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Last Updated: 20 September 2024

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The first time I visited the Musée de l’Orangerie, I felt a surge of excitement as I stepped inside.

It was a chance to finally see, in real life, the paintings I’d admired for so long in books as a child.

Situated in the peaceful Tuileries Garden, right near Place de la Concorde, the Orangerie houses some of the most stunning Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by masters like Cézanne, Renoir, Modigliani, and Soutine.

But it’s the Water Lilies murals by Monet that truly take centre stage, creating a breathtaking experience you can’t forget.

>> Get your entry tickets to the Orangerie

 

The Fascinating History of the Orangerie

Musée de l'Orangerie © French moments
Musée de l’Orangerie © French moments

 

The site of the Orangerie

The Orangerie Museum is located in the Tuileries Garden, at the western end of the terrace along the Seine, just by Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Initially, the building was an orangery for the Tuileries Palace—hence the name.

Indeed, the pavilions of the Orangerie and its counterpart, the Jeu de paume, were built on the grounds of the Tuileries garden in Paris during the Second Empire (19th century).

 

The Site of a 17th-Century Restaurant

This spot was home to a restaurant called Renard, named after a former valet, Jacques de Souvré, in the 17th century.

It was a popular meeting place for the nobility, with cosy rooms adorned with tapestries and paintings.

However, it was also a scene for some rather chaotic events during the Fronde civil wars.

 

The Tuileries’ Orangerie

The current building was constructed in 1852 and designed by architect Firmin Bourgeois to house the orange trees of the Tuileries garden.

However, Louis Visconti took over the project and made the final touches.

Louis Visconti by Théophile Vauchelet Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Louis Visconti by Théophile Vauchelet Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The idea was to give the trees a home for the winter—they used to be kept in the lower galleries of the Louvre.

The design included a glass façade on the south side to let in sunlight, while the north side was windowless to protect the trees from cold northern winds.

Visconti also added a decorative touch to the two entrances with sculptures of cornucopias and plants, a nod to the building’s original purpose.

Musée de l'Orangerie © French moments
Musée de l’Orangerie © French moments

In 1865, the Orangerie even served as a temporary studio for sculptor Carpeaux, who used it to create a portrait of Napoleon III’s son, the Prince Imperial, with his dog Nero.

Le Prince Impérial et son chien Néro by Carpeaux. Photo by ZHANG JING - licence [CC BY-SA 4.0] from Wikimedia Commons
Le Prince Impérial et son chien Néro by Carpeaux. Photo by ZHANG JING – licence [CC BY-SA 4.0] from Wikimedia Commons

After the Tuileries Palace burned down, the Orangerie was used as a storehouse, an examination room, and a lodging place for mobilised soldiers.

It welcomed several sporting, musical, and patriotic events before becoming the venue for an annual exhibition of hunting and wildlife art from 1890 to 1912.

 

The Orangerie in the 1930s

The Orangerie was attached to the Louvre in 1930 after being linked to the Musée du Luxembourg.

Renovations followed, changing the building’s layout.

Four new rooms, totalling 500 square metres, were added in the western part to host temporary exhibitions.

From 1930 to 1933, the first shows focused on the Impressionists.

In 1934, the exhibition featured 17th-century realist painters.

A 1936 show on Rubens and his era attracted a million visitors.

In 1937, the spotlight was on Edgar Degas.

 

The Orangerie during and after WW2

During the Occupation, from 15 May to 31 July 1942, the German sculptor Arno Breker, official artist of the Third Reich, exhibited his work at the Orangerie.

This show was part of Nazi propaganda, intended to showcase the superiority of official Nazi art over so-called “degenerate” art.

After the Liberation in 1945, the Orangerie and the Jeu de Paume became one entity under the Louvre’s painting department.

Temporary exhibitions, which began in the 1930s, resumed.

In 1946, the Orangerie displayed French paintings that had been seized or sold under duress to the Nazis, later recovered by the French Art Recovery Commission with help from the U.S. Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program.

In 1954, an exhibition focused on Van Gogh and the artists of Auvers-sur-Oise.

In 1955, it highlighted French paintings from David to Toulouse-Lautrec.

These exhibitions’ success led to the National Galleries opening at the Grand Palais in 1964.

 

The 2000-2006 Renovation

Between 2000 and 2006, a massive renovation cost 30 million euros.

The main goal was to remove the ceiling that had covered Monet’s Water Lilies since 1965, restoring the natural light that Monet intended.

To make up for the lost exhibition space, 1,000 square metres were created underground beneath the Tuileries Terrace, bringing the museum’s total space to 6,300 square metres.

This new area now houses the Walter-Guillaume collection.

They also added a temporary exhibition space, an auditorium, an education room, and a library.

During the renovations, archaeologists uncovered remnants of the fossés jaunes (yellow moats), built in 1566 to protect the Tuileries Palace.

A section of this historic wall is still visible inside the museum today.

Since 2021, the official name of the Orangerie Museum has been “établissement public du musée d’Orsay et du musée de l’Orangerie – Valéry-Giscard d’Estaing”.

It’s a French museum known for its impressive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings and has been part of the Musée d’Orsay since 2010.

Each year, around 700,000 people visit the art gallery.

>> Get your entry tickets to the Orangerie

 

The Paintings on Display at the Musée de l’Orangerie

The Orangerie Museum has two exhibition spaces:

  • The famous Water Lilies cycle, with eight large paintings by Claude Monet covering the walls of two oval rooms.
  • The Walter-Guillaume collection, featuring works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Le Douanier Rousseau, André Derain, Chaïm Soutine, Marie Laurencin, Maurice Utrillo, Paul Gauguin, and Kees van Dongen.
  • In addition, there are a number of sculptures on display outside the building.

 

Monet’s Water Lilies

The Orangerie is the permanent home for the Waterlilies murals, a series of 8 panels painted by Claude Monet in his garden at Giverny.

Known as Les Nymphéas, the paintings are arranged along the walls in two oval rooms.

Musée de l'Orangerie © French moments

The 8 panels evoke the passing of the hours from sunrise in the East to sunset in the West.

Monet described his work as “the illusion of an endless whole, of water without horizon and without shore.”

The masterpiece was ordered by the French government to Claude Monet in 1922.

The Nymphéas were donated by the painter to be housed in the oval rooms at the Orangerie.

Musée de l'Orangerie © French moments

 

The Genesis of a Major Project

In 1921, the Orangerie, along with its northern counterpart, the Jeu de Paume, was assigned to the Undersecretary of State for Fine Arts.

The Orangerie was meant to showcase works by living artists.

However, Claude Monet chose it to display his Water Lilies cycle, which he had just donated to the state.

This was thanks to Georges Clemenceau, then Prime Minister, Minister of War, and a close friend of Monet.

Claude Monet and Georges Clemenceau photographed by Nadar

Initially, the idea was to exhibit the Water Lilies in a new pavilion in the courtyard of the Hôtel Biron, now the Rodin Museum.

Clemenceau often visited Monet in Giverny to lift the painter’s spirits.

Monet was losing his sight due to cataracts and felt discouraged.

Clemenceau convinced him to have cataract surgery with his own ophthalmologist so he could finish his masterpiece.

At the same time, Clemenceau negotiated with officials to find a suitable space for Monet’s grand work, which was formally donated in 1922.

The Orangerie was renovated by Camille Lefèvre, the chief architect of the Louvre, following Monet’s instructions.

Nymphéas by Monet © French Moments

 

Completion of the Project

The project was completed in 1927, six months after Monet’s death.

Clemenceau attended the inauguration.

The orange trees were removed, and a staircase and upper level were added to access the exhibition rooms.

Eight panels, each two metres high and totalling 91 metres in length, were displayed in two oval rooms.

These rooms were designed in an infinity shape, aligned east to west, following Paris’s historical axis and the sun’s path.

Just as Monet wanted, natural light streamed in through skylights to immerse visitors in a “state of grace.”

Nymphéas by Monet © French Moments

Nymphéas by Monet © French Moments

Nymphéas by Monet © French Moments

Nymphéas by Monet © French Moments

Nymphéas by Monet © French Moments

Nymphéas by Monet © French Moments

Nymphéas by Monet © French Moments

 

The Walter-Guillaume Collection

The Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume Collection is displayed on the underground floor.

It consists of 146 paintings from the 1860s to the 1930s.

Among them are:

  • 25 paintings by Renoir,
  • 15 by Cézanne,
  • 1 by Gauguin,
  • 1 by Monet,
  • and 1 by Sisley.

From the 20th century, the collection includes:

  • 12 Picassos,
  • 10 Matisses,
  • 5 Modiglianis,
  • 5 Marie Laurencins,
  • 9 by Le Douanier Rousseau,
  • 29 by Derain, 10 by Utrillo,
  • 22 by Soutine,
  • and 1 by Van Dongen.

Walter-Guillaume Collection © French Moments

 

The Fabulous Story of the Walter-Guillaume Collection

In 1934, Domenica, the widow of art dealer Paul Guillaume, inherited his fortune and art collection.

She was allowed to make changes but had to ensure the collection would one day enter the Louvre.

Domenica had a taste for acquiring new Impressionist works.

At the same time, she sold over 200 pieces, many of which could have been key additions to France’s modern art collections.

This included all of Giorgio de Chirico’s paintings, Picasso’s cubist works, and African sculptures.

She also sold 15 Matisses, including two large early works.

One of these, The Piano Lesson (1916), was bought by the MoMA in 1946. In France, only the Musée de Grenoble has a piece similar to the one in Interior with Aubergines(1911).

Domenica also sold Modigliani portraits, including one of Jean Cocteau.

Walter-Guillaume Collection © French Moments

 

Acquisition by the State

In 1959, the French state acquired 47 paintings from Domenica Walter, who had remarried architect Jean Walter.

The purchase, worth 135 million francs, was funded by a Société des Amis du Louvre subscription.

The remaining 99 paintings were bought in 1963.

This fulfilled her late husband’s wish that the collection become “the first museum of modern French art.”

From 1960 to 1965, under the guidance of architect Olivier Lahalle, the museum was transformed to house the Walter-Guillaume collection, which was gifted to the French state on the condition it wouldn’t be dispersed.

The exhibition galleries from 1930 were removed, and two new levels were built along the length of the building.

A monumental staircase with a decorative railing by Raymond Subes replaced the vestibule leading to Monet’s Water Lilies.

It provided access to a suite of rooms, totalling 1,300 square metres, designed by Domenica Walter to display her 146 paintings.

The collection was unveiled to the public in 1966 in the presence of Culture Minister André Malraux, but the artworks stayed with Mme Walter until her death in 1977.

When the Walter-Guillaume collection finally arrived at the Orangerie, a new round of renovations began in 1978 and lasted until 1984.

During this time, the Orangerie became an independent national museum, no longer attached to the Jeu de Paume or the Louvre.

Walter-Guillaume Collection © French Moments

 

Sculptures on display around the building

Around the building, several sculptures are displayed outdoors.

Along the north façade, which faces the Tuileries Garden, you’ll find Le Grand Commandant Blanc (1986) by sculptor Alain Kirili.

There are also three bronze casts by Rodin: Eve(1881, cast in 1889), Méditation avec bras (1881, cast around 1905), and L’Ombre (1881, cast around 1904).

Auguste Rodin L'ombre Orangerie. Photo by Yair Haklai - licence [CC BY-SA 3.0] from Wikimedia Commons
Auguste Rodin – L’ombre Orangerie. Photo by Yair Haklai – licence [CC BY-SA 3.0] from Wikimedia Commons

A fourth Rodin piece, a cast of The Kiss, is placed in front of the museum’s west entrance.

On the other side of the museum, at the base of the staircase, you can see Henry Moore‘s Reclining Nude (1951).

There’s also a cast of Le Lion au Serpent by Antoine-Louis Barye displayed on the terrace overlooking the Seine.

 

More info about the Musée de l’Orangerie

 

Visit Monet’s Gardens in Giverny

Visiting Monet’s gardens in Giverny feels like stepping into one of his paintings.

This charming spot, just an hour from Paris, is where the famous artist found his inspiration.

You’ll stroll through vibrant flower beds, peaceful ponds, and the iconic Japanese bridge.

The colours burst to life, especially in spring and summer when the flowers are in full bloom.

Giverny © Michal Osmenda - licence [CC BY 2.0] from Wikimedia Commons
The Monet Gardens in Giverny © Michal Osmenda – licence [CC BY 2.0] from Wikimedia Commons

The Water Lily pond is a must-see.

It’s the very scene that inspired Monet’s famous Nymphéas.

As you wander the paths, you can almost imagine Monet himself painting in the corner.

The gardens are beautifully maintained, and each season brings something new to discover.

Giverny is not just about seeing art—it’s about experiencing it in the heart of nature.

Book your Day Trip from Paris to Giverny

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Gems of Paris by French Moments
About the author

Pierre is a French/Australian who is passionate about France and its culture. He grew up in France and Germany and has also lived in Australia and England. He has a background teaching French, Economics and Current Affairs, and holds a Master of Translating and Interpreting English-French with the degree of Master of International Relations, and a degree of Economics and Management. Pierre is the author of Discovery Courses and books about France.

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