American Friends Musée d'Orsay

Since its inception in 2009, with the support of Director Guy Cogeval and founding members Dr. Seonaid McArthur and Sherry Johnson, AFMO has been committed to nurturing collaborative French-American partnerships in the arts on behalf of the Orsay and Orangerie museums.

The Musée d’Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, celebrated for its collection of mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, ranging from paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography.

Housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900, the museum holds the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and van Gogh.

Members gather for a weekend around exclusive visits, heritage and museum tours, and private art viewings in the French capital and its surroundings before attending the annual the Gala Evening at the Orsay, AFMO's premier fundraising event.

Since 2018, AFMO has been the main sponsor of the Contemporary Art Program at both museums, showcasing works by esteemed contemporary artists such as David Hockney, Glenn Ligon, Alek Katz, Julian Schnabel, Kehinde Wiley and Mickalene Thomas, to create an ongoing dialogue with the Orsay and Orangerie permanent collections.