Musée de l’Orangerie

Steps from the busy Place de la Concorde is a museum of unparalleled serenity. The former orangery for citrus trees turned sanctuary for impressionist and post-impressionist art stands opposite the Jeu de Paume photography museum in the Tuileries Garden. Natural light floods the galleries, illuminating the minimal oval rooms dedicated to exhibiting Claude Monet’s Water Lilies paintings. Visitors seem called to stillness, invited by the Monet masterpieces to intimately encounter the emotive expression of the eight compositions. The works were offered to the French State by Monet on the day after the Armistice of 11 November 1918 as a symbol for peace.