Sargent The Paris Years Orsay Tickets

Silas, it looks like you can enter the museum, see what you want, and then head to the collection using your reservation. Here is the language I'm looking at, along with a link: https://billetterie.musee-orsay.fr/en-GB/products?famille=1933737738230400130

Includes access to the permanent collections and the temporary exhibitions (subject to availability): From September 23rd, 2025 to January 11th, 2026: Sargent. The Paris Years (1874-1884). We strongly advise to book a specific time slot in advance to guarantee access to the exhibition in case of overcrowding.

It sounds like you don't really need to book a reservation for the exhibit but they encourage it, so it seems to me that you would purchase general admission to the permanent collection, see what you want, and then visit the special exhibit at your reservation time.

BTW, thanks for the heads up! I love Sargent and saw his London exhibit at the Tate Britain last year. This would be worth making a trip,

Yes, you can enter Orsay earlier than your timed ticket to the Sargent exhibit. We had the same question as you for the Caillebotte exhibit this January. We shot up to the 5th, viewed the side rooms on the main floor and then went to the exhibit. No problem. Enjoy.

Probably...we visited the d'Orsay last spring and had timed tickets (10:30am) for the special Impressionist exhibit. We arrived early just to make sure we were there in plenty of time. I walked up to one of the employees seated at the beginning of a line, just to confirm that her line was the line we should stand in at the appropriate time. She told us to feel free to go ahead and go in. I pointed out that our tickets were for a bit later. She said no problem; it wasn't crowded feel free to go in. So we did! It was only about 45 minutes early; but it was in the spring, so I'm thinking in January you could go early.

We were held to our timed ticket time for the special exhibit once inside, but we had 45 minutes to wander anywhere else, but stayed on the first floor and nobody even glanced at Whistler's Mother sitting by herself except us!
We saw the special exhibit then went to the 5th floor. I wonder now how this magic happened and perhaps it was because the special exhibit was for Impressionism, but when we got up to the 5th floor it was wide open with few people. We had the luxury of gazing at all the magnificence without a huge crowd for quite some time. By the time we left the floor it was really crowded; but what a wonderful memory!

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

Mardee, I read that yesterday and it just was not clear enough for me I suppose.

What seems like a blockbuster show in my mind may in reality not even really need reservations.

I've got a select few paintings from the museum's collection that have been on loan during my past visits and I need to study them first.

Fortunately I've already seen the Caillebotte show in Chicago. The pieces from the Orsay will likely not be back on display by the time we get to Paris so that worked out nicely. Many I had already seen at the Orsay on previous visits. I was surprised to find almost 50% were from private collections. Very nice. I was also surprised by the great access I had to the paintings. I thought it would have been a mass of people. It was definitely not like the Van Gogh retrospective in Detroit!

I saw this in NYC in June at the Met. So gorgeous. You will love it. It’s been quite a year for John Singer Sargent.

Mardee, I read that yesterday and it just was not clear enough for me I suppose.

Silas, it could be my interpretation, too. I'm kind of a "glass half full" gal when it comes to interpreting language and it usually goes in the direction I want, lol!

Lyndash, I've always liked Sargent's later work best but I will love this too. I've already read most of the accompanying catalog book which is nicely done. I had just finished reading the Caillebotte catalog book a month back. My eyes are getting worn out....

Mardee, I turned the site back to French and gave it a try but I still couldn't massage it enough to make me confident!