[citation needed] In 2009 the descendants of the artist donated the artwork to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, where it is now exhibited.

[2] A commentary for the title of the painting quotes:[3] The shadows are dissipating; dawn appears, radiant, and colours the mountain tops pink.

Then a long procession soars up into the sky: it is the joyful band of nymphs who, during the night, frolicked in the shadow of the forests and by the still waters of the river; they take to the air, watched by the astonished fauns, to return to their own realm and the ethereal regions inhabited by the gods.In this painting, Bouguereau expresses his attachment to his traditional and academic artwork.

Another of his artworks, entitled The Assault, is in the same style as The Oreads, where the artist shows the natural expression of the human body and its attitudes.

The mythological figures in this painting show the erotic side of Bouguereau's artwork, where satyrs openly stare at the nymphs.