The Orangerie Museum

Enjoy a private visit to the Orangerie Museum, renowned for its famous Water Lilies painted by Claude Monet.

The Tuileries Gardens :

 After meeting your guide near the Concorde square, you will enjoy a private walking tour to discover the beautiful Tuileries Garden (designed by the first gardener of Louis the XIV, André Le-Nôtre). Your guide will give you all of the appropriate explanations along the way. The Tuileries and Carousel Gardens provide the perfect ambiance for a relaxing stroll. After this enjoyable walk, you will enter with your guide to the Orangerie Museum to admire Monet’s Water Lilies.

Introduction to the Orangerie Musem and C.Monet :

The Musée de l’Orangerie is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings located in the west corner of the Tuileries Gardens along the Seine River next to the Place de la Concorde. Your guide will give you a full introduction  to the world of Impressionism and the life of Claude Monet. He lived in his home at Giverny for forty-three years, from 1883 to 1926. In 1890 he became the owner of the house and gardens, and transformed them completely. He continued to work very hard from 1914 until his death in 1926, taking inspiration from his « water garden » at Giverny. By donating the Water Lilies to France, after the First World War, Monet was offering Parisians a haven of peace, inviting them to contemplate an image of nature evoking infinity. From 1886, Monet had focused on capturing the changing qualities of natural light in his garden.

The Nymphéas – Monet’s Water Lilies :

France. Paris 1er arrondissement. Jardin des Tuileries. Musée de l’Orangerie. Visiteurs devant « Les Nymphéas » de Claude Monet* France. Paris 1st district. Garden of the Tuileries. Museum of the Orangery. Visitors in front of  » Les Nymphéas » of Claude Monet

A cycle of Monet‘s water-lily paintings, known as the Nymphéas, was arranged on the ground floor of the Orangerie in 1927. They are available under direct diffused light as was originally intended by Monet. The eight paintings are displayed in two oval rooms all along the walls and evoke the passing of the hours from sunrise in the east to sunset in the west. With no horizon to orient the viewer, the elements water, air, sky, earth seem to merge in a composition without perspective where the flowers create a rhythm.

The Museum – J.Walter and P.Guillaume Collection :

Then, you will follow your guide to admire the Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume collection. Though most famous for being the permanent home for the Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet, the museum also contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Alfred Sisley, Chaim Soutine, and Maurice Utrillo, among others.

Tour ends at the museum. Tickets not included.

Category : Museums, Walking tour

Tags: Impressionism, Monet, Orangerie, Tuileries, Water Lilies