The Orsay museum, located in Paris, France, is home to many famous paintings. The collection of the museum, which is housed in a former train station, contains many masterpieces of modern Western art, including works by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Degas and Whistler.
The Ballet Class, by Edgar Degas
One of Degas' many paintings of ballet dancers, this painting distinguishes itself by its unusual, photographic angle of perspective and its creative posting of figures.
Olympia, by Edouard Manet
This painting, presumed to be of a prostitute, caused a controversy when it was first unveiled in the late 19th century. The cold-looking woman stands as a refutation of the objectification of women as objects in art.
Tahitian Women, by Paul Gauguin
Gauguin, who left France for Tahiti early in his career, made native women a primary subject of his work, painting them in bright colors and simple lines.
Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, by Auguste Renoir
An epic study of a French social gathering, this is Renoir's fullest, most complex work.
Van Gogh's Bedroom, by Vincent Van Gogh
This simple description of Van Gogh's meager home is perversely vivid in its deployment of colors. The painting is famous both for its luminous quality and its allusion to Van Gogh's lifelong poverty.
Portrait of Whistler's Mother, by James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Noted for its strangeness and its incredible detail, Whistler's is a quiet, vaguely haunting depiction of turn-of-the-century Americana.
