Millet · 1857 Room 4 · Ground floor
  5. Hidden behind a sliding panel for decades. Still covered here. 24
    The Origin of the World Gustave Courbet · 1866 Room 6 · Ground floor
  6. The Painter’s Studio 25
    The Painter’s Studio Gustave Courbet · 1855 Room 7 · Ground floor
  7. Olympia 26
    Olympia Édouard Manet · 1863 Room 14 · Ground floor
  8. The Fifer 27
    The Fifer Édouard Manet · 1866 Room 14 · Ground floor
  9. Portrait of Émile Zola 28
    Portrait of Émile Zola Édouard Manet · 1868 Room 14 · Ground floor

NOT ON THE WALL RIGHT NOW

Five famous works you won’t find this year

Checked against the museum tour in August 2026. Works return from storage and loan without notice, so if one of these is your reason to go, confirm with the museum first.

BEFORE YOU GO

The list is the easy part. Here’s the rest.

Full visiting guide →

MUSECAT MAGAZINE · FREE TO READ

Read the backstory on the metro

All 82 Orsay stories →

SAME DAY, NEXT DOOR

Still have energy after the Orsay?

Stand in front of it. Press play.

The same 28 works, with a story at each · iPhone · Works offline

Listen in the app

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons, by Yair Haklai and Guilhem Vellut (CC BY-SA 3.0 / CC BY 2.0 / CC0 / Public domain).

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