The Musee d'Orsay is the showcase for art from the mid-1800's to about 1914,
The works represent all phases of the arts, sculpture, painting, photography and decorative arts.
The new museum was created from the old Gare d'Orsay, a railway station built along with an "enveloping hotel" , both built for the Exposition Universelle (World Fair) of 1900 in Paris.
At the time, the painter Detaille commented "The railway station is superb; it looks exactly like a Palais des Beaux-Arts. Since the Palais des Beaux-Arts happens to resemble a railway station,
I suggest that Laloux (the architect of the Gar d'Orsaly) ... should switch their functions while there is still time".

The station had become obsolete by 1939 when it could not accommodate longer trains, and during WWII, it became a mail center.
By the 1980;s, the old Gare d'Orsay had become an eyesore and derelict building in Paris,
and the grand transformation from rail station to museum took place under the direction of architect Gae Aulenti.
The museum was opened by President François Mitterrand on 1 December 1986.

The Musee d'Orsay is filled with light from the immense barrel vaulted skylights in the central section,
making it a perfect place for display of the works moved there from various museums in Paris.
On several levels, rooms open off the main gallery shown above, to house paintings and decorative arts.
There is also a lovely restaurant where one can feed his body while feeding his soul on art.