MUSÉE MARMOTTAN-MONET

The Musée Marmottan-Monet houses one of the most important Impressionist collections in Paris, with some one hundred masterpieces by Claude Monet and paintings that once belonged to the artist (Degas, Gauguin, Renoir, Sisley...). It also boasts oils, pastels and watercolours by Berthe Morisot, as well as a collection of objets d'art and paintings from the First Empire. Nestled in the capital's ^16th arrondissement, the museum is housed in the former mansion of Paul Marmottan, an art historian, collector and patron of the arts (1856-1932) who specialised in the Consulate and the Empire, and bequeathed it to the Académie des Beaux-Arts along with his own collection. The mansion, which became a museum in 1934, was once a hunting lodge belonging to the Duc de Valmy. As soon as it was acquired by Jules Marmottan (1829-1883), director of several French energy and transport companies, and father of Paul Marmottan, it became home to his first art collections, notably of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Later, Paul Marmottan gradually brought together early ^19th-century paintings and marble effigies of members of the Napoleonic family from the Tuileries Palace and the Château de Portici in Naples. From 1938 onwards, more recent works entered the museum thanks to various donations, not the least of which were drawings by Bouguereau, paintings by Baburen and, above all, eleven canvases by major artists Morisot, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Monet, including the famous "Impression, soleil levant" (1872), bequeathed in 1957. In 1966, the museum also received the collection of Michel Monet, son of the famous painter, while in 1993 the descendants of Berthe Morisot bequeathed their family collection to the museum, making the Musée Marmottan the repository of the world's first collection of works by Monet and Morisot. Today, the museum regularly organises temporary exhibitions. But the permanent collections are open all year round, offering a wealth of objects from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, some of them signed by masters such as Jean Perréal's fabulous "alchemist" (1516). ^{Nineteenth-century} art is also well represented, with works by Grandin, Caillebotte and others. Finally, closer to home, Morisot's beautiful pastel "La fillette au jersey bleu" (1886) is more than just a jewel... it's one of many must-sees. Many favourites guaranteed in this museum.