The Musée de l’Orangerie is small, calm and unforgettable. At the end of the Tuileries Garden, in a former orangery overlooking the Place de la Concorde, it holds one of the masterpieces of modern art: Claude Monet’s Water Lilies.
Monet’s Water Lilies
Monet gave the series to the French state as a symbol of peace after the First World War. The eight huge panels fill two oval rooms, lit by natural light from above, exactly as the painter wanted. The rooms opened to the public in 1927, a few months after Monet’s death. Sit on the benches in the middle and let the water, clouds and willows surround you – it is the closest you can get to Monet’s garden without leaving Paris.
The Walter-Guillaume collection
Downstairs, the collection of the art dealer Paul Guillaume and his wife Domenica brings together paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani and Soutine – an intimate tour of art from Impressionism to the 1930s.
Tips
- Go early or late in the day to have the oval rooms almost to yourself.
- Allow about an hour: the museum is compact, which makes it perfect after a walk in the Tuileries.
- The museum is free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month, with a timed booking.
- Seen the paintings? See the real garden at Monet’s House and Gardens in Giverny, and more Impressionists at the Musée d’Orsay, just across the Seine.
