If you only visit the Louvre, you will see the world''s greatest museum. You will also miss the point of Paris — which is that greatness is spread across the city.
Here are five museums we send clients to when they have already done the Louvre.
1. Musée d'Orsay — the Impressionist cathedral
A former Beaux-Arts railway station turned into the world''s best collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting. Van Gogh''s Starry Night Over the Rhône, Monet''s Poppies, Manet''s Olympia. The building alone — a glass-vaulted train shed with a clock still ticking overhead — is worth the visit.
Give it three hours. Closed Mondays.
2. Musée Rodin — a garden with sculpture in it
Rodin''s studio and last residence, an 18th-century mansion with a two-hectare garden filled with his bronzes. The Thinker sits in the garden. The Gates of Hell stands beside him. The Camille Claudel room upstairs is heartbreaking.
Ninety minutes inside, another hour in the garden with a coffee. Closed Mondays.
3. Musée de l'Orangerie — two rooms, eight paintings
At the western end of the Tuileries. Monet designed two oval rooms specifically to hold his eight monumental Water Lilies canvases. The light is natural, the benches are curved, and the silence is enforced.
You do not visit for long. You visit to sit. Forty-five minutes, and it will stay with you.
4. Musée Marmottan Monet — the deepest Monet collection
In the 16th arrondissement, well off the tourist path. Home to the largest collection of Monet paintings in the world, including Impression, Sunrise — the painting that gave Impressionism its name.
A pilgrimage. Two hours plus the Metro ride.
5. Musée Jacquemart-André — the perfect small museum
A private mansion on Boulevard Haussmann, preserved exactly as its collectors left it in 1912. Italian Renaissance in the winter garden, Dutch masters in the study, Fragonard on the ceiling. The café serves tea in the original dining room under a Tiepolo fresco.
Ninety minutes. Combine with lunch in the café.
FAQ
Which museum has the shortest queues? Marmottan and Jacquemart-André rarely queue. Orsay queues can be avoided with a timed-entry ticket.
Can I do two of these in one day? Yes — Orsay and l''Orangerie are a five-minute walk apart and share themes. Or pair Rodin with Napoleon''s tomb at Les Invalides next door.
Are these museums included in the Paris Museum Pass? Orsay, Rodin, l''Orangerie: yes. Marmottan and Jacquemart-André: no, tickets required.
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