Musee de l'Orangerie

Monet gave the state a set of Water Lilies panels the day after the 1918 armistice and then spent years arranging how they would be seen: two oval rooms, laid out in a rough figure of eight, lit from above by daylight, with eight compositions running continuously around the walls at eye level and no frames or furniture to interrupt them. He worked on them until his death in 1926 and the rooms opened the following year. Below, the Walter-Guillaume collection holds Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Soutine and Picasso from a single dealer's holdings, which gives the basement a very different character.

History

Napoleon III had the Orangerie built in 1852 to shelter the citrus trees of the Tuileries garden in winter, which had until then been kept in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre; the architect Firmin Bourgeois glazed its south side for light and left the north side almost windowless against cold winds, and Louis Visconti decorated its east and west entrances with pediments carved by Charles Gallois-Poignant. After the fall of the Empire in 1870 and the burning of the Tuileries Palace in 1871 the building passed to the state, which used it for its trees and for concerts, exhibitions and even dog shows until 1922, before it became the home of Monet's Water Lilies (Wikipedia, Musée de l'Orangerie).

Highlights

• The two oval rooms - eight Water Lilies panels in continuous sequence.
• The overhead daylight - the natural lighting Monet specified.
• The Walter-Guillaume collection - Renoir, Cezanne, Soutine and Modigliani below.
• The Tuileries setting - the museum at the garden's western end.

When to go

Year-round; the museum closes Tuesdays. Early opening or late afternoon gives the ovals at their quietest, which matters here more than in most museums.

Things to know

The oval rooms are small and fill with groups, which undercuts the contemplative effect Monet intended. Booking a timed slot online avoids the queue. Photography without flash is allowed but discouraged by the crowding.

Nearby

The Tuileries and Place de la Concorde adjoin; the Musee d'Orsay is across the river.

Key facts