The Incredible L’Orangerie Museum in Paris – Not to be missed!!
L’Orangerie museum Paris was proclaimed by the writer Andre Masson as “the Sistine Chapel of Impressionism”
If you are a Claude Monet fan, then this museum is a MUST when travelling to Paris. This museum showcases eight of Claude Monet’s famous and massive water lilies (called the Nympheas). They are exhibited in two large ovals rooms designed in part by Monet himself to create perfect lighting and ambiance.
The effects of this exhibition are magical.
The L’Orangerie Museum in Paris is a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike. I suggest that you arrive as soon as it opens on a weekday so that can have the place all to yourself. This makes your experience truly one of a kind.
This wonderful museum also houses art works by other famous artists, such as Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir and many others. But if the truth be told, it is Monet’s massive water lily paintings that draw the crowds!
Background behind this incredible museum
French statesman Georges Clemenceau asked Claude Monet to create an artwork that would lift the country out of the gloom from the Great War. At first, Monet declined feeling too old and unable. However, he eventually accepted the task.
Claude Monet conceived the idea of painting a continuous sequence of waterscapes situated in an oval shaped room as a world within a world.
A new studio with a glass wall facing his garden in Giverny was built for this purpose. Monet continued to work on these water lily paintings right up until the end of his life.
“…Every day I discover even more beautiful things. It is intoxicating me, and I want to paint it all – my head is bursting…” Claude Monet Quotes
The “Musée Claude Monet” was inaugurated on 17 May 1927, a few months after Claude Monet’s death. It was transformed into an annex of the Musée du Luxembourg. The building then became the Musée National de l’Orangerie des Tuileries.
For more information about opening times, ticket prices and current exhibitions, check out the Musee L’Orangerie Paris website.
Enjoy
Interested in a guided tour of the L’Orangerie Museum to help you navigate & hear expert explanations of the incredible artworks? Check out the links below.
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