Musée de l'Orangerie

Musée de l'Orangerie
Musée de l'Orangerie

Musée de l'Orangerie entrance
Established 1852
Location Place de la Concorde
75008 Paris
France
Type Art museum (impressionist and post-impressionist paintings)
Director Pierre Georgel
Public transit access Concorde
Website www.musee-orangerie.fr

Coordinates: 48°51′49.88″N 2°19′20.18″E / 48.8638556°N 2.3222722°E / 48.8638556; 2.3222722

The Musée de l'Orangerie is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings located on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Though most famous for being the permanent home for eight Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet, the museum also contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Alfred Sisley, Chaim Soutine, and Maurice Utrillo, among others.

Contents

Location

The gallery is on the bank of the Seine in the old orangery of the Tuileries Palace on the Place de la Concorde near the Concorde metro station.

History

The museum was chosen and arranged by Claude Monet to showcase his masterpieces.

In January 2000, the museum was closed for renovation work, completely reviewed and restructured, and re-opened to the public in May 2006.

The museum has housed the Paul Guillaume collection of impressionist paintings since 1965.

Monet's Water Lilies

Claude Monet: Nymphéas, 1920–26

A cycle of Monet's water-lily paintings, known as the Nymphéas, was arranged on the ground floor of the Orangerie in 1927. They are available under direct diffused light as was originally intended by Monet. The eight paintings are displayed in two oval rooms all along the walls.

Claude Monet's Nymphéas on display in the museum.

The museum was closed to the public from the end of August 1999 until May 2006. For several months before it was closed there was a special exhibit of Monet's Nymphéas that were gathered from museums throughout the world. More than 60 of the 250 paintings he made of the water lilies in his garden were included. The walls were repainted in shades of purples and violet for this special exhibit. The Orangerie was renovated in order to move the paintings to the upper floor of the gallery.

In popular culture

The Musée de l'Orangerie, specifically the Water Lilies paintings, were featured in Woody Allen's film Midnight in Paris.

External links