Orangerie Museum

Set in the Tuileries Gardens, just at the southwest end, is the Orangerie. Since 1984, this wonderful museum houses the collection of paintings acquired by Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume. This collection has been inherited by the French State and stipulates that it should always stay together. 

The Collection

Being that the building is small and intime and the collection complete, it is definitely worth seeing. The collection is made up of 144 paintings, mostly by André Derain. However, there are around 24 Renoirs, and about 24 of Soutines, 14 Cezannes, a dozen by Picasso and Matisse, and some by Henri Rousseau, Utrillo, Modigliani, Marie Laurencin Van Dongen, Sisley, Soutine and Monet.

And most of all, do not leave the Orangerie until you have gone to the two oval rooms, on the basement level, where there are the Waterlily series by Monet. These paintings were offered to France by Monet in 1922 and installed in the museum following his death in 1927. Argenteuil and Sisley’s Le Chemin de Montbuisson, are the cherries on the cake of this visual feast. What’s more, you don’t need marathon endurance to cover the lot and get back to your favourites for a second look.