Museums

The aim of the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain is to present the work of living artists around the world and to promote a wide range of contemporary art from painting and sculpture to photography and video.  Previous image Next image Founded in 1984 and established since 1994 in Paris in a building designed by the architect Jean Nouvel and surrounded by a garden created by the artist Lothar Baumgarten, the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain is situated at 261, boulevard Raspail in the heart of Montparnasse.The aim of the Fondation Cartier is to present the work of living artists around the world and to promote a wide range of contemporary art from painting and sculpture to photography and video.Its…

200 meters from the Eiffel Tower, along the right side of the Seine River, you'll discover in Water Street, some cellars miraculously conserved, the old cellars of the Passy Abbaye.  Previous image Next image Let's discover... 200 meters from the Eiffel Tower, along the right side of the Seine River, you'll discover in Water Street, some cellars miraculously conserved, the old cellars of the Passy Abbaye. Some monks of the fourteenth century called "the Bonshommes" cultivated some pieces of vineyard on the top of Chaillot Hill and made their famous wine, much appreciated by the Kings, in the cellars where the "Wine Museum" is located. Location : 5 Square Charles Dickens 75016 Paris Phone : 01 45 25 63 26 How to…

This is a particulary fine example of a large private dwelling, built in the 15th century.  Précédent Suivant HistoryBuilt on the site of the Roman thermal baths of Lutetia, dating from the second or third century, the west side still stands and is one of the most remarkable Gallo-Roman monuments. In the Middle Ages, houses were built into the partially ruined building. At the end of the fifteenth century the present edifice was erected on the Roman foundations and walls. In the nineteenth century the interior was reworked and windows were put into the main body of the building.The CollectionThe collection was put together by Alexandre du Sommerard and his exhibits of armour, chests, ivories, mirrors and hangings became a…

This museum, which opened its doors in 1903, houses his 6000 oil paintings, drawings and watercolors. This house has attracted Andre Breton and the Surrealists in the period between the two World Wars.  Précédent Suivant The CollectionInfluenced by the English Pre-Raphaelitites, Moreau created jewel-encrusted fantasies of a mythological world or the sombre splendour of Byzantium. His work had a poetic melancholy, like Puvis de Chavannes and Odilon Redon's ones. The "femme fatale" is a permanent source of inspiration for Moreau depicting her under a variety of characters: virgin, sphinx, vampire, harpy and siren she appears as The Lady with the Unicorn, Salome, Helen, Delila, a Chimera, Semele, Eve, or Leda. It was in 1888, Huysmans' publication of L'Art Moderne described…

The museum houses the world's greatest collection of Rodin's sculpture and drawings like Les Bourgeois de Calais, Le Penseur, Balzac, La Porte de l'Enfer, Ugolini et fils are exhibited in the garden.  Précédent Suivant Formerly the Hotel Biron, today, this is now the home for the Rodin Museum. Inside, many of the rooms have preserved their original woodwork. And with the large windows and doors, you will see that the rooms are well lit and offer vistas of the surrounding garden. It was not until 1916, when Auguste Rodin suffered a stroke, that he gave his work to the nation on the condition that it remains in the Hotel Biron.For over 10 years, the Hotel Biron which was state owned…

Built for the 1900 World's Fair, just at the Place de la Concorde you will see two structures covered by domes of iron and glass known as the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais.  Précédent Suivant DesignWith its 240 metre-long façade (entered from Avenue Franklin Roosevelt), the Grand Palais is used for various exhibitions. Part of the building is the permanent site of the Palais de la Découverte where recent scientific discoveries, interactive exhibits, some very good temporary exhibitions and a planetarium are displayed.The CollectionThe collection begins with large nineteenth-century French academic pictures like Doré's Valley of Tears, to rooms filled with fifteenth-century Flemish paintings, and Italian Renaissance works including examples by Botticelli, Mantegna and Cima da Conegliano. There are…

Built for the 1900 World's Fair, just at the Place de la Concorde, you will see two structures covered by domes of iron and glass known as the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais.  DesignWith its 240 metre-long façade (entered from Avenue Franklin Roosevelt), the Grand Palais is used for various exhibitions. Part of the building is the permanent site of the Palais de la Découverte where recent scientific discoveries, interactive exhibits, some very good temporary exhibitions and a planetarium are displayed.The CollectionThe collection begins with large nineteenth-century French academic pictures like Doré's Valley of Tears, to rooms filled with fifteenth-century Flemish paintings, and Italian Renaissance works including examples by Botticelli, Mantegna and Cima da Conegliano. There are also objets…

Housed in the nineteenth-century residence of the collector and art historian Paul Marmottan, whose fine collection of medieval, Flemish, Renaissance and Napoleonic art he left to the Institut de France in 1932.  Previous image Next image You can find wonderful pieces such as Gauguin's Bowl of Tahitian Flowers, Corot's The Lake at Ville d'Avray seen through Trees and Sisley's Le Canal du Loing in Spring and the most important collection of Monet's paintings world wide. The CollectionsThe Marmottan CollectionsFounder of the Mines de Bruay and Treasurer Paymaster in the Gironde region, Jules Marmottan is also a collector. His taste tends especially toward primitive German, Flemish and Italian painters. His son, Paul, devoted a large part of his time in researching the…

The Museum of Modern Art is well worth visiting for its selection of the major art movements of the twentieth century.  Précédent Suivant Built for the World Fair in 1937, this building has two parts and are linked by a white stone portico. The Musée d'Art Moderne was also named the Palais de Tokyo.DesignThe walls of the terrace are decorated with reliefs by Janniot and with statues by Bourdelle including La France, in memory of the patriots killed in World War Two. In the east wing, there is a collection of modern art, from the turn of the century to the present day.The CollectionThe Museum of Modern Art is well worth visiting for its selection of the major art movements…

For the architecture alone, you should not miss visiting this ultra-modern museum. All glass and stainless steel, bridges and suspended walkways, transparent escalators and elevators, this museum has been designed so that you feel like you are in a "city of the future".  The "Parc de la Villette" is located between the Porte de la Villette and the Porte de Pantin. It is the largest Park Intra Muros of Paris. The place accomodates a complete urban project:the city of sciences and industry,the city of the Music,the Large Market,the room of spectacle of the Zenith.Located on old the abbatoirs of Paris, the Park of the Villette is an active space, a new district of meeting, culture and leisures. Place of exhibitions,…