MUSEE DE L'ORANGERIE

One of the most breathtaking art museums in Paris

One of the most popular museums for impressionist fans, Musée de l'Orangerie, is situated in the Tuileries Parc, and you can find it, a 5-minute walk from Concorde station. The Orangerie museum is famous especially as a place where you can see the set of huge monumental WATER LILIES of Claude Monet. That's why this museum attracts and gather many local Parisians and tourists from all over the world. 

The name of the museum, Orangerie, means Orange tree in French. As the name, originally the building was not to show artworks but to protect orange trees in Tuileries parc as a shell in 1852 by a request of Napoléon III. After World War One, the Orangerie was transformed into an art museum by George Clemenceau. by making a special space concerned to WATER LILIES. In 1927, it was inaugurated as Musée National de l'Orangerie des Tuileries.

The Musée de l’Orangerie looks small scale, but it has a rich collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art from the ground floor to the 2nd basement floor. Let's discover one of the most breathtaking art museums in the heart of Paris.

What to see in Musée de l’Orangerie

Once you enter the museum, you will be amazed by a bright inside of the building which is filled with the sunlight comes through the huge window. It is characteristic of the history of this monument which was protecting orange trees.

On the ground floor, you can find Monet’s WATER LILIES, café and souvenir shop on the 1st basement floor, and their collection and a temporary exhibition on the 2nd basement floor. Below we will introduce you how to enjoy the Orangerie's amazing artworks.

WATER LILIES

At first, let's go to see the main purpose of the visit to Orangerie, it's, of course, Claude Monet's WATER LILIES on the ground floor. If you go visit there in early time, you can just feel the unique atmosphere by sitting the bench in galleries. In this museum, a set of 8 panels of painting, donated after the first World War, is exhibit in 2 oval rooms. As each panel is 2 meters high and spanning a total length of 91 meters, you can enjoy a panorama view of his pond of Giverny, the town where he lived and had a house.

When you enter the room, you might just be impressed by the monumentality of the space surrounded 360° by Monet's paintings which are calm poetic but the same time lively. There some people get tears in their eyes. You can be soaked in  “a refuge for peaceful meditation in the midst of a flowering aquarium” as Monet wrote. 

All 8 paintings represent the same water lily pond, but each panel has a different atmosphere. Because Monet is the artist who focused on the world changing by various sunlight which depends on the seasons or the passing of the hours from sunrise to sunset. Furthermore, there is no perspective, but the elements such as waves of water, flowers, sky or trees make a rhythm in these pictures, and it makes an illusion which represents an infinity of nature, or his thinking. His every touch are left as three-dimensional because he put the colors directly on the canvas, and then he mixed with other colors there. This is his characteristic way to paint.

Monet painted these tableaux after World War One. If you know this fact, you may feel much emotion of the artist and the pray for the peace. This spiritual and monumental space is apart from the hustle and the bustle of the city. These exhibition rooms could be said one of the most beautiful places in Paris or even in the world.

COLLECTION

After finishing to relax in the urban oasis, you can see their collection which has a history related to impressionism art by following the history to the 20th-century art. To follow the flow of change of art style, we recommend you to turn right after going down the stairs. You can start with Renoir’s impressionist paintings.

Besides delicate universe created by impressionists such as Renoir, you can also discover other artworks which are inspired by their revolutional art. For example, you can see Cézanne’s post-impressionism art in the exhibition room on another side of the space for Renoir’s painting. When you advance more you can find the more dynamic art like primitivism, and cubism by Modigliani, Matisse, Picasso, and Derain. Finally, you will see Utrillo and Soutine's powerful art issue from their suffering. 

TEMPORARY EXHIBITION

Besides their collection, Musée de l’Orangerie hold always fascinating temporary exhibitions which are attached to the 19th century’s art and impressionism. Their various exhibition will always give you inspirations about art which has one of the most glorious histories in art history.

When O’bon Paris visited, they hold an exhibition, FRANTZ MARC / AUGUST MACK. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE RIDER, which is about expressionism, one of the two leading groups of this artistic avant-garde movement in Germany in the 20th century. Their revolutionary art with objectif to subvert the social structure is strongly related to the innovative history of impressionism which is loved by bourgeois people in France. Their paintings expresse subjects which are not civilized but sometimes spiritual such as WATER LILIES.

After watching the impressionism art and feeling Monet’s universe filled with peace, let’s visit café and especially souvenir shop. In the boutique, you may find a rich variety of goods of Monet’s Water Lilies design, such as scarves, accessories, socks, stationeries, postcards, and so on. Let’s bring back home a memory of such a beautiful experience of heaven by art in Paris, the capital of art.

In the museum, you can find During the vacation season or afternoon, the museum is very crowded by local Parisians and tourists from all over the world. So we highly recommend you to visit there in the morning, if you want to feel the real calm heaven. Also, it is better to prepare the ticket in advance to avoid long queue. However, if you want to purchase it on site, you can find a ticket. In addition, you can use the Paris Museum Pass. With it, you can enter the museum faster than without ticket line. So if you visit los of touristic attractions, it could be a wise choice for your trip. In the Orangerie museum, free cloak service is available. When you carry a backpack, you need to put it there before entering galleries.

O'bon Paris tip

Musée de l’Orangerie holds different events by time in Water Lilies’ galleries each year, for example during the Fête de la musique in June they have a music event there. You can check it on their website.

Around the Musée de Orangerie, there are so many attractive spots such as Musée du Louvre, Parc des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, Avenue des Champs-Elysée. So we recommend you to have a walk a most elegant and world-wide known street after relaxing in Monet's Water Lilies dong. At the Champs-Elysees, you can enjoy French authentic sweets in Ladurée Café.

Photographs and words by Yuka