We ventured way out to the 16th Arrondissement, to the lovely area of La Muette to gaze longingly at the largest single collection of Monets in the world.
It is a neighbourhood to the west of Paris, bordering the Bois de Boulogne and is made up of very handsome and extremely well maintained apartment buildings.
The walk from the Metro to the museum is through this park. The sun was shining and the park was full of people as all Parisian parks are.
The building itself is the former hunting lodge of the Duke of Valmy, bought in 1882 by Jules Marmottan for his son Paul who had an extension added to house his private art collection. In those days the Bois de Boulogne was a very distant, heavily wooded area where those with the means hunted and maintained lodges to accommodate hunting parties.
Upon his death, Paul Marmottan bequeathed all his collections to the French Academy of Fine Arts. His town house became the Marmottan Monet Museum in 1934.
His main collection was called "The First Empire" and contains incredible paintings, artefacts and furniture from the time of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 1957, the Marmottan Monet Museum received from his daughter, the private collection of Doctor Georges de Bellio, one of the first lovers of impressionism whose patients had included Manet, Monet, Pissaro, Sisley, and Renoir. This painting by Monet entitled 'Impression: Sunrise' gave name to the movement - The Impressionists.
No photography was allowed inside the museum, so I have copied several paintings from the webite. This is Gaugin's Bouquet des fluers.
Renoir, Jeune fille assist au chapeau blanc.
In 1966, Michel Monet, the painter’s second son, bequeathed his property in Giverny to the French Academy of Fine Arts and his collection of paintings, inherited from his father, to the Marmottan Monet Museum.
This donation endowed the Museum with the largest Claude Monet collection in the world and a room was built for it, inspired by the Tuilerie’s Orangerie. No photo, unfortunately.
In total there are 94 glorious paintings and 29 drawings by Monet.
In 1996 the Museum was further enriched with a bequest of the prestigious works of Berthe Morisot, together with Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, and Henri Rouart.
This is a portrait of the artist Berthe Morisot by her brother in law, Edouard Manet. I must confess, I did sneak my camera out and snap this one while Paul guarded the door.
And this is a portrait of Berthe's daughter, Julie Manet, painted by her mother. I just love these two paintings.
Both the musée Marmottan and l'Orangerie will be on my list of things you must do in Paris.
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