Museums and temporary exhibitions

National Museums

(Every day except Tuesdays)

Louvre

The Mona Lisa, the Vénus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace…discover these masterpieces and other hundreds in the Louvre museum, the former palace of the kings of France, dedicated to art of the Ancient world and the West until the mid-19th century. The most beautiful and the largest museum in the world.

Orsay

(every day except Mondays)

Settled in the former Orsay railway station built in 1900 the Orsay museum inaugurated in 1986 covers all the creation from the second half of the 19th century (1848-1914). From Courbet to Matisse, through the Impressionists, Van Gogh, Gauguin and the Art nouveau (Modern' style).

Invalides

(every day)

French military history from the middle ages to 1945. Third collection in the world of arms and armours. Objects, uniforms, engravings, paintings and pictures. Napoleon's tomb. New rooms dedicated to the Second World War were inaugurated on June 18th 2000.

Rodin

A delightful museum occupying the house and garden where the sculptor once lived. Among the works on display, you'll see "The Kiss", "The Thinker", "Balzac", "The burghers of Calais", and several works by Rodin's companion Camille Claudel.

Centre Pompidou

One of the most visited cultural center in the world, colored pipes, suspended escalator and one of the nicest views over Paris roofs.

The Georges Pompidou Center houses the National Museum of Modern Art which offers a panorama of 20th century art: from Matisse to Picasso and the cubists, including Braque and Léger, through the abstractionists, with Kandinski and Pollock up to a rich collection of contemporary art.

Moyen-âge / Cluny

Exceptional collection of objects, statues, and tapestries from the middle ages including the celebrated Lady and the Unicorn and the heads of Kings from the façade of Notre-Dame displayed in a room from the ancient Gallo-Roman thermal baths.

Picasso

The largest collection of Picasso's art housed in a beautiful Marais mansion. Blue period, Pink period, Cubism, Surrealism and later periods through 250 paintings, 160 sculptures and more than 1500 prints, stuck papers, ceramics…

Gustave Moreau

Once the residence and studio of the symbolist painter, teacher of Matisse and Rouault. The house is crammed wall to wall with his paintings and drawings, a journey through his fantasies and obsessions. ("Les Prétendants", "Jupiter et Sémélé", "Salomé", "Fleur Mystique") and almost abstract sketches.

Palais Garnier

(every day)

Opened in 1875, the Opera Garnier is one of the most extraordinary monuments in Paris, awash with guilt in the grand Foyer just restored, and fifteen different kinds of colored marbles. Painted Ceiling by Chagall.

Orangerie

The Walter-Guillaume collection holds work by Soutine, Cézanne, Renoir, Picasso, Derain, Matisse, Rousseau and Modigliani. Downstairs: Monet's famous 'Water Lilies'.

Reopened on May 2d 2006, after 5 years of restaurations!

Paris City Museums

(Every day except Mondays)

Vie Romantique

Souvenirs from Georges Sand and Chopin in the house where they used to meet. Preserved testimony of the houses of artists built in the 'Nouvelle Athènes' around 1830. Glasshouse and garden with a little tea room.

House of Balzac

The only remaining Parisian dwelling of the author of the Human Comedy (where he lived from 1840 to 1847 hiding from his creditors). Literary documents and personal souvenirs of the writer.

Carnavalet / Histoire de Paris

The 16th century mansion where Madame de Sévigné lived from 1677 to 1696 houses a museum that illustrates the history of Paris from Gallo-Roman times to the 20th century, including memorabilia from the Revolution and a reconstruction of Proust's bedroom.

Zadkine

The house and the studio on rue d'Assas, where Zadkine lived and worked from 1928 to the end of his life. In the garden, mingled with the vegetation, can be seen major works by the artist.

Paris museum of modern Art

Built as the electricity pavilion for the 1937 World Exposition, today it holds the municipal collection of modern art. The museum is strong on the Cubists, the Fauves, Rouault, the Delaunays, Soutine, Modigliani and the Ecole de Paris. The contemporary department puts on some of the most adventurous contemporary shows in town.

Cognacq Jay

18th century paintings, furniture, and ceramics amassed by the founder of La Samaritaine department store are displayed in paneled interiors, some original to this Marais mansion, others collected by Cognac-Jay himself. Among the paintings are works by Boucher, Chardin, Canaletto and Fragonard.

Petit Palais

The Paris Palace of fine Arts, characteristic of late 19th century architecture houses a museum of fine arts runned by the city of Paris, where the main artistic currents from ancient times to the early 20th century are presented. Beautifully renovated, it was reopened in January 2006.

Grand Palais

Other Museums

Nissim de Camondo

Beautiful 19th century mansion overlooking Park Monceau. 18th century Art and furniture. Fatal destiny of a family, former bankers of the Ottoman Empire.

Art et Histoire du judaïsme

(every day except Saturdays)

Jewish religious objects and popular art from Eastern Europe, Turkey and North Africa. Models of synagogue architecture. Archives of the Dreyfus Affair. Paintings by Chagall, Modigliani, Soutine and Kikoîne. Set in a beautifully renovated Marais mansion.

Jacquemart - André

(every day)

A Belle Époque mansion housing exceptional works of Art from Italian Renaissance, 12th century northern schools and 17th century French painting.

Marmottan

(every day except Mondays)

Collection of impressionists, 100 masterpieces from Claude Monet (whose "Impression at Sunrise" gave its name to the impressionist movement) and his impressionist friends. Flemish, primitives and illuminations from the 12th to the 15th century.

Wine museum

Located in ancient quarries converted in cellars by the monks of Passy in the 15th century, the museum recounts the history of wine through different objects, traditional implements and wax figures. Tasting and restaurant.

Dina Vierny-Maillol

Founded by Dina Vierny, the former model of the artist, the museum displays, in addition to Maillol's work, a significant modern art collection including Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard, Odilon Redon, Maurice Denis…

Luxembourg / Senate museum