You can still see the clock. The Musée d'Orsay began life as a railway station, the Gare d'Orsay, built for the 1900 World's Fair, and today it holds the world's best-known collection of Impressionist painting. On 9 December 2026 the museum turns 40. Its anniversary motto, borrowed from the poet Verlaine, is "Rêvons, c'est l'heure!" ("Let's dream, it's time!"). Fitting, for a building with giant clocks.
So what does a 40th birthday mean for you, the visitor? A strong line-up of exhibitions, a famous painting back from restoration, and a few dates worth putting in your diary.
Who was Mary Cassatt, and why is Paris celebrating her?
Here is the one most Americans will want to see. "Mary Cassatt. The Independent" runs from 6 October 2026 to 31 January 2027 and brings together nearly 80 paintings, pastels and prints, many rarely shown.
Cassatt was born in 1844 in Allegheny City, now part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She settled in Paris in 1874, and in 1877 Edgar Degas invited her to join the independent artists we now call the Impressionists. She showed with them in 1879, 1880, 1881 and 1886, the only American officially part of the group. Not a bad résumé for someone the art schools of her day did not really want.
Look for the way she paints ordinary moments: a mother bathing a child, a woman reading, a cup of tea. No myths, no battles. Just people, seen up close. The exhibition was organised with the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and it marks 100 years since her death in 1926.
What else is new at the Orsay this season?
The 40th anniversary is also the Monet centenary: Claude Monet died on 5 December 1926. The Orsay is marking it with a Monet exhibition in its fifth-floor Impressionist galleries, opened on 30 September 2026. If you have a spare hour, the Musée de l'Orangerie, across the river in the Tuileries, runs "Monet: Painting Time" until 25 January 2027, with nearly forty canvases.
Then there is Courbet. His huge "A Burial at Ornans" (Un enterrement à Ornans) is back after about fifteen months of restoration, completed in August 2026. Can you count the mourners? There are dozens, painted life-size, which is exactly what shocked Paris in 1850: a village funeral given the scale usually kept for kings and saints.
Which anniversary dates should you know?
- 4 December 2026: new galleries of French decorative arts (1850–1890) open.
- 5–6 December 2026: a free festive weekend at the museum.
- 9 December 2026: the official 40th birthday.
- 12 December 2026: "Boum 1986", an evening event in the main hall staged by Thomas Jolly, the director of the Paris 2024 Olympic ceremonies.
Programmes and access rules for special events can change, so check the official website before you go.
How do you plan a visit without the crowds?
The Orsay is open Tuesday to Sunday and closed on Mondays. On Thursdays it stays open late, into the evening, which is the calmest time to see the big rooms. Book a timed ticket online, especially for the Cassatt show; temporary exhibitions fill up fast around the holidays. Hours, ticket prices and free-entry days change, so check the official website before you go.
A guide's tip: start at the top. Take the lift to the fifth floor for the Impressionists while you are fresh, then walk down. And don't skip the great clock window on the top floor. You get Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur framed through the glass, and the best photo in the building.
Is the Orsay worth it if you only have a few days?
Yes, and it pairs well with the Louvre. The two sit on opposite banks of the Seine, linked by a short walk across the river. The Louvre covers thousands of years; the Orsay covers roughly 1848 to 1914, so it feels manageable in two hours. With a guide, you skip the guesswork and go straight to the stories: why Manet's nudes caused a scandal, why Van Gogh's colours still shock, and why a painter from Pennsylvania ended up at the heart of French Impressionism.
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Read next: Beyond the Louvre: 5 Paris museums, and Why autumn is the best season in Paris.