Museums of Paris

After a five-year expansion project, the Beaux Arts-style museum, Petit Palais Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris reopened its doors in 2005. Like a miniature Louvre (without the Louvre’s crowds), the museum houses a diverse collection, spanning ancient Grecian urns, medieval panel paintings, Rembrandt’s “Self-Portrait in Oriental Attire,” Louis XV-era furniture, French Impressionism, the symbolist works of Odilon Redon and Art Nouveau ceramics.
The space also holds an eye-popping collection of paintings from Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Cézanne, Renoir, André Derain and others.

The Musée Picasso is situated in the heart of historic Paris, and has a collection of several thousand works of Pablo Picasso. Picasso was born in 1881 and he began to study art in 1895. During his life he created diverse works: painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, engraving, and even poetry. After his death in 1973, many of Picasso's works went to the French state, which decided to form a museum with the collection.
To house the collection, they chose to use a seventeenth-century hotel, situated in the Marais. This is the Hôtel Salé that was built in 1656 for the general Aubert de Fontenay. Before housing the musée Picasso, the hotel was already well-known. It was leased to the ambassador of Venice, and it became the Central School of Art and Manufacture (and then the School of "métiers d'art"), and finally it was leased to the state in 1975. The restoration of the museum was completed in 1985.

Today, there are 203 paintings, 191 sculptures, 85 ceramics, and over 3000 drawings, engravings, and manuscripts in the museum. Besides the personal collection of Picasso, the museum also has some works of Cézanne and Matisse.

Quai Branly Museum: The arts of Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas in the same museum in Paris

In the heart of Paris's museum land, neighbouring the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, a few minutes from the Grand and Petit Palais, the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Quai Branly Museum or Musée du Quai Branly in french has an exceptional location on the banks of the River Seine, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The arts of Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas now form part of the historical and artistic grand tour of the capital. The Musée du quai Branly is an innovative cultural institution - museum, educational and research centre, and public living space all in one. Built on one of the last available sites in the heart of Paris, the architectural design of this original project is the work of Jean Nouvel.

A museum of non-Western arts
During the 20th century, non-Western arts started to be seen in museum collections. This development was largely thanks to cubist and fauvist artists, influenced by writers and critics from Apollinaire to Malraux, and in the wake of the work of such great anthropologists as Claude Lévi-Strauss. The idea of opening a museum in Paris in 2006, entirely devoted to the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and America gave shape to a worthy ambition - to enable a whole range of viewpoints, from the ethnologist's to the art historian's, to be brought to bear upon the artefacts in question, and bring official recognition to the place occupied by civilisations and cultural heritages of peoples often held apart from global culture today. Under the august patronage of UNESCO, the Musée du quai Branly has already welcomed over 3.5 million enthusiastic visitors to the Pavillon des Sessions, its 'branch' at the Musée du Louvre, since the year 2000.

Two very good restaurants next to the Quai Branly Museum are : Chez l'ami Jean and Les Fables de la Fontaine.

Musée Rodin Paris - Rodin Museum in Paris

Bronze and marble work by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), works by Camille Claudel, Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir etc. Large sculpture in the garden.

As a Public Administrative Establishment under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, the Musée Rodin is endowed with a legal personality and is independent with regard to its income and expenditure. With an average of 500,000 visitors a year, it is one of the most popular museums in France, coming after the Louvre, Versailles and the Musée d’Orsay, but ahead of the Orangerie and the Picasso museum.

This obviously reflects the renown and notoriety of Rodin’s work. It also reflects the special charm of the site and its grounds, the whole southern part of which was remodelled in 1993, but also of the building housing the Master’s works and collections. Everything comes from Rodin, including the chairs, armchairs or sofas where visitors are free to sit down. The Musée Rodin does not set out to reconstitute a period, which would in any case be impossible, but it offers the unique charm of an artist’s home where it is pleasant to stroll at leisure.

The Cafeteria opening hours:
9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., from 1 April to 30 September
9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., from 1 October to 31 March
Tel: 01 45 50 42 34