Travel bucket list idea:
Marmottan-Monet Museum
Paris, Ile-de-France, France
Photo Marmottan-Monet Museum
Last updated: 10 March, 2024
Claude Monet (1840-1926) is one of France and the world’s most celebrated and influential painters, and is credited with founding the Impressionist movement. Impressionist painters attempt to paint nature, especially outdoor landscapes, through their perception and senses.
This museum, housed in a grand 19th-century mansion and appropriately one of the loveliest art venues in Paris, holds the world’s largest of Claude Monet’s paintings. They’re displayed along with Empire furniture and other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works, many collected over two hundred years by the Marmottan family.
The highlight of the collection is Monet’s atmospheric ‘Water Lily’ (Nymphéas) canvases in brilliant blues. They’re part of a series of 250 such oil paintings depicting his flower garden at his home in Giverny, which he dedicated himself to creating during the last 30 years of his life. The rest of the paintings are now held in museums and private collections around the world. Wikipedia has a list of the full series.
Don't miss
Another standout is the early Impression: Soleil Levant (Impression: Sunrise), first shown by Monet at what would become known as the ‘Exhibition of the Impressionists’ in Paris in April, 1874. The ‘Impressionist movement’ was so-named after this painting.
Logistics
Price from: £10
Minimum age: 0
Age suitable: 18+
When: All year around
Getting there & doing it
Take the metro to La Muette. It’s an 8-minute walk from there. There’s also car parking at Vinci Park Passy (78, rue de Passy).
There are no guided tours or audio guides available from the museum itself. You can however book on private organised tours that will include a guided tour of the museum.
When to do it
The museum is open all year round, Tuesday to Sunday. Closed on Monday. Its open late on Thursdays, when crowds are fewer.
