The Imaginary Walks Podcast
AFMO’s 2026 Year End Appeal
Berthe Morisot, Chasse aux papillons, 1874, © Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
A Podcast designed by the Musée d’Orsay, for children.
Promenade Imaginaire, or Imaginary Walks, is a short-format podcast created by the Musée d'Orsay for children. Each episode invites listeners to follow in the footsteps of a child featured in a famous painting. The child describes the artwork's protagonists, their appearances, and their feelings, bringing the museum's collections to life and introducing young listeners to nineteenth-century art, history, and literature. In the first episode, for example, young Irène takes listeners on a hot-air balloon ride above Paris, inspired by Victor Navlet's General View of Paris, Taken from the Observatory, by Balloon (1855). In another, Marguerite brings listeners to the dance floor of Auguste Renoir's Bal du moulin de la Galette (1876). Set in middle-class circles during the Second Empire or the Belle Époque, the Impressionist and Nabi paintings featured offer a glimpse of contemporary family life. Written by Béatrice Fontanel, a poet and the author of numerous illustrated children's books, these stories immerse listeners in the turmoil of an era on the road to modernity.
Maximilien Luce, Le Quai Saint-Michel et Notre-Dame, 1901, © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/Hervé Lewandowski
© Musée d’Orsay
A Growing Success
To date, seventeen episodes have been produced in French for the Musée d'Orsay's collection, and four for the Musée de l'Orangerie. They are available on the usual free platforms (iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, SoundCloud, and others), as well as in the Salle des Fêtes reception room during the Holidays at the Orsay program. Together, the episodes have been listened to 730,000 times.
© Musée d'Orsay / Laëtitia Striffling-Marcu
The Project
Building on this success and on the museum's ongoing commitment to accessibility, the next step is to translate the podcasts into other languages. This initiative is particularly relevant given the strong presence of international visitors at our institutions: 62% of visitors to the Musée d'Orsay and 66% of visitors to the Musée de l'Orangerie come from abroad. These figures highlight the international appeal of our museums and the interest in their programming among audiences around the world.
Edouard Vuillard, Jardins publics : la conversation, les nourrices, l'ombrelle rouge, 1894, © Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Patrice Schmidt
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If you have any inquiries about this initiative, please email projects@aforsay.org
Giving Options for Taxpayers outside the U.S.
AFMO is supported by the UK Fund for Charities, Myriad Canada, and Myriad Australia. Though these organizations, taxpayers from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia may receive tax benefits for their donations to American Friends Musée d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie.
AFMO’s Role
Part of AFMO's mission is to promote accessibility by supporting English-language educational initiatives, including wall texts, museum tours, printed materials, and digital resources. With AFMO's help, English versions of these programs could be produced to reach English-speaking audiences worldwide. Because the United States is the most-represented international audience at both museums, the translation would be into American English, performed by American voice-over actors.
The 2026 Year End Appeal campaign will open on October 25th, 2026 and runs through December 31, 2026.