MUST GO MUSEUMS IN PARIS

I love going to museums which is pretty evident from the number of posts related to museums in this blog (here, here, here and here). Everytime I go to Paris, I try to make an attempt to visit as many museums as I can. The first time I went back in 2016, I was able to hit the essentials, Musée du Louvre, Musée D’Orsay, Musée de l’Orangerie and Musée Rodin.

If I were to draw parallels with the museums here in NYC, I believe that Musée D’Orsay and Musée du Louvre gives a familiar experience to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They both have a good balance of paintings, sculptures and relics. Musée Rodin was absolutely stunning. The garden was beautiful and the museum itself was extremely dreamy. The interiors of the museum were so stunning that I even took a picture of the bathroom, which was concealed behind a hidden door. I did not know that Rodin sculpted The Thinker, and to be able to see it in person with my own eyes was truly a remarkable experience.

Musée de l’Orangerie was different from anything I had ever seen. The museum was a lot smaller than the other three, so you can definitely get a good look of the entire museum in about 2 hours. The first floor is exclusively only for Claude Monet’s Water Lilies. There were about three rooms with Monet’s Water Lilies surrounding the room 360 degrees. In the basement, the floor is bisected into a permanent and non-permanent exhibition space.

My second trip in 2018, I made sure I visited the non-touristy museums. I went to Musée de l’Armée (Army Museum), Musée du Luxembourg, Grand Palais, Petit Palais, Centre Pompidou, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris Museum of Modern Art), Musée du quai Branly, Panthéon and Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (National Museum of Natural History).

Of all the museums I went to, my favorite was the Musée de l’Armée. The Army Museum is mostly known for the Dôme des Invalides where Napoleon’s tomb lies. However, I find the museum to be more than just that. The museum does a really good job at providing a comprehensive end to end display on both World Wars. In addition, I find their temporary exhibitions very well curated. When I visited, the museum was doing a feature on the conflicts in Eastern Europe post World War I. I ended up spending an entire day in the museum, something I did not expect to do.

Additional final notes from my museum trekking trip:

Everyone’s experience at Grand Palais, Musée du Luxembourg and Centre Pompidou would be different for everyone as the spaces are mostly used for temporary exhibitions.
Petit Palais and Paris Museum of Modern Art offer free admission to their permanent exhibitions.
Musée du quai Branly has a great and non crowded view of the Eiffel Tower. Monsieur Bleu, a restaurant attached to the Paris Museum of Modern Art, has a phenomenal night view of the Eiffel. They also serve good food, so it’s a win win.

Musée du Louvre