Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris

About the Musée de l'Orangerie

The Orangerie is a museum of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in the western corner of the Tuileries Garden, next to the Place de la Concorde. The building went up in 1852 under Napoleon III as an orangery, where the garden's orange and lemon trees spent the winter. That's why its south wall facing the Seine is almost all glass, while the north side is blank against the cold wind.

After the First World War it was given over to art, and in 1927 the rooms holding Claude Monet's Water Lilies opened. The museum later received the Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume collection, and in 2000–2006 it was rebuilt to restore natural light to Monet's rooms. Today it is run together with the Musée d'Orsay and is one of the most atmospheric museums in Paris.

What to see

• Monet's Water Lilies — eight panels in two oval rooms.
• Renoir — portraits and scenes with children.
• Cézanne — still lifes and landscapes.
• Matisse and Picasso — early works.
• Modigliani and Soutine — painters of the School of Paris.
• Henri Rousseau and Utrillo — naive Paris and Montmartre.

Claude Monet's Water Lilies

The museum's treasure is the Water Lilies cycle that Monet painted for years in his garden at Giverny. He gave it to the state in 1922 and helped the architect design the rooms himself. Eight panels about two metres high and 91 metres long in total hang in two oval rooms that together form the infinity sign.

Monet wanted the paintings lit by daylight alone, so the rooms have glass ceilings and the colours shift with the weather and time of day. There are no corners or frames: the panels wrap around you, and you seem to stand in a pond of lilies, clouds and willows from dawn to dusk. Benches sit in the centre, so sit down and take your time.

The Walter-Guillaume collection

The lower floor shows the collection of the art dealer Paul Guillaume and the architect Jean Walter, built up by their shared widow Domenica. Guillaume dreamed of a public museum of modern French art, and in 1959–1963 the state acquired the collection for the Orangerie.

Around a hundred and fifty paintings hang here: luminous Renoirs, Cézanne still lifes, works by Matisse and Picasso, Modigliani portraits, expressive Soutines, Henri Rousseau's naive landscapes and Utrillo's Montmartre streets. It is one of the finest small collections of early-20th-century French painting.

The building and its history

The architect Firmin Bourgeois built the orangery, and Louis Visconti decorated its east and west entrances. Before it existed, the garden's citrus trees wintered in the Louvre's Grande Galerie. From 1930 the Orangerie hosted major exhibitions, such as one on Rubens that drew a million visitors.

During the last renovation, remains of a 1566 wall that protected the Tuileries Palace were found beneath the building; they've been preserved and are shown on the lower floor. And in Woody Allen's film Midnight in Paris, the characters talk in the Water Lilies rooms.

The Orangerie and Giverny

If the Water Lilies win you over, consider a trip to Giverny, a village 75 kilometres from Paris where Monet lived for over forty years. His house, the Japanese bridge and the very lily pond he painted for these panels are still there.

The Orangerie and the Orsay are easy to see in one day: the two museums share management and stand almost opposite each other across the Seine. The Orsay holds more famous works by Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh.

Tips for your visit

Start with the Water Lilies rooms while they're quiet, then go down to the Walter-Guillaume collection. An hour and a half is enough to see everything calmly. Photos without flash are allowed, but in Monet's rooms it's better just to sit.

The museum pairs well with a stroll through the Tuileries, the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Élysées. Large bags and backpacks must be left in the cloakroom.

Entry is usually free for under-18s and EU residents under 26; check the official website. Combined tickets with the Musée d'Orsay are available.

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How to do it right

• Timed tickets.
• Closed Tuesdays.
• Quieter early.
• The Orsay is close.

Questions