- The Orangerie – the “Sistine Chapel of Impressionism” and the setting for Claude Monet’s Water Lilies.
- Art, an all-consuming passion. The Walter-Guillaume collection: the avant-garde that revealed the genius of Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso, and Modigliani.
- Scandal and voluptuousness: Juliette Lacaze, heiress and visionary.
Built in 1852 as winter housing for several plant species in the Jardin des Tuileries, the Orangerie soon became a multi-purpose space that held events of a musical, sporting and occasionally artistic nature. The building was given to the Beaux Arts in 1921, and when Claude Monet offered to donate his famous Water Lilies to the French state a year later, they chose the Orangerie as the place to display the work permanently. The site is also home to many other works of Impressionist and post-Impressionist painters such as Cézanne, Picasso, Renoir, Derain, Soutine and Van Dongen.
01
Tour 1: Classic Tour 2hrs
Your guide will take you on a journey of discovery of this incredible museum – once a royal greenhouse, this is where Monet’s Water Lilies hangs, according to the artist’s wishes. Let yourself be carried away by the masterpiece, a symbol of peace in the aftermath of WWI.
Opening hours :
Daily except Tuesday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Closed May 1, the morning of July 14, and December 25
Amenities :
Disabled access
Bookstore
Note:
Photography not allowed in the Salle des Nymphéas (the Water Lilies room)
Direct, no-lines access: reservation required for groups (25 people maximum per guide)