Courbet's 'Funeral at Ornans' undergoes first restoration at Musée d'Orsay

The Musée d'Orsay, which opened in December 1986 in the former Gare d'Orsay designed by Victor Laloux, is preparing for its 40th anniversary. The museum houses one of the world's most important Impressionist collections, spanning French art from the Second Republic (1848) to the early 20th century. Gustave Courbet's monumental painting 'Funeral at Ornans' (1849–1850), displayed in Room 7, is now undergoing its first conservation treatment since arriving at the museum. The work, which caused a scandal at the Paris Salon for depicting a humble rural funeral with the scale and composition reserved for epic or mythological scenes, has suffered from deformation of its complex stretcher and relaxation of the canvas, leading to opacity of the oil paint. The restoration, approved in 2024, is led by Italian restorer Cinzia Pasquali, who previously worked on Leonardo da Vinci's 'Saint Anne' at the Louvre, under a scientific committee of experts. The project will last 12 to 18 months and is open to the public: a glass enclosure in the gallery allows visitors to watch restorers at work. Starting June 5, 2025, free guided tours will be offered every Thursday morning in three time slots, with mandatory booking via the museum's website. The painting was donated to the Louvre in 1881 and moved to the Musée d'Orsay in 1986. The restoration aims to restore original colors and possibly recover hidden details, similar to the recent cleaning of Delacroix's 'Liberty Leading the People'.