The Musee d’Orsay is housed in an elegant, century-old former train station in Paris. Its lofty arched glass ceiling illuminates a world-class collection of art that offers a snapshot of the 19th century tension of old aesthetics and the new era of modernism— from the realism of Courbet and Manet through wave after wave of innovation, including artists ranging from Renoir to Van Gogh, Cezanne to Rodin, whose styles ushered in Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and Fauvism.

In this illustrated evening seminar, art historian Linda Skalet discusses the museum’s highlights and some of its lesser-known treasures.