Shedding new light on fine art

A €20 million renovation of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris has done wonders for its collection of iconic paintings, writes Alan O’Riordan

THE light is gently diffused, where once it glared through a huge glass canopy; the walls are deep grey, where once they were white. And the result of these two changes? The paintings’ colours leap from the walls, as you’ve never seen them before. Yes, the renovation of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris is a success, a stunning reworking of the famed museum.

What strikes you immediately on entering the museum’s centrepiece impressionist gallery — the “beating heart of the museum” in the words of its president Guy Cogeval — is the new vibrancy of the colours in these, some of the most famous and recognisable paintings in the world.