The last major stop in Lyon is the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts. It is quite a famous museum, probably second only to the Louvre in the breadth of the collection in France and we decide to dedicate today’s afternoon to its exploration. But first we have to be able to visit it given that other major museums we have visited recently required timed ticket that we don’t have.
Luckily while it is quite busy there are no issues getting tickets and getting in, one more plus for us in liking Lyon. And then in we go trying to follow the map showing the major attractions as we have only limited time before the museum closes.
We start from the top but of course we find the worst access possible, somehow we are on the top floor but there is no direct way to the floor below us. So we go back to the elevator and take it to the floor below us to start the actual visit.
Somehow we start in Impressionist section which is also our preferred section in French art museums. There are many different special painters that we like and we always find new ones to like in every museum we visit.
The topics that we like are usually nature related but there are always also allegories to understand and Biblical scenes to remember.
There are also post Impressionist painters here, famous ones like Paul Gauguin, we always like to compare his paintings against the Impressionist paintings and…we still like the Impressionist ones more.
The museum has the usual collection of Rodin statues, it seems he really was quite prolific. There are also quite a few portraits including the famous Young Woman with Pelerine from Manet.
There is even a modernist exhibit that we visit to try to guess at what is represented in most paintings. That is one of favorite games, guessing what is represented and then reading the description and see how close, or far, we were in our guess.
Next is the medieval art section which is more religious in topic and we don’t like as much. We also have limited time left so we go faster through this section to find the next section which is focused on ancient art.
Besides religious paintings there are also lots of portraits of noble people and kings and then some landscapes and fruits and dead birds, quite a weird mix of paintings really.
We then arrive at the ancient section highlighted by a strong Egyptian collection, mummies and amulets and anything else you would expect.
What we do not expect is to find a huge Monumental Gate from an Egyptian temple, Medamud. The gateways were excavated in 1939 by a French archaeologist before being brought to Lyon and are quite impressive to walk through even though quite far from the original location.
There is also a small section with Greek and Roman artifacts including a Roman mosaic, by the time we will leave France we will have seen quite a few beautiful mosaics. Including this one with a tiger.
There is also a section focused on geology with some interesting rocks and then another one focused on engravings.
Weapons section, check. Coin section, check. There are lots of sections here, relatively small but interesting to go through especially at speed given that we have only about half hour left.
The rooms themselves are worth checking out, the ceilings are beautifully decorated and there are artful seats and chests all around to look at.
There is also a fully recreated room from an old hotel and a few tapestries, overall we really like these sections with odds and ends to explore.
In the last ten minutes we descend to the basement, or the former chapel, which to our surprise is full of sculptures. There are quite a few famous sculptures here so we decide to spend the rest of the time here, not that a lot is left.
Even in this short time we notice that the topic seems to be that Perseus either tortures or kidnaps women that are always in a state of disrobement. Maybe that was all the rage at that time in history? And then we are done, as the museum announces that everyone has to exit we make our way outside to find a place to eat dinner before continuing to explore the downtown area.
