Given that the mobile phone has now taken over the world, the Orsay seems to have given up trying to stop photography. So, with the opportunity to take photos for the first time, we went a bit mad.
And there is so much to photograph. The catalogue says that in "1874, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Sisely, Pissaro and Berthe Morisot organised an exhibition that shocked the art establishment. They depicted a modern world of railways, cafés, dances and gardens and painted in a style that captured the moment and conveyed the impression of an ever-changing and modern world".
Let's begin with Édouard Manet, because he came a little before the others. He was one of the first artists to paint modern life and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. His use of the black outline, in the style of the realists, distinguished him from the later Impressionists.
Édouard Manet 'Olympia' 1863.
His early masterworks, 'Olympia' and 'Luncheon on the Grass' both painted in1863 when he was 31, caused great controversy. They were considered watershed paintings that mark the genesis of modern art.
Édouard Manet 'The Balcony' 1868.
The model at the front is artist, Berthe Morisot and on the right his wife, Suzanne. Manet met Morisot in 1868 and while their relationship was purely professional, she had considerable influence on his style and introduced him to her circle, Degas, Monet, Renior and Cezanne.
Édouard Manet 'Berthe Morisot at Interval' 1872.
Édouard Manet 'Berthe Morisot with a Bunch of Violets' 1872.
This was painted when Berthe was in mourning for her father.
Édouard Manet 'Lady with Fans' 1873.
Édouard Manet 'Carnations and Clematis in a Crystal Vase' 1882.
There is no black here. Manet died shortly after completing this painting at the age of only 51 from the complications of syphillis.
Edgar Degas 'The Little Dancer' 1881.
It is displayed in a glass case, so there is lots of refection. Degas was the artist fascinated with the subject of dance and more than half his works depict dancers. He was a great sculptor but only exhibited once, The Little Dancer complete with real tutu and hair ribbon, was not well received and he never exhibited again. When he died, about 150 works such as this gorgeous thing, were discover in his atelier.
Edgar Degas ' Blue Dancers' 1893 painted when he was 59 years old.
Berthe Morisot 'The Cradle' 1872.
Berthe Morisot was one of three leading women Impressionists. She began by painting landscapes but as a mature artist, added many portraits very often featuring young women, girls and children.
Berthe Morisot ' Girl at her Toilette' 1877.
At 33, Morisot married Eugene, Édouard Manet's brother and her only child, Julie was born when Berthe was 37.
Berthe Morisot 'Ready for the Ball' 1879.
A similar painting sold in 2013 at Christies for $10.9m, making Morisot the highest priced female artist in the world. Berthe contracted pneumonia at the age of 54, after nursing her daughter through the same illness, and left Julie an orphan at 16.
Paul's hero, Claude Monet was the most consistent and prolific of the Impressionists. This monumental work entitled "Luncheon on the Grass" was both a challenge and a tribute to Manet's classic (above). The original canvas measured 4m x 6m and Monet was forced to use it to pay his rent some time in 1865. When he got it back in 1884 it had gone mouldy so he cut it up and retained only three panels, the third of which is now missing.
Claude Monet " Poppies" 1875.
Claude Monet 'Woman with a Parasol' 1875.
Madame Monet posed for this series and one of the paintings includes one of their two sons.
'Snow on the Church at Vetheuil' 1879.
Claude Monet 'Chrysanthemums' 1878.
Claude Monet ' Le Pont d'Argenteuil' 1874.
An early painting of the challenge of water.
There were so many Monet's and I think Paul photographed every single one. Combining all the galleries as well as the travelling exhibitions we have seen over many years, he now has a considerable photographic Monet collection.
Gustave Caillebotte 'Parquetry Repairers' 1875.
Gustave Caillebotte 'The Effect of Snow' 1878.
Then came Renior.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a great landscape painter but from the 1880's, in order to make a living, he concentrated on portraits and figure painting, particularly of women.
Renior painted his friend, a young Claude Monet in 1873 when Monet was 33 and Renior himself, 32.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir 'Madame Alphonse Daudet'
Pierre-Auguste Renoir 'Julie Manet with Cat' 1887.
Julie Manet was the daughter of Berthe Morisot. In her later life Julie Manet published a book entitled 'Growing Up with the Impressionists'. She must have been the most painted child in the world.
Pierre Auguste Renoir 'Young Girls at the Piano' 1892, painted when he was 50 years old.
Pierre Auguste Renoir "Monsieur and Madame de Villers" 1910.
Renoir died in 1919, crippled with arthritis. He was a prolific painter having produced several thousand works, two of which have each sold for more than $70m in recent times.
And finally, Vincent Van Gogh 'The Bedroom' 1889.
Van Gogh was a major post-Impressionist painter who drew as a child but did not paint with oils until his late 20s.
Vincent Van Gogh 'The Church at Auvers' 1890
In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 paintings and drawings.
Vincent Van Gogh 'Noon Rest from Work' 1890.
He produced many of his best known works in the last two years of his life in Provence, southern France.
Vincent Van Gogh 'Self Portrait' 1889.
After years of anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, Van Gogh took his own life in 1890, aged just 37.
There was more - lots more - but that is enough for now.
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