The Marmottan Monet Museum (in French, Musée Marmottan Monet) is an art museum located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, one of the noble areas of the French capital. In fact, the museum itself is housed in the former hunting lodge of the Duke of Valmy!

Known for hosting the world’s largest public collection of paintings by Claude Monet, the Marmottan Monet Museum has more than three hundred works of art by the painter – including the famous painting “Impression, soleil levant”, which gave its name to the Impressionist movement!

So, do you want to know more about the Marmottan Monet Museum: Best Tips For Visiting In 2024? Keep reading!

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Brief History of the Marmottan Monet Museum

In 1882, the French lawyer, politician, and art collector Jules Marmottan bought a hunting lodge in the vicinity of the Bois de Boulogne, which had belonged to François Christophe Edmond Kellermann, the 3rd Duke of Valmy.

Decades later, his son and heir Paul Marmottan transformed the property into his private mansion, where he exhibited his father’s collection (composed mostly of medieval and Renaissance pieces) and his own collection (dedicated almost exclusively to the French First Empire).

In his will, Paul Marmottan bequeathed his house and the contents that decorated it to the Academy of Fine Arts (in French, Académie des beaux-arts). And this institution inaugurated the property as the Marmottan Museum on June 21st, 1934, just two years after the death of its patron.

Since then, the Marmottan Museum has been enriched with donations from Eugène and Victorine Donop de Monchy (in 1940), Michel Monet (in 1966), and Denis and Annie Rouart (in 1993), among others. And it was precisely in the 1990s that the Marmottan Museum became the Marmottan Monet Museum.

How to Get to the Marmottan Monet Museum

The Marmottan Monet Museum is located at number 2 on Rue Louis-Boilly, a street named after Louis-Léopold Boilly – a French painter, miniaturist, and engraver, active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. And from here, you’re close to other points of interest, such as the Bois de Boulogne (650 meters), the Louis Vuitton Foundation (2.5 km), and the Acclimatization Garden (2.6 km).

Due to its excellent location in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the Marmottan Monet Museum is served by various types of public transport: metro (line 9, La Muette or Ranelagh stations), train (line C, Boulainvilliers station), and bus (lines 22 or 52, La Muette – Boulainvilliers stop; lines 32 or 70, Louis-Boilly stop; among others).

Opening Hours & Ticket Prices

The Marmottan Monet Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 am to 6 pm, with the last entry at 5 pm. And on Thursdays, opening hours are until 9 pm, with the last entry at 8 pm. In addition to Mondays, the Marmottan Monet Museum is closed on the holidays of January 1st, May 1st, and December 25th.

Concerning tickets, they cost €14 (normal fare) or €7 (reduced fare for under-18s and students under 25), while children up to 7 years old don’t pay admission. But you can consult all the practical information on the official website of the Marmottan Monet Museum!

What to See at the Marmottan Monet Museum

“Bouquet de fleurs”, by Paul Gauguin

“Bouquet of flowers” (in French, “Bouquet de fleurs”) is an oil painting on canvas, which Paul Gauguin painted in 1897. A painter of human figures par excellence, this still life is therefore a rare work among all the ones he imagined!

In “Bouquet of Flowers”, Paul Gauguin was inspired by still-life artists he admired – such as Paul Cézanne, Odilon Redon, and Vincent Van Gogh. And then, he adds exotic fruits from the territory that welcomed him to his composition: French Polynesia.

“Les boulevards extérieurs. Effet de neige.”, by Camille Pissarro

“The outer avenues. Snow effect.” (in French, “Les boulevards extérieurs. Effet de neige.”) is an oil painting on canvas by Camille Pissarro. Dating from 1879, this painting is one of the first of many works that the French-Danish artist created of Paris.

Camille Pissarro is these days recognized as one of the co-founders of Impressionism – along with Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Frédéric Bazille.

“Claude Monet lisant”, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

“Claude Monet reading” (in French, “Claude Monet lisant”) is an oil painting on canvas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. In reality, Pierre-Auguste Renoir was the artist who most portrayed Claude Monet and his wife Camille Doncieux, having offered this painting to his longtime friend and co-worker.

In the image, Claude Monet can be seen reading the newspaper L’Événement leaning on a chair, while smoking a pipe. And in the same room of the Marmottan Monet Museum, there’s a “Portrait of Madame Claude Monet” (in French, “Portrait de Madame Claude Monet”), also from 1873.

“Rue de Paris. Temps de pluie”, by Gustave Caillebotte

“Paris street. Rainy Weather” is an oil painting on canvas by Gustave Caillebotte, an artist representing the realist and impressionist movements. Interestingly, this painting is a study for a homonymous work, also from 1877 and currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Gustave Caillebotte showed an interest in photography as an art form from an early age. Perhaps for this reason, his work is seen as far more realistic than that of his impressionist colleagues – of whom he was both a patron and adept.

“Berthe Morisot étendue”, by Édouard Manet

“Berthe Morisot laid down” (in French, “Berthe Morisot étendue”) is an oil painting on canvas, which Édouard Manet signed in 1873. Wife of his brother Eugène Manet, Berthe Morisot is the muse of this portrait and one of the protagonists of the Museum Marmottan Monet, which holds the largest public collection in the world of works by the artist, between 25 canvases and 50 watercolors, prints, and drawings!

Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot were close friends and work colleagues throughout their lives. The two met in 1868, at the Louvre Museum, and saw their works presented in several editions of the Salon de Paris (in French, Salon de Paris) – the annual art exhibition of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (in French, Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture).

“Le Cerisier”, by Berthe Morisot

“The Cherry Tree” (in French, “Le Cerisier”) is an oil painting on canvas by Berthe Morisot, where cousins Julie Manet (her only daughter with Eugène Manet) and Jeannie Gobillard (the daughter of her sister Yves- Elisabeth Morisot with Théodore Gobillard, and who would later marry the writer, poet, and philosopher Paul Valéry).

Nowadays, the Marmottan Monet Museum holds the largest public collection of Berthe Morisot, thanks to a donation from the Denis Foundation and Annie Rouart (the artist’s son and daughter-in-law, respectively). And “The Cherry Tree” is, without a doubt, the most ambitious and complete picture of her authorship!

“Eugène Manet à l’Île de Wight”, by Berthe Morisot

“Eugène Manet on the Isle of Wight” (in French, “Eugène Manet à l’Île de Wight”) is an oil painting on canvas where Berthe Morisot immortalized her husband in 1875, during their honeymoon in Cowes, a port town on the north of the Isle of Wight.

In this scene, Eugène Manet peers through the window of a building, which appears to be the hotel where the couple stayed during their trip. In the composition, it’s still possible to distinguish the flowered garden of the accommodation, two ladies walking, and even the port of Cowes.

“Impression, soleil levant”, by Claude Monet

“Impression, sunrise” (in French, “Impression, soleil levant”) is an oil painting on canvas, which Claude Monet conceived during a visit to Le Havre, the city where he lived during his childhood and adolescence. Dating from 1872, the painting portrays the view of the port of Le Havre from the former Hôtel de l’Amirauté, now gone.

Today, “Impression, Sunrise” is considered Claude Monet’s most famous painting and one of the most important paintings in the history of modern art. Not only because his name was used to designate Impressionism, but also because Claude Monet became the greatest exponent of this artistic movement of the end of the 19th century!

“Londres. Le parlement. Reflets sur la Tamise”, by Claude Monet

“London. The Parliament. Reflections on the Thames” (in French, “Londres. Le parlement. Reflets sur la Tamise”) is an oil painting on canvas, belonging to a series of nineteen paintings entitled “Houses of Parliament” (or “London Parliaments”), which Claude Monet produced between 1900 and 1904.

Completed in 1905, this work portrays the Palace of Westminster or Houses of Parliament seen from St Thomas’ Hospital in London – a perspective that is shared with the other paintings in the series.

The remaining paintings of “Houses of Parliament” are spread across several museums and art galleries, such as the Orsay Museum (in Paris), the National Gallery of Art (in Washington), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in New York)!

“Nymphéas”, by Claude Monet

“Water Lilies” (in French, “Nymphéas”) is a series of around 250 oil paintings on canvas, which Claude Monet created over the last three decades of his life. This particular painting was created between 1916 and 1919 and represents the Water Garden in his house in Giverny.

Like the “Houses of Parliament” series, the works of the “Water Lilies” set can be admired all over the world: Orangerie Museum and Orsay Museum (in Paris); National Gallery of Art (in Washington); Metropolitan Museum of Art (in New York); National Gallery (in London); etc.

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