Paris museums
Paris is full of museums and
galleries, almost all of which are well worth a visit if you’re
interested in their subjects. On this page is a cross-section
of suggestions.
If the museum has its own website,
the name is a link. I recommend you look at these, if only
to check opening days and times. Our plans went awry one day
because our guide book gave us the wrong opening hours for
a museum and I would hate something similar to happen to you.
A lot of places are closed on Mondays and others on Tuesdays.
Entrance fees to most museums
– though not all – are included if you buy a Paris
Museum Pass. If you think you might go to at least 3 museums
(which it’s difficult not to in Paris), it’s definitely
worth looking into getting a pass.
If you would be interested in
a private tour with an intelligent, knowledgeable, English-speaking
guide, this excellent service is available for many of the
museums of Paris. You can book it through Paris
Muse.
One nugget of information that
we didn’t know but benefited from by mistake is that
on the first Sunday of every month most museums are free.
This is a fantastic deal, although of course it does mean
the places get quite full on those days.
Musée
de la Magie
The magic museum – see
the Paris magic! page.
Les Invalides
This building was commissioned by Louis
XIV as a rest home and hospital for soldiers too old and/or
infirm to serve any more. These days, it houses several museums,
including the Musée
de l'Armée, and the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.
If you’re into military history, you’ll love this
place.
Metro:
Invalides or La Tour Maubourg or Varenne
Musée
Rodin
  Famous
works by the sculptor Rodin, displayed in the Hôtel
Biron, an impressive building where Rodin lived from 1908
onwards (now the museum) and in the beautiful gardens around
it. Amongst other masterpieces, you can see The Thinker in
the rose garden and The Kiss inside the Hôtel. This
is quite a small museum, particularly by Paris standards,
but you might want to allow extra time just to enjoy the peaceful
atmosphere of the gardens.
Metro:
Varenne
Musée
d’Orsay
This interesting building, which used to
be a railway station, houses some fantastic works by, amongst
others, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cézanne, Gaugin, Matisse,
Degas and van Gogh. You’ll need to allow a good two
or three hours for this one.
Metro:
Solférino
Centre
Pompidou
This colourful cultural centre contains
the Musée National d'Art Moderne, a cinema, a library,
a bookshop, a restaurant, a café and a post office.
Concerts, debates and other events take place there from time
to time and it’s generally an interesting place.
Metro:
Rambuteau
Musée
du Parfum
The Fragonard company has turned a 19th-century
townhouse on the rue Scribe into a museum of scent and its
paraphanalia. Around the corner, at the théâtre
des Capucines, they’ve set up a replica of a 19th-century
perfume factory, complete with copper still, and an exhibition
of perfume bottles through the ages.
You can see all this for free
and try out some of the lovely samples. There is no pressure
to buy but, should you wish to, the prices are good.
Metro:
Opéra
Musée Carnavalet
The fascinating history of Paris laid out
in two adjoining mansions, with the different rooms designed
in the style of bygone ages or to reflect various themes,
such as shop signs. Archeological artefacts, sculpture, paintings,
drawings, furniture, photographs… Nice gardens too.
Allow a few hours to do this place properly.
No website, I’m afraid.
The address is Hôtel Carnavalet, 23 rue de Sévigné,
which is in the Marais district. I believe it’s open
from 10am to 5.30pm Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays)
but please don’t build your day around this information!
Metro:
Saint-Paul
Musée
National Picasso
A huge array of Picasso’s works,
spanning his whole career, is displayed in this beautiful
17th-century mansion. Sculptures, ceramics, engravings and
lots of drawings as well as paintings.
Metro:
Saint-Paul or Chemin Vert
Maison de Victor Hugo
 Victor
Hugo (1802-1885), a French national hero, is perhaps best
known to us Brits as the author of Les
Misérables and Notre-Dame
de Paris or The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (see What
to see and do in Paris for more about Notre-Dame). He
lived in this building between 1832 and 1848, in an apartment
which is now a museum. During the revolution of 1848, a gang
of rioters broke into the Hugos’ home and they decided
to move to a more peaceful part of town. They lived in many
other places around Paris, both before and after, but this
is the one that has been preserved.
Different rooms and their exhibits
tell different stories of the life of this extremely accomplished
man and it’s generally well worth a visit.
No website but the address is
Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée, place
des Vosges and I believe it’s open 10am to 5.30pm, Tuesday
to Sunday.
To find out more about Victor
Hugo, have a look at this informative website: The
Life and Work of Victor Hugo.
Metro:
Saint-Paul or Bastille
Musée Grévin
Waxworks museum, including exhibitions
on the history of France and snapshots of the 20th century.
Rather expensive, in my opinion.
Metro: Grands Boulevards
Jeu
de Paume
The national gallery of photographic and
video art.
Metro: Concorde (The
museum is inside the jardin des Tuileries.)
Musée
de l’Orangerie
In two big, oval rooms are enormous paintings
by Monet of his pond and waterlilies. If you like Monet, this
is a wonderful experience. There are other exhibitions downstairs
but Les Nymphéas, as the waterlily paintings are known,
are the main feature. You could see them in 5 minutes, probably,
but I could have stayed all day.
Metro:
Concorde (The museum is inside the jardin des Tuileries, up
the slight hill on the right as you enter the gardens.)
Musée du Louvre
The grand former palace with its controversial
glass pyramid in front is one of the most famous museums in
the world. It is absolutely huge and, if you’re going
to do anything else while you’re in Paris, you need
to accept that you won’t be able to look at all the
35,000 works of art it contains (not counting the temporary
exhibitions). The most obvious attractions are the Mona Lisa
and the Venus de Milo/Aphrodite but it’s masterpieces
all around.
Metro:
Palais-Royal-Musée du Louvre (or you can arrive by
Batobus)
Musée
Marmottan
The world’s largest collection of
paintings by Monet hangs in a purpose-built exhibition hall.
(Yes, more Monet - he’s one of my favourite artists,
in case you hadn’t guessed.) There are lots of other
works too, many of them bequeathed from the Monet family’s
private collection and done by Claude’s friends and
contemporaries.
Metro:
La Muette
Maison de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) is
another of the most famous names in French literature –
not as much so as Victor Hugo but definitely a giant. He lived
in this little house from 1840 to 1847, writing some of his
best-loved stories, such as Cousin
Bette and The
Black Sheep.
No website but the address is
47, rue Raynouard and I believe it’s open from 10am
to 6pm, Tuesday to Sunday.
For more information about Balzac
and the Paris of his time, have a look at this interesting
website: Balzac’s
Paris.
Metro:
Passy
Musée Galliera de la Mode de la Ville de Paris
This elegant house, which used to belong
to the Duchess of Galliera, is now Paris’s museum of
fashion. You can see how the clothes, shoes, hats, jewellery,
umbrellas and handbags of Paris changed through the course
of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
No website but the address is
10, avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie. I believe it’s open
from 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday.
Metro:
Iéna
Musée d’Art Moderne
de la Ville de Paris
Inside the Palais de Tokyo at 11, avenue
du Président Wilson you’ll find the municipal
museum of modern art. Interesting 20th-century works by a
variety of artists, including Matisse, Dufy, Picasso, Modigliani
and Chagall. Open, I believe, from 10am to 6pm Tuesday to
Sunday.
If you’re in Paris for
a while, this is worth seeing but only after you’ve
been to the Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre.
Metro:
Iéna
The museums in Montmartre are mentioned on the What
to see and do in Paris page, in the section on Montmartre.
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