The Petit-Palais Museum, built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition by the architect Charles Girault, has been the home of the Paris Fine Arts Museum since 1902. It is located in Paris 8th, avenue Winston-Churchill, in front of the Grand Palais and about one hundred meters from the magnificent Pont Alexandre III.
The Petit Palais exhibits a collection of its own (Free of charge) and simultaneously one or two temporary exhibitions (Paid).
Its interior garden welcomes visitors and allows them to take a pleasant break in this haven of peace and art.
The Petit-Palais Museum's own permanent collections - donations
These collections have been enriched by numerous donations, the most important of which are listed below:
- Eugène and Auguste Dutuit donated their collection in 1902, which is rich in nearly 20,000 works and includes several major works of the Dutch school (including a self-portrait by Rembrandt and the Abduction of Proserpine by Rubens), Greek-Roman antiquities, medieval and Renaissance art objects, engravings and drawings by masters (Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Fragonard... ) ; Note One of the conditions of the bequest of Eugène and Auguste Dutuit is the maintenance in perpetuity of the tomb of the Duclos-Dutuit family in the Père-Lachaise cemetery by the City of Paris
- Edward and Julia Tuck of American origin gave up their collection of 18th century French art in 1930;
- Ambroise Vollard bequeathed several modern works to the museum, including the Portrait d'Ambroise Vollard au chat by Pierre Bonnard (1924) and another portrait of the patron by Paul Cézanne (1899);
- Roger Cabal bequeathed a collection of icons to the museum in 1998.
Alongside these donations, the museum acquired numerous works, including several paintings by Gustave Courbet.
The Petit-Palais Museum collections include masterful works
Paintings
Flemish and Dutch painting: nearly 20 Flemish masters including Rembrandt and Rubens
French painting: about fifty artists including Pierre Bonnard, Cézanne, Calille Corot, Courbet, Daumier, Degas, Delacroix, David, Gustave Doré, Delacroix, Géricault, Ingres, Le Lorrain, Manet, Monet, Gustave Moreau, Berthe Morisot, Pissarot, Poussin, Puvis de Chavannes, Renoir, Sisley, etc.
Italian painting: Cima da Conegliano, Giambattista Tiepolo.
Sculpture
Jules Dalou, Émile Joseph Nestor Carlier, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Jules Dalou, Louis-Aimé Lejeun, Charles Louis Malric, Antonin Mercié, Pierre Puget, Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin.
Decorative arts
François-Rupert Carabin , Jean Carriès, Henry Cros, Emile Gallé, Jacques Gruber, Hector Guimard, Jacob-Desmalter
Graphic arts
The museum holds 18,000 engravings and 9,000 ancient and modern drawings.
The drawing collection includes works by Rembrandt, Jacob van Ruisdael, Adriaen Van Ostade, Antoine van Dyck, Le Lorrain, Antoine Watteau, Jean Honoré Fragonard and Hubert Robert.
In printmaking, we find works by masters such as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas of Leiden, Rembrandt (with an exceptional collection of 350 pieces), Antoine van Dyck, Jean Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau.
Temporary international exhibitions at the Petit-Palais Museum
The Musée du Petit-Palais is also dedicated to temporary exhibitions. In general, one to two exhibitions can be seen during 3 to 6 months, simultaneously with the museum's own collections. This makes 6 to 8 new exhibitions each year. All of them have met with tremendous international success.
Over the past ten years, contemporary photography has also entered the Petit Palais when it was decided to present, as an introduction to major international exhibitions, images by photographers inspired by the civilizations on display. Some of these photographs were subsequently acquired by the museum.
The quality of the exhibitions and collections of the Petit-Palais Museum as seen by visitors
The Petit Palais was the subject of a visitor survey conducted by the TEST company in 2020. Despite a year marked by a difficult health context for COVID, the results were excellent: 97% of respondents were satisfied with their visit (including 89% who were very satisfied). Visitors were particularly satisfied with the cleanliness of the premises (99%), the way the works were displayed (97%) and the number of visitors in the galleries (96%). 95% of them said they would return to the Petit Palais, mainly for its exhibitions (82%).
The Petit-Palais: the building, a work of art in itself
Between January 2001 and June 2005, the Petit Palais, an architectural gem built by Charles Girault, was closed for an extensive renovation.
The Petit Palais, between the Seine and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, is located in an exceptional monumental environment with the Grand Palais and the Alexandre III Bridge nearby, all three of which were built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition. J
The façade is nearly 125 m long, centered by a monumental porch topped by a dome. Ionic columns with diagonal scrolls adorn the main face as well as the semicircular peristyle of the inner courtyard. The decoration is completed by numerous bas-reliefs.
The sculptures on the façade are :
- The City of Paris protecting the Arts with a seated woman holding in her left arm a ship symbolizing Paris and surrounded by the Muses. This is the work of the sculptor Jean-Antoine Injalbert:
- on the right, a group with The Seine and its tributaries by Maurice Ferrary ;
- on the left, the group The Four Seasons by Louis Convers with young women carrying sheaves of wheat and fruit.
Charles Girault designed interior spaces lit only by natural light, creating skylights, transparent domes and large windows.
To make your visit even more pleasant, you can enjoy:
- the interior garden welcomes visitors and allows them to take a pleasant break in this haven of peace and arts.
- the Café-restaurant "Le Jardin du Petit Palais". Open continuously from 10 am to 5:15 pm (last order at 5:15 pm, terrace closes at 5:40 pm), and until 8:15 pm (last order at 8:15 pm, terrace closes at 8:40 pm) on Fridays, when there are nocturnes for temporary exhibitions. Closed on Mondays.
No reservation possible.
Map of the museum
The map to orient yourself in the museum is available with the photos of the gallery or by clicking here.
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