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Top 15 Most-Visited Museums in Paris, France

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Top 15 Most-Visited Museums in Paris, France

Top 15 Most-Visited Museums in Paris, France

Several of the world’s most famous museums may be found in Paris. There are more than 150 of them located across the City of Lights, and it would take you weeks to see them all. Actually, some of them are so big — the Louvre, at over 60,000 square meters, is the world’s biggest museum — that it’s easy to get lost in the maze of galleries for a day or two and yet not see all.

However, there is obviously a lot more to see than just the world-famous Louvre. It’s easy to find a museum that suits your taste in Paris, whether it’s modern art, tributes to great artists like Picasso or Rodin, or something more unusual like ancient weaponry or “small” dinosaurs.

Top 15 Museums in Paris for Tourists traveling to France

We understand that there is so much to see, see, and eat in Paris that it might be difficult to choose which museums are the best. Between trips to the Eiffel Tower and your favorite cafés, we recommend checking out some of the world-class museums, galleries, and cultural organizations on our prepared list of the finest museums in Paris.

  1. Musée du Louvre
  2. Musée d’Orsay
  3. Rodin Museum
  4. Louis Vuitton Foundation
  5. Centre Pompidou
  6. Musée Marmottan Monet
  7. Musée de l’Orangerie
  8. Musée National Picasso-Paris
  9. Musée des Arts Décoratifs
  10. Hôtel de la Marine
  11. Musée des Arts et Métiers
  12. Petit Palais
  13. Musée Carnavalet
  14. Musée de Cluny
  15. Musée Jacquemart-André

Musée du Louvre

More than 380,000 artworks fill the galleries of the Louvre, making it the world’s biggest museum by exhibition space. Many art researchers agree that this museum has the world’s finest art collection and ranks not only as one of Paris’s best attractions but also as Paris’s top museum.

The Mona Lisa is only one of many iconic pieces of art housed at the Louvre, which also has a stunning pyramid entryway that was built in the 1980s. Beyond da Vinci’s famed work, however, there is much more to see and adore. An art history guide will show you numerous amazing paintings, including the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and the Coronation of Napoleon.

Musée du Louvre

Musée d’Orsay

Another one of Paris’s top museums is, without a doubt, Musée d’Orsay. In addition to its proximity to the Louvre, the museum also benefits from its riverside setting. Its artistic significance is just one aspect of its rich past. The majority of the current building is all that is left of the historic Gare d’Orsay, also known as the Orsay Train station. When it opened in 1900, the railway station set a record as the world’s first urban train station to have electrification.

There are around 80,000 pieces of art in the museum, most of which were created between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Its design is fantastic, and it’s less challenging to see the pieces than in the Louvre.

Rodin Museum

By far, Auguste Rodin has achieved the highest fame of any French artist. The Rodin Museum in Paris, France, is home to his most well-known work, “The Thinker,” which is sure to be familiar to you. Near the Invalides metro station, you’ll find a garden and two buildings; one of these is the museum’s gift shop and café, Boutique du Musée Rodin.

The main building is a mansion known as Hôtel Biron. Louis-Antoine de Gontaut-Biron, the previous owner’s name, amassed a great fortune, so the name honors him.

The expansive, meticulously maintained garden surrounding the mansion is home to many works of art by the master sculptor. Included are the works of other artists, such as Rodin’s prize student, Camille Claudel. In theory, the collection includes more than 6,000 sculptures, but many of these works are stored elsewhere.

Rodin Museum

Louis Vuitton Foundation

The cutting-edge glass-and-steel structure that houses the Fondation Louis Vuitton collection was designed by the late great architect Frank Gehry. This 3,500-square-meter exhibition space is located in the Bois de Boulogne and opened in 2014, and it is one of the best museums in Paris.

The galleries are illuminated by natural light streaming in through the striking exterior’s 3,600 glass windows and even more steel than the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower and the rest of Paris’s skyline can be seen in the distance from the rooftop terraces overlooking the 850-acre Bois de Boulogne park.

The majority of the museum’s permanent collection is made up of works created between the 1960s and the present. Guests are astounded by innovative works of Pop art, abstract painting, portrait photography, and video installations. Takashi Murakami’s vibrant graphic works, Alberto Giacometti’s sculptures, and Omar Victor Diop’s photographs are just a few of the highlights.

Centre Pompidou

The Musée National d’Art Moderne is located in the Pompidou Center, and it features a comprehensive collection of 20th and 21st-century art. The museum is organized chronologically, with the Modern collection coming first and including works by artists like Braque, Duchamp, Dufy, Matisse, Kandinsky, and Picasso (works by Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and other renowned artists born after 1920).

The Drawings were purchased from the Musée du Luxembourg and Jeu de Paume. Graphic works by Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, and Henri Matisse, among others, are featured prominently in this collection.

There is also a Film and New Media collection at the Centre Pompidou that showcases visual art installations alongside experimental and artistic films from 1902 to the present day. The rich collection of artwork showcased in this museum has made it one of the best museums in Paris.

Centre Pompidou

Musée Marmottan Monet

The focus of the Monet Museum, like that of the Picasso Museum, is on the artist himself, and it is one of Paris’s top museums to visit. Its collection of over 300 works by Claude Monet includes “Impression, Sunrise,” a masterpiece of the Impressionist era. Scholars agree that this painting epitomizes the Impressionist style and serves as the movement’s namesake.

You can also find numerous other works by the master, including Nympheas. Michel Monet, Claude Monet’s second son and heir, is widely credited with making the museum what it is today by donating the artist’s father’s remaining works of art. Michel left the works to the state of France to be preserved as a monument, which is a very French thing to do.

Musée de l’Orangerie

Whenever the Rodin Museum is brought up, the usual response is, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that one.” To be fair, l’Orangerie Museum might not be familiar to you if you haven’t taken any formal art history courses. Still, you’re familiar with the name Claude Monet.

Monet’s Water Lillies display is not the only item to see at the l’Orangerie Museum, but it is clearly the highlight. By today’s standards, it may not be considered an art installation, but in 1918, after World War I’s armistice, it was the only installation around.

If you want to see some great Impressionist art, one of the top museums in Paris is the Musée de l’Orangerie. The Orangerie Museum, like the Musée d’Orsay, focuses on Impressionism and art from the 19th and 20th centuries, but it is smaller and less well-known and is therefore usually less crowded.

Musée de l’Orangerie

Musée National Picasso-Paris

Picasso was born in Spain, not France. He adored the city of Paris, and Paris adored him in return, as it does so many artists. The citizens of the City of Lights speak very highly of him; they built a museum in his honor, and it is one of the top museums in Paris. The Picasso Museum may be found in the heart of Paris’s Le Marais neighborhood, at the Hôtel Salé.

From paintings to ceramics, the museum has hundreds of Picasso pieces. The Picasso Museum focuses only on the work of the master, unlike its more general counterpart, the Rodin Museum.

The majority of non-Picasso artwork consists of imitations, parodies, and pop culture references to the master. Museum exhibits also include newspaper clippings and other historical artifacts that together provide a kind of historical history of Picasso’s 70-year commitment to the development of art.

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

This museum, situated in the Louvre’s western wing, is a treat for fashion and intellectual visitors. From the Middle Ages until the Art Nouveau era, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Museum of Decorative Arts) showcases an enormous collection (about 150,000 pieces) of decorative art pieces.

People from all over the world come to see the wide range of items on display, from Renaissance wedding boxes and medieval altarpieces to 18th-century tapestries and First Empire dinnerware. Musée des Arts Décoratifs is, without a doubt, one of the top museums to visit in Paris.

The museum is housed in the city’s second oldest structure (behind the Louvre), and its beautiful, vaulted central atrium is a big part of the attraction. It doesn’t get as many people as its more famous neighbor or the Musée d’Orsay, but it’s still a popular attraction.

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

Hôtel de la Marine

Hidden inside the walls of this magnificent Neoclassical mansion is a wonderful world from the 18th century. The palace is located on the central Paris square of Place de la Concorde, formerly known as the Place Louis XV and ornamented with a monument of the monarch mounted on a white stallion (removed during the Revolution). Hôtel de la Marine is another top museum to visit in Paris.

The Crown Jewels, as well as other valuables belonging to Louis XV and his court, were moved to the Hôtel de la Marine in 1765. The inside is open for tours, where guests may look at the exquisite furnishings from the 18th and 19th centuries and take in vistas of the nearby Place de la Concorde. The monument’s 250-year history is detailed in an audio tour that visitors may take at their own pace. Exhibits may be seen in the palace at any time of the year.

Musée des Arts et Métiers

The Musée National des Arts et Metiers Techniques was established by Henri Grégoire in 1794 to preserve and display examples of scientific apparatus and technical achievement. There are almost 2400 items in the collection, showcasing the extraordinary technological developments that they disclose.

If you haven’t seen Foucault’s Pendulum yet, you should. Every 24 hours, the metal pendulum completes a full revolution of 360 degrees, demonstrating the rotation of the earth, as shown by French scientist Jean Foucault in 1851.

Founded in 1794 as a storehouse for the preservation of scientific equipment and discoveries, the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers’ collection is now on display at Paris’s Musée des Arts et Métiers, an industrial design museum and it is one of the best museums in Paris.

Musée des Arts et Métiers

Petit Palais

The Petit Palais may be the little sibling to the more famous Grand Palais, but don’t let its diminutive size deceive you; it’s still a very impressive structure. The museum opened in 1902 in a structure designed by Charles Girault for the 1900 World’s Fair. Architecturally spectacular, it was once home to colorful paintings and sculptures designed to honor the arts and the city of Paris.

Many people come to enjoy the garden and the peace and quiet since admission to the permanent collection is free. Don’t forget to pay a visit to this wonderful museum as it is one of the best museums in Paris.

Musée Carnavalet

Le Marais is a charming neighborhood in the heart of Paris, and the Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris, which will reopen in 2021, is hidden away in a quiet part of this historic neighborhood. Two neighboring hôtels particuliers (mansions), the Hôtel Peletier (17th century) and the Hôtel Carnavalet (16th century), also known as the Hôtel des Ligneris, host the collection.

The museum has around 3,800 artifacts, including antiques, historical paintings, sketches, and objects of art, all of which are used to show scenes from Paris’s past. All the way from Belle Époque furnishings to ancient antiques, the museum’s collection covers a wide spectrum of time periods. There are displays regarding the 2019 Notre Dame fire in addition to images from student protests in the 1960s. Thus the collection spans a wide range of current history.

You should visit Musée Carnavalet if you are eager to learn about the historical events of Paris or just to see what this magnificent city was like in the past. This museum is one of the best museums all over Paris.

Musée Carnavalet

Musée de Cluny

Musée de Cluny, or the National Museum of the Middle Ages, is another one of Paris’s top museums. The national museum of medieval art has some of the most significant collections of medieval sculpture and enamel in the world but is perhaps most famous for its display of the stunning, allegorical Lady and the Unicorn tapestry cycle. The museum also has a notable concert series where troubadours perform music from the Middle Ages in tribute to the museum’s medieval exhibits.

Cluny, as the structure is more widely known, is a unique example of secular Gothic architecture from the 15th century, with its foliate Gothic entrances, hexagonal staircase protruding from the façade, and domed chapel. The structure, which dates back to 1485-1498, was constructed above an earlier Gallo-Roman bathhouse. The baths are the most impressive historic structure in Paris, with their distinctive Roman banding of stone and brick brickwork.

Musée Jacquemart-André

Musée Jacquemart-André is another one of the best and most popular museums in Paris. This large mansion from the 19th century has an amazing collection of objets d’art and beautiful paintings and is greeted by a long terrace stairway and a pair of stone lions. Edouard André and his artist wife, Nélie Jacquemart, put it together using funds he received from his wealthy banking family.

The estate was custom-built to accommodate their collection, which included works by artists such as Rembrandt, Tiepolo, and the Italian masters Uccello, Mantegna, and Carpaccio. The fashionable lunch crowd like to visit the neighboring tearoom, which is known for its excellent teetering cakes.

Musée Jacquemart-André
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