Art Lover’s Guide to Paris: Museums, Architecture & Street Art

The French capital’s love art affair with art is painted in its history. Paris has been the stage where genius and madness blur together, where painters drank themselves half-blind in Montmartre, where writers passed out over absinthe in Saint-Germain, or so the rumours say.

It’s where sculptors chipped away at immortality in dusty ateliers and where budding young artists flocked to at the turn of the 20th Century in seek of inspiration, and to make a name for themselves. And many did.

Whilst the Louvre is undoubtedly worth a visit, Paris has so much more to offer. Hopefully your only problem will be trying to see everything – most likely you won’t – but who has? This art guide to Paris has been designed to highlight some of the must-see museums and hopefully help you plan your own itinerary.

As well as the museums, I’ve thrown in some architectural masterpieces and fun pieces of street art for good measure.

Art Museums

Centre Pompidou

Location: Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris

The Centre Pompidou is one of the largest museums of modern art in Europe and arguably one of the best. You could easily spend the whole day inside Renzo Piano’s industrial masterpiece that houses over 100,000 works from the 20^th century to present day.

There’s so much to discover. You’ve got Marcel Duchamp’s Urinal, which gave rise to the ‘ready-made’ and conceptual art. There’s also the great pioneers of Cubism: Fernand Léger, Picasso and George Braque who broke tradition by rejecting the single viewpoint.

If you’re a fan of modern art, Pompidou should be at the top of your list.

Musée D’Orsay

Location: 1 Rue de la Légion d’Honneur, 75007 Paris

Housed in a former railway station, Musée D’Orsay is one of the largest art museums in Europe and home to the largest collection of impressionist masterpieces in the world. I’m talking Monet, Manet, Renoir and Degas.

Be sure to make your way to the top floor where you can take in beautiful views of Paris just beyond the enormous clock window. If you only have time to visit one art museum, Musee D’Orsay is a very strong contender. It’s not as busy as the Louvre and it’s got something for everyone.

Musée Rodin

Location: 77 Rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris

Set within the sculptor’s former residence and studio, Musée Rodin is the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of the larger art museums. The whole experience feels incredibly personal and sometimes moving.

Rodin’s sculptures, paintings, and drawings are placed throughout the mansion formerly known as the Hôtel Biron. Here, writer Jean Cocteau and painter Henri Matisse once rented rooms. Look out for sculptures made by Camille Claudel, the former partner and muse of Rodin. Her work and life really touched me. If she was born in a later time, she might have got the recognition she deserved.

If you haven’t already, I recommend watching Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris before arriving in the city. You’ll recognise a scene from the movie shot within the garden. This outdoor space is filled with Rodin’s sculptures to complement the perfectly lawned grass and pruned bushes.  

Musée du Louvre

Location: Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

You didn’t think I’d write up an art guide to Paris and omit the Louvre, did you? I mean, I have an aversion to big crowds and queues, but it still deserves to be in here.

Whilst everyone knows the Louvre for Mona Lisa, there’s work by Jacques-Louis David, Caravaggio, El Greco and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres to name only few.

It would take days to see everything the Louvre has to offer, so it’s worth focusing on specific rooms. In fact, I’m inclined to say if you only have a short time in Paris, I suggest focusing your time on other museums in this list which are more mangeable to get around.

However, if you’ve got your heart set on stepping foot inside, buy a pre-paid ticket to avoid the queues. To further enrich your knowledge and experience, you could also join an art tour of the Louvre with a certified guide aimed at highlighting the museum’s most iconic pieces.

Musée Gustave Moreau

Location: 14 Rue de la Rochefoucauld, 75009 Paris

Gustave Moreau was a painter of the French Symbolist school and was an important influence on his most famous student, Henri Matisse. Now you can explore Moreau’s perfectly preserved 19th-century home including his studio, office, and private living areas. It’s a small but perfectly formed museum.

In my humble opinion, the real gem of visiting this museum is the spiral staircase which has to be one of the most beautiful and most romantic staircases I’ve ever seen. It looks like it’s unravelling from the ceiling like an orange peel. (That’s the first time I’ve ever compared something romantic to an orange peel but here we are, there’s a first for everything!).

Architecture

Cinémathèque Française

Architect: Frank Gehry
Location: 51 Rue de Bercy

You can’t talk about contemporary architecture without Frank Gehry cropping up in conversation. I’ve seen his buildings in Paris, Prague and Bilbao and they always surprise and delight.

He has such a distinct style that even a novice like me could pick out a building of his without needing someone to point it out. Originally built in 1994 as the American Center in Paris but since 2005 it’s home to France’s national library/museum/theater celebrating the history of film.

Villa Savoye

Architect: Le Corbusier
Location: 82 Rue de Villiers

Completed in 1931 on the outskirts of Paris, this modernist villa is considered so important to the contribution of 20th century architecture that it has been been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with several other works by Corbusier.

Originally built as a country retreat on behest of the Savoye family, it now belongs to the French state after surviving several threats of demolition and therefore can now be visited.

You might also like: Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh: A Modernist City Built From Scratch

Palace of Versailles

Architect: Louis Le Vau, Andre Le Notre and Charles Lebrun
Location: Place d’Armes, 78000 Versailles

Another UNESCO World Heritage Site to tick off your list. The site began as Louis XIII’s hunting lodge before his son Louis XIV transformed and expanded it, moving the court and government of France to Versailles in 1682.

Each of the three French kings who lived there until the French Revolution added improvements to make it more beautiful and most definitely grand. To say this place is lavish is an understatement. Just wait until you see the Hall of Mirrors complete with with its 40-plus chandadliers. Personally for me, the magnificent garden is the highlight. I could spend all day just wandering around outside.

This is a classic landmark that everyone should visit once in a lifetime. Purchase a ticket to the Palace of Versaille in advance as visiting slots are required.

 Les Choux de Creteil

Architect: Gérard Grandval
Location: Place de l’Abbaye, 94000 Créteil

Les Choux de Créteil – “the cabbages.” That’s what they call them, and once you see them, you get it. A cluster of massive concrete apartment towers sprouting on the edge of Paris, their balconies fanning out like layered leaves.

Born in the 1970s out of that utopian French obsession with béton brut, they were meant to be the future of living, a sculptural vision of public housing where every resident could have sunlight, space, a view. Walk among them today and you feel the ghosts of idealism, mixed with the grit of reality. Some see decay, others see genius.

If you’re interested in knowing more, I’ve written a separate article about where to find brutalist architecture in Paris. This type of architecture sits in stark contrast to the typical classical and art nouveau architecture in Paris, and that’s also what makes them truly stand out.

Street Art

There’s so much street art in Paris, it’s hard to know where to begin and how to narrow down the best ones but I’ve given it a go.

Keith Haring

Location: 149 Rue de Sevres, 75015 Paris

An influential name in the pop art and 1980s street culture, it’s a privilege seeing any work by Keith Haring who died in 1990 at age just 31. The location of this wall mural at 15^th arrondissement is set inside the grounds of Necker-Enfants Malades hospital (which was the world’s first paediatric hospital).

This seems like an odd place to find such an iconic piece of work. However, describing this piece, Haring said, “I made this painting to amuse the sick children in this hospital, now and in the future,”.

I think this tells you a lot about his character.

Jef Aérosol

Location: Rue Brisemiche, 4th

Jef Aérosol’s fabulous mural of Salvador Dali titled Chut translates to hush in English. This cheeky depiction has become as iconic as some of the pieces found inside nearby Pompidou Centre. This, amongst others, forms the heart of the 1980s street art movement. It’s one of Aérosol’s more known pieces, but he also has work up and down the country. 

Mixed Street Artists

Location: 107 Rue Oberkampf, 75011 Paris

The neighbourhood around Oberkampf is renowned for vibrant walls with a range of high profile street artists likes of Jerome Mesnager and Nemo showcasing their talents.

However, it’s perhaps best known for Le MUR (translates in English to ‘the wall’) – a dedicated wall with a revolving string of internationally acclaimed artists, which is completely redone every two weeks. Who’s the giant rat by? That would be Portuguese artist, Bordalo II.

This area is also a popular nightlife district if you’re looking to party once you’ve gotten your cultural fix.

So there you go, I hope you’ve found my art guide to Paris useful. There’s still a lot more to discover, especially in the way of smaller commercial galleries, but these museums offer a strong start to any trip to the French capital.

• You might also like: Art Guide to Vienna | Museums, Galleries & Architecture

Will you be visiting Paris soon?