Friday, October 24, 2014

Two Must See Small Paris Museums

I meant to post yesterday but all of the sudden it is a new day! Thought I would recap some of the travel photos from the visit of my in-laws. They had been to Paris before so we only did a few small museums. My two favorite small museums are Musée de l'Orangerie and Musée Rodin.

Musée de l'Orangerie's claim to fame are two huge oval rooms with gigantic paintings from Claude Monet's waterlily series. No photos allowed on the day we were there. There is also a nice selection of impressionist paintings by Renoir and a few other French painters. Plus a nice introduction to post impressionist works. If you don't have much time to spend in Paris this is the perfect museum to visit.

Photo from Wikipedia's website on Musée de l'Orangerie.

 If you have all day to devote to impressionist paintings then start early in the day at this museum and then walk across the Seine to Musée d'Orsay for lunch and spend the rest of the day viewing all the works there. You can buy a reduced ticket at Musée de l'Orangerie to visit both places on the same day. There is a nice restaurant on the top floor of d'Orsay with a small menu that is right off the main impressionist gallery...highly recommend!

The second small museum that is also a must see on my list is Musée Rodin. The Hotel Biron which houses indoor displays, was newly renovated since my last visit in January of 2013.

The Kiss

Surprisingly, a few paintings...



Three Van Goghs but I could only get a photo of one...lots of people in this very small space. 



The weather was perfect on our visit. The gardens are very nice with many sculptures throughout on display. Eiffel Tower in the distant background.


A bit more to share another day...


3 comments:

Ramona said...

My daughter and I were in Paris a few years ago and loved the Rodin museum. We did not make it to the Musee de l'Orangerie, but our favorite was Musee d'Orsay. Great memories!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

would be nice to see this one day

Michelle said...

We saw both of those when we were in Paris on a quick trip a few years ago...they are great museums.