The Orangerie Museum in Paris is one of the most comfortable and unusual exhibition venues in the French capital. This is an art gallery located in the building of the former greenhouse (hence the name). The history of the Orangerie Museum in Paris, information for visitors, exposition and reviews are further in this article.
Museum History
In 1852, a huge greenhouse was built in the main park of Paris, the Tuileries Garden. In a magnificent building, orange trees wintered in tubs, at the end of spring they were planted throughout the garden, and by the end of autumn they were tidied up into the greenhouse. By the end of the 19th century, it became unprofitable to maintain such a greenhouse: a state food warehouse, an exhibition area for dogs, and a hall for athletics competitions were arranged here. During World War I, Orangerie became a hospital for wounded soldiers.
In 1921, the rather neglected building of the former greenhouse was acquired by the Orsay Museum, the branch of which Orangerie remains to this day. The first exhibits of the new gallery were the work of Claude Monet, including eight paintings with his famous water lilies. The opening of the Orangerie Museum in Paris took place in 1927, after the death of the painter.
In the 50s, the museum was given paintings from the huge collections of Paul Guillaume and Jean Walter. There was not enough space for their placement in Orangerie; for more than 20 years, paintings were not exhibited. Finally, from 1978 to 1984, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out, and all new paintings were exhibited under the name "Walter and Guillaume Collection".
The most recent reconstruction of the Orangerie Museum in Paris took place from 2000 to 2006.
Exterior
The Orangerie building was built in the style of classicism, designed by the famous French architect Firmin Bourgeois and under the supervision of Louis Visconti. Initially, the greenhouse was a single ensemble with a palace, which was destroyed during the war. The exterior of the front side, created in the 19th century, has been restored, but completely preserved. As befits a greenhouse, the building is rectangular, very elongated, with huge panoramic windows around the perimeter of the wall overlooking the Seine.
Sculptures of Rodin
In the Orangerie Museum, works of art meet visitors even before the entrance: a large number of sculptures of various French sculptors are located outside, among which the works of Auguste Rodin are especially notable. Among them are the famous sculptures Kiss and Shadow.
Situation
After the reconstruction, all the paintings of the Orangerie Museum in Paris are located on two floors. The building of the former greenhouse itself is called the upper floor or simply "Water Lilies" and is divided into two rooms. At the entrance there is a wardrobe, a souvenir shop and two stairs leading down (one is for ordinary visitors, the other for those who travel in a wheelchair or with a pram). Opposite the main entrance is the Oval Hall, or rather two oval halls, located one after the other. It is here, since 1927, that the famous "Water Lilies" by Claude Monet are located. The halls are separated from the entrance by a small oval lobby, so that the bustle of the new arrivals will not distract from the contemplation of these magnificent works of the famous painter.
Enough to admire the exhibition of the Oval Halls, you can return to the beginning of the path, namely to the stairs, and go down to the lower floor, equipped in the 70-80s. The same “Walter and Guillaume Collection” is exhibited here, and that is the official name of the lower floor. From the stairs the room diverges in four directions. The least interesting, but also important room is the restroom, located behind the stairs. On the left are three halls: a library, a temporary exhibition hall and a lecture hall. If you go right or right, you will find yourself in a network of walk-through halls connected to each other by the Collection. Having walked in a circle and going into all the openings, you can sequentially see the entire exposition of the Orangerie Museum.
So, right in front of the stairs, the visitor will see the lonely exposed painting "Golden Age" by the French painter Andre Derain. From it you can get into the first small hall, where the works of the Russian-French artist Chaim Soutine and the Frenchman Maurice Utrillo are located. Passing to the right, the visitor will be taken to the “Room of Paul Guillaume” - the interior of the collector’s real room, transferred to the museum by his widow along with a collection of paintings. To the right is the Neoclassicism Hall, here are other paintings by Derain, as well as the Frenchman Henri Matisse and the Spaniard Pablo Picasso. Even to the right is the Hall of Primitivism, here are paintings by the French painter Henri Rousseau and the Italian Amadeo Modigliani. From this hall, the visitor will be taken to a small "nook" with the works of the French artist Marie Laurencin. There is no passage from here, you will need to return to the Hall of Primitivism and go to the Hall of Impressionism, here visitors will find magnificent works by French innovators Paul Cezanne and Pierre Auguste Renoir. Passing to the left through the hall, the visitor will end the circle. However, before returning to the stairs and the "Golden Age", you can look into another "nook" - this is the Interior Room, there are small dioramas of rooms of the Guillaume apartment building.
Oval hall
The collection of the Oval Hall (or rather, the halls, as mentioned above), represents eight huge canvases of a holistic, panoramic work by the great French painter Claude Monet called "Water Lilies". The canvases are located on the walls 2 meters high and 100 meters long. In total, in Monet's collection of works about 250 paintings are devoted to water lilies, but it was these eight that were written as one. The artist presented them to the Orsay Museum solely on condition that they will be exhibited in a panoramic manner.
These "Water Lilies" were written in the last years of the artist's life, from 1920 to 1926. The whole exposition, presented in one of the halls, is called "Water Lilies" and depicts water lilies in the evening light floating under the falling branches of a weeping willow. In another room - compositions "Water lilies. The setting sun", "Water lilies. Clouds", "Water lilies. Morning" and four more, called simply "Water lilies."
In the middle of each of the halls there is an oval bench, from which it is very convenient to contemplate the canvases. To feel the whole idea of the artist, in the absence of the crowd, you can smoothly move along the trajectory of the bench, completely immersed in the surrounding magnificent landscape.
Collection
As it became clear from the description of the museum’s atmosphere, the “Walter and Guillaume Collection” includes paintings by Cézan, Renoir, Derain, Soutine, Utrillo, Matisse, Picasso, Russo, Modigliani, Laurencin, as well as Paul Gauguin and Alfred Sisley - in general, more 140 works of various artists, eras, styles and genres. Of the most interesting works of the collection:
- "Naked Woman in a Landscape", "Landscape in the Moonlight", "Girls at the Piano", "Gabriel and Jean" by Renoir.
- "Portrait of Paul Guillaume", "Young Apprentice", "Anthony" Amadeo Modigliani.
- "Portrait of Madame Guillaume in a wide-brimmed hat" by Andre Derain.
- "Portrait of Madame Cezanne", "Red Rock" by Paul Cezanne.
- "Landscape" by Paul Gauguin.
- "Cart of Father Rounier" by Henri Rousseau.
Museum Location
The Orangerie Museum in Paris is located in the western part of the Tuileries Garden, between the Louvre Museum and the Orsay Museum. The nearest metro station and bus stop are called Concorde - these are 1, 8 and 12 metro lines, and 24, 42, 52, 72, 73, 84, and 94 bus routes. In order not to get lost, it is best to use a map.
Opening hours and cost of attendance
The opening hours of the Orangerie Museum in Paris are from 9:00 to 18:00, all days of the week, except Tuesday. Entrance is possible strictly until 17:15, after which visitors are only released. The ticket price is 9 euros, which is equivalent to approximately 675 Russian rubles. Children under 18 years of age, students and pensioners can buy a discount ticket for six and a half euros (about 487 rubles). Every month there is one free day - the first Sunday. You can also buy the so-called “double ticket” - for 16 euros (about 1200 rubles) for one visit to the Orangerie and Orsay Museum for four days, or for 18.5 euros (about 1400 rubles) for one visit to the Orangerie and Monet Foundation in Giverny (also valid for four days).
