Musée de l'Orangerie

The Musée de l'Orangerie in the garden des Tuileries near the Louvre is now open. It provides us the chance to see Les Nympheas of Claude Monet. This museum has been closed since 2000 and it is now completely renovated and restructured.

Les Nympheas are one of the most impressive impresionnism paintings one could see in his live. Colors, size and perspectives of the Nympheas are an invitation to meditation. Check the virtual visit of the Nympheas (colors on the web have nothing in common with the real ones).


The Museum also offers the possibility to discover the rich collection of paintings gathered by Paul Guillaume. This collection includes paintings of famous names: Cézanne, Renoir, Picasso,
Rousseau, Matisse, Derain, Modigliani, Soutine, Utrillo and Laurencin.

Doing the visit is like meeting famous paintings that use to exist only in books.

From November 22th to March 5th the exhibition of 1934, has been re-created: "Realistic Painters" or "The Painters of Reality in France in the 17th Century". Fabulous paintings of Georges de la Tour and the Le Nain Brothers are presented.

If you do the visit of the Orangerie, begin by the Nympheas, then the Paul Guillaume collection, then have a break before seeing Realistic Painters. If time permits, visit again the Nympheas again before you go.

I regret that the visitors who do not speak French must rent some audio system to get the explanations, as no effort has been done to translate the panels.