By Natasha Halarnkar, staff writer

Want to enjoy the Paris experience without emptying your wallet?   Now, the de Young Museum in San Francisco has made the experience possible by bringing over a large collection of the prized paintings from the Musée d’ Orsay in Paris, France.

The Musée d’ Orsay is most famous for holding impressionist and post-impressionist art, including sculptures and paintings.

“Van Gogh, Ganguin, Cézanne, and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’ Orsay” is featured at the de Young Museum in San Francisco and showcases artists from the Post-Impressionism Era.  Since this is the second Impressionist exhibit to come to the de Young Museum, it has been highly anticipated by art enthusiasts.

Some legends in the art world, such as Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Ganguin are represented.

To the delight of art lovers, infamous paintings such as “Starry Night over the Rhone” and “Portrait of the Artist” by Van Gogh are featured.

One of my favorite paintings was Van Gogh’s Starry Night Over the Rhone.  It was filled with shades of blue and the blending of different hues of colors just had a beautiful overall effect.

“This exhibit is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Trish Goldin, Cal High French teacher.  Goldin is encouraging her students to see this exhibit for a worthwhile experience.

Some students from French classes have been to this exhibit and really enjoyed it.

“My first impression of the exhibit was that it was very neat and orderly,” said sophomore Kyle Oldham.  “I enjoyed the whole thing.”

In 1910, the transition from Impressionism to Post-Impressionism started in France, shifting the focus to two-dimensional surface effects and to more symbolic content.  This style favored newer and more expressive art as opposed to more controlled and rigid styles that were popular in the 19th century.

“Post-Impressionism is characterized by brilliant color that is not always realistic,” said Barbara Farmer.  “The art is more expressionistic.”

More than 100 paintings are showcased from Musée d’ Orsay’s galleries.  These paintings range from late impressionist styles by Monet and Renoir to large decorative wall panels by then upcoming Nabi artists such as Vuillard.

“My favorite painting was Spring by Jean-François Millet,” said junior Glory Pinheiro.

As people enter the exhibit, they are taken through an introduction to the birth of Impressionism and how it was developed.  They are then taken on a historical tour through the different styles and artists of Post-Impressionism.

While people walk through and observe the different paintings, they can see how some later styles were developed like abstraction and cubism.  Also, they can observe how artists got inspirations from one another.

Another notable observation about the paintings was that each artist’s emotions were portrayed in their paintings.  People are able to see the usage of colors and styles that convey feelings to the painting’s audience.

“The exhibit was really cool and each painting had a different message to offer,” said Pinheiro.

A must-see artist that caught my eye was Henri Rousseau.  He created War and The Snake Charmer, which were at the museum.  Both the paintings were very unique and had a completely different style and theme compared to the other paintings.

Most people expect more paintings from Van Gogh and Ganguin but actually a lot of the exhibit is focused on a wide variety of artists.  Some artists were Pissaro, Renoir, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Bonnard.  The exhibit is quite large and gives a good overview of the diverse styles of artwork.

There were many different factions in the Post-Impressionism style, such as Neo-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cloisonnism, Synthesism, the Pont-Aven School, and Nabis.  The exhibition is organized according to each of these different styles.

A very popular style of art was Neo-Impressionism.  This approach focuses on the pointilist technique, which describes the use of small dots to create a piece of artwork, and on divisionism technique, which is the use of parallel dabs.  This style also uses pure color instead of blended colors.

This exhibit is really special and a unique opportunity for Bay Area residents because these paintings are rarely transported overseas.

The museum is located in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  The exhibit is open until January 18, 2011.

The ticket price for students with ID is $21 and for adults is $25.  Also, for all Bank of America customers, you get a free admission to the museum and a discount on the special exhibit on the first weekend of every month.

The de Young Museum is a great place to enjoy a day in San Francisco.  For additional information, you can visit the museum website at www.deyoung.famsf.org.