Paintings You Can See in Paris.
Art travel guide · Paris
Paintings You Can See in Paris
Two of the world’s great collections face each other across the Seine: the Louvre, from Leonardo to Géricault, and the Musée d’Orsay, from the Salon to Van Gogh. Here are nine paintings in Paris that we have written about, each with a full essay, so you know what you are looking at before you stand in front of it.
Musée du Louvre
More paintings at the Louvre →Musée du Louvre
Pyramid entrance, Cour Napoléon, 75001 Paris
Know before you go
- Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays. Closed on Tuesdays. Last entry one hour before closing.
- Free for all visitors on the first Friday of the month after 6 p.m. (except July and August) and on 14 July; book a time slot on the official ticket site.
- Time-slot booking is recommended, even for visitors with free admission.
- Metro: Palais-Royal / Musée du Louvre (lines 1 and 7).
-
1Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci
The smile almost arrives, then stops. Behind Lisa Gherardini the landscape dissolves into blue haze, and Leonardo’s soft edges make her expression seem to change as you move.
-
2The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
Leonardo da Vinci
Saint Anne smiles as Mary leans to hold back the Christ Child, who reaches for a lamb. Three generations fold into one pyramid of curves, with a mountain landscape breathing behind them.
Also read: The vulture that wasn’t there: Freud’s famous misreading of this painting
-
3Saint Michael Vanquishing Satan
Raphael
The archangel plants one foot on Satan’s back, wings open, face almost serene. Commissioned by Pope Leo X, Raphael’s painting makes victory look effortless, which is exactly how power likes to appear.
-
4Oath of the Horatii
Jacques-Louis David
Three brothers thrust their arms toward the swords their father raises, while the women behind them collapse in grief. Painted on the eve of the Revolution, loyalty becomes pure geometry.
-
5The Raft of the Medusa
Théodore Géricault
A pyramid of bodies rises from a timber raft toward a speck on the horizon. Géricault interviewed survivors of a real shipwreck and turned a political scandal into a life-size image you cannot look away from.
Musée d’Orsay
More paintings at the Orsay →Musée d’Orsay
Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 75007 Paris
Know before you go
- Open 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; late opening on Thursdays until 9:45 p.m. Closed on Mondays.
- Buy online to get a timed entry slot; prices differ online and at the museum, so check the official rates.
- Free for all on the first Sunday of the month, but booking a visit slot is mandatory.
- Metro 12: Solférino; RER C: Musée d’Orsay.
-
6Dante and Virgil
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Two damned souls tear at each other while Dante and Virgil look on. Before the polished nudes that made him famous, the young Bouguereau chose violence to prove he could make beauty hurt.
-
7The Birth of Venus
Alexandre Cabanel
At the Salon of 1863 a goddess reclines on sea foam, and Napoleon III buys her for his own collection. The same year, another nude was mocked. Here is how Paris decided which nudity was art.
-
8Bal du moulin de la Galette
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Sunday light falls through the trees onto straw hats and a crowded Montmartre dance floor. Renoir paints no single hero, just a neighbourhood at play, in dappled, broken colour.
-
9Self-Portrait (1889)
Vincent van Gogh
The face barely moves; everything else does. Painted at the asylum in Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh stares out in a suit against turquoise swirls that coil like weather.
Where to stay between the Louvre and the Orsay
The two museums sit almost opposite each other, linked by the Pont Royal and the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, so a hotel on either bank keeps both within walking distance.
The newsletter behind the paintings
New essays and the stories behind them, straight to your inbox. Or browse every painting by artist, period, theme and museum.
Some links are affiliate links; we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Comments
Post a Comment