The Musée d’Orsay is a unique building in that it was installed in the former Orsay Railway Station which was originally built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Its brilliant location is at the centre of Paris right on the banks of the Seine and opposite the Tuileries Garden. The building, which displays art from the period of 1848 to 1914, can itself be considered a “work of art” making it one of the things to see in Paris France.

In 1979, the proposition by ACT architecture group was chosen out of six propositions which respected the original architecture by Laloux while reinterpreting it according to its new function as a museum. Thus the transformation of the railway station to a museum began. Musée d’Orsay was inaugurated in 1986 by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand.

The museum is organised on three levels: galleries are distributed on either side of the central nave on the ground floor, above which are the terraces in the median level that open to further exhibition galleries; the top floor is installed above the lobby overlooking the rue de la Légion d'Honneur. The exhibition spaces of the museum are distributed across these three levels. Visitors can wander along the pavilion Amont or the glass walkway of the former station's western section and stop to eat at the museum restaurant, the Café des Hauteurs. There is also a bookshop and an auditorium.

The collection was formed mainly by contributions from three national museums: Louvre Museum, Musée du Jeu de Paume and National Museum of Modern Art. This amassed collection has separate sections devoted to painting, sculpture, decorative arts or objects d’art, photography, graphic arts and architecture. The collection continues to be enriched by donations and purchased acquisitions.
Events including exhibitions dedicated to specific artists, concerts and competitions are regularly held at the museum.