Paris Museums? Top 5: A Quick Overview
Paris is so mega when it comes to the museum scene. It can be overwhelming to know which and what is worth it, how to choose, and what to allot time to.
Here’s a simple top five, why, and some tips for going. This is especially pertinent for Paris first-timers.
Louvre: 75001 Paris, France
What is there to say about the Louvre? It’s an institution. It’s a landmark. It’s amazing, it’s also overhyped and some things about it have been too commercialized while others go under the radar. It’s an obvious choice but one has to be smart and cautious venturing there. In other words, going on a weekend in early summer is an introvert’s realization of living hell.
It’s worth getting tickets ahead of time and researching what’s being exhibited. That being said there’s enough there regularly, not necessarily the Mona, that can keep one preoccupied days and days.
The Louvre holds inconspicuous pieces, paintings, and sculptures that captivate millions simply during the walk-through. My greatest suggestion is because the sensationalism of art is so subjective, so momentary, it’s worth gliding through on your mood and feeling.
I will say that going post-Apeship is an experience to broaden perspective in more ways than five.
Musée d’Orsay: Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing 75007 Paris
The d’Orsay is the more concentrated hub of the art maven’s favorites. Its selection of works is for the romantic, the collection has an overarching whimsical nature and uplift. The pastels of the impressionists are on display, and the boasts of the Enlightenment era are housed here. Utterly lovely and it’s not to miss.
Picasso: 5 Rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris
It’s the National Picasso Museum of Paris…even though Picasso was not born in Paris. That being written, the Picasso Museum is probably the museum in an entire entity that has the most gravity of emotion. There are Picassos to be seen elsewhere as well. But here the chronology is laid out, his story is floated in art exclusively of his own. It enriches the holistic understanding and consumption of him as a figure. His work is something to digest.
Palace of Versailles + Monet’s Inspired Haunts: Place d’Armes, 78000 Versailles
Versailles can be reached via train or car a short way away from Paris and it’s worth the mere one-hour journey. It’s, like the Louvre: an institution. It’s overwhelming. I’m not even sure what words to use to enunciate it. It expresses a sort of excess that’s obliterating and to be appreciated all at once. Going with a conversation over its history is a must.
Having visited the palace a few times it’s one of those architectural dreams that makes you ponder at the things man’s capable of inventing.
Centre Pompidou: Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris
Pompidou is worth it for the intricacies of architecture alone. There is a lot of post-impressionist and modern gold at this renowned contemporary art museum. It’s host to one of the most robust collections of contemporary art within all of Europe and is of notable architectural design in the building itself. It’s also a must for Kandinsky fans.
