Musée de l'Orangerie

The Orangerie: From Greenhouse to Museum

The name "Orangerie" comes from the French word for an orange grove's winter shelter — and that's exactly what this buil…

The Story of the Walter-Guillaume Collection

The man behind the Orangerie's basement collection was Paul Guillaume, one of the great art dealers of the 20th century…

The Pronaos: A Small Passage

This small passage, just before the rooms holding Monet's Water Lilies, is more than a simple corridor. Called the "pron…

Water Lilies, Room One

The first room housing Monet's Water Lilies is oval in shape, like the second room beside it, and the two are connected.…

Water Lilies, Room Two — Where Abstraction Began

The second room holds Monet's water lily paintings themed around morning light. Beloved worldwide today, these paintings…

Picasso's Boy and Girl

This painting is Picasso's Boy and Girl, completed in 1906. A nude boy stands facing forward while, beside him, a girl l…

Picasso's Nude with Red Background

This is Picasso's Nude with Red Background, painted in 1906. It shows a woman arranging her hair, rendered with a restra…

Modigliani's Red-Haired Girl

This is Modigliani's Red-Haired Girl, painted around 1915, a period when he had given up sculpture to focus fully on pai…

Modigliani's Portrait of Paul Guillaume

This is Modigliani's 1915 portrait of Paul Guillaume, a friend and art dealer who gave Modigliani crucial support during…

Modigliani's Antonia

This painting carries all the hallmarks of Modigliani's style: sculptural, flowing lines, an elongated neck, and eyes le…

Picasso's Large Bather

This is Picasso's Large Bather, painted in 1921. Bathers were a favorite subject in classical painting and were in vogue…

Picasso's Woman with a White Hat

This is Picasso's Woman with a White Hat, painted in 1921. The identity of the woman isn't confirmed, though she's thoug…

André Derain's Kitchen Table

This is André Derain's Kitchen Table, showing everyday items you'd find in any home — a frying pan, a wooden spatula, pl…

André Derain's Hunting Bag

This is André Derain's Hunting Bag. Derain drew inspiration from the still-life paintings of Spanish artists he encounte…

Derain's Harlequin and Pierrot

André Derain's Harlequin and Pierrot draws its inspiration from the commedia dell'arte, Italy's traditional masked theat…

Derain's Harlequin with Guitar

André Derain's Harlequin with Guitar is a monumental, life-sized work measuring 190 by 97 centimeters. The model was Sal…

Modigliani's The Young Apprentice

Modigliani's The Young Apprentice draws on Cézanne's Man with a Pipe for its composition — the figure's pose closely ech…

Soutine's The Table

Chaïm Soutine's The Table shows his style at its most characteristic. Every object on the table — the wine bottle, the p…

Picasso's Woman with a Tambourine

Picasso's Woman with a Tambourine dates from the mid-1920s, painted as he returned to Cubism after a stretch of Neoclass…

Soutine's Figure and Landscape

Chaïm Soutine's Figure and Landscape depicts the countryside just outside Paris. The first impression it leaves is one o…

Soutine's The Great Blue Tree

Chaïm Soutine's The Great Blue Tree shows a massive tree swaying in a violent storm. The tree calls to mind the Tree of…

Soutine's Houses

Chaïm Soutine's Houses was painted in the small French town of Céret. At first glance the scene looks as though an earth…

Soutine's Choir Boy

Between 1925 and 1930, Chaïm Soutine painted a series of portraits of choir boys. Soutine, who was Jewish, took up the s…

Soutine's The Bellboy

Chaïm Soutine's The Bellboy draws the eye with its awkward, in-between pose — neither fully seated nor standing. The boy…

Soutine's The Fiancée

The title of Chaïm Soutine's The Fiancée naturally raises the question of whether the woman in it was really Soutine's o…

Soutine's Still Life with Pheasant

Chaïm Soutine's Still Life with Pheasant brings back the white and red he returned to again and again. A pheasant lies o…

Soutine's The White House

In Soutine's paintings, nearly everything tends to look warped and twisted, as if mirroring his own inner unease. In The…

Soutine's Turkey with Tomatoes

Chaïm Soutine's Turkey with Tomatoes belongs to his series of dead-animal still lifes. Beneath the turkey sits a pile of…

Soutine's Landscape

Chaïm Soutine's Landscape carries traces of Smilovichi, the village where he spent his childhood and where trees were he…

Soutine's Reclining Tree

Chaïm Soutine's Reclining Tree returns to a subject he favored throughout his career. The belief, held in the village of…

Soutine's Portrait of Émile Lejeune

Chaïm Soutine's Portrait of Émile Lejeune depicts Lejeune, a painter and patron from Geneva, Switzerland, who was active…

Soutine's Village

Chaïm Soutine's Village is built from the plainest elements of a landscape painting — houses, trees, sky — yet in Soutin…

Laurencin's Portrait of Madame Paul Guillaume

Marie Laurencin's Portrait of Madame Paul Guillaume depicts Juliette Lacaze, known by her nickname Domenica — the woman…

Marie Laurencin — Les Biches

Marie Laurencin's Les Biches was originally created as a backdrop design for the ballet of the same name, and the actual…

Marie Laurencin — Portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire

At first glance the portrait looks almost simplistic, yet it captures Guillaume Apollinaire's features—his hooked nose a…

Henri Matisse — Odalisque in Grey Trousers

Painted in Nice as part of Matisse's Odalisque series, this work takes its name from the grey trousers, or "sarouel," wo…

Henri Matisse — Nude with a Drape

Another entry in Matisse's Nice-era Odalisque series, this canvas keeps its background unusually spare. As the title sug…

André Derain — Beautiful Model

From the 1920s onward, Derain made the seated female nude a central theme of his work. He favored the seated pose over s…

André Derain — The Dancer Sonia

Edgar Degas is the painter most associated with ballet and dance as subject matter, but Derain shared that fascination w…

Henri Matisse — Three Sisters

Matisse painted this work while staying in Paris during the First World War. Rather than depicting the three women exact…

Henri Matisse — Women Seated on a Sofa

Painted while Matisse was staying at the Hôtel Méditerranée in Nice, this canvas belongs to a group of works from the pe…

Henri Matisse — Woman with a Mandolin

The woman here is Matisse's daughter Marguerite, painted in an apartment in Nice, in the south of France. Instruments an…

Henri Matisse — Interior with a Woman

The setting is a room at the Hôtel Méditerranée in Nice, where Matisse was staying. The seated woman remains unidentifie…

Henri Matisse — Girl with a Vase (also known as Pink Nude)

Matisse himself referred to this painting as "Girl with a Vase," but his patron Albert called it "Pink Nude," and the tw…

Henri Matisse — Blue Odalisque

Another entry in Matisse's Nice-period Odalisque series. The word "odalisque" originally referred to a woman who served…

Henri Matisse — Odalisque in Red Trousers

Another work from Matisse's Nice years built around the odalisque theme. The reclining woman has one arm raised above he…

André Derain — Rustic Still Life

Derain created this work to decorate the Paris apartment of an art dealer, meant to hang above a doorway—which explains…

André Derain — Still Life with a Basket

A plate and basket that appear symmetrical yet are subtly skewed, set against a pale green background—this painting draw…

André Derain — Blonde Model

One of Derain's seated female nudes, inspired by Renoir's Bathers series. Derain outlined the body in black to heighten…

André Derain — Nude with Jar

A large, nearly life-size canvas measuring 170 by 131 centimeters. Derain carried it outdoors to paint directly from lif…

Derain - Black Man with Mandolin

This painting by André Derain depicts a Black man holding a mandolin. What stands out across the canvas is the strong co…

Derain - Pear and Jug

Derain's Pear and Jug reads less like a finished painting than a quick sketch. The canvas is smaller than much of his ot…

Derain - Reclining Nude

Most of Derain's nudes depict seated women, but he also painted reclining figures like this one. The pose looks far from…

Derain - The Large Tree

Derain spent his career constantly experimenting with new styles. In this period, he was painting classical subjects, bu…

Derain - Roses on a Black Ground

Have you ever seen a still life with a completely black background? It's an uncommon choice. Derain painted the backgrou…

Paul Guillaume and African Art

This room displays African art collected by Paul Guillaume, an unusually distinctive dealer who held a deep passion for…

Utrillo - Berlioz's House

This is Maurice Utrillo's painting Berlioz's House. Since his name may be unfamiliar, here's a brief introduction to the…

Utrillo - Town Hall with Flags

Town Hall with Flags shows Utrillo moving on from his long-running "White Period" into a new style. Compared with earlie…

Utrillo - House at Verno

House at Verno, along with Town Hall with Flags, belongs to the late period of Utrillo's career known as his "Polychrome…

Utrillo - Notre-Dame Cathedral

Known as the painter of Montmartre, Utrillo spent most of his career depicting that neighborhood, but here he chose a di…

Utrillo - Saint-Pierre Church

This is Maurice Utrillo's painting of Saint-Pierre church in Montmartre. Known as the painter of Montmartre, he returned…

Modigliani - Woman with a Velvet Ribbon

This is Modigliani's Woman with a Velvet Ribbon, painted around 1915. A brown-haired woman wears a black velvet ribbon a…

Picasso - Nude Woman Draped in Cloth

This painting belongs to Picasso's series of monumental female nudes, produced intensively between 1919 and 1923. As thr…

Derain - Still Life with Fruit

This still life dates from the 1920s, a period in which Derain was experimenting with different ways of rendering form a…

Matisse - Woman with a Violin

This is Henri Matisse's Woman with a Violin, showing a seated woman with a violin resting on her lap—a work that reflect…

Rousseau - The Wedding

This is Henri Rousseau's painting The Wedding. It wasn't painted at an actual wedding ceremony but is believed to be bas…

Renoir - Bouquet on a Theater Seat

This is Renoir's Bouquet on a Theater Seat. Painters of his era often turned to the theater as a subject, usually captur…

Renoir - Snow-Covered Landscape

This is Renoir's Snow-Covered Landscape, a deceptively simple composition: just a few trees standing in a snow-blanketed…

Renoir, Two Figures in the Grass

This portrait captures only the upper bodies of a man and woman seated in the grass. The man is identified as Georges Ri…

Renoir, Girls at the Piano

A blonde girl reads sheet music as she presses the keys, while a brown-haired girl beside her leans in to follow along.…

Renoir, Sisters at the Piano

Yvonne, in white, plays the piano while her sister Christine, in red, leans in beside her to follow the sheet music. The…

Renoir, Claude at Play

With long hair tied back, the child in this painting might look like a girl at first glance, but he is Claude, Renoir's…

Renoir, Gabrielle and Jean

The child in this painting is Jean, Renoir's second son, and the woman beside him is Gabrielle, a cousin of Renoir's wif…

Renoir, Peaches

This still life captures a fleeting moment of light falling on peaches through a blend of orange, yellow, and red. As in…

Renoir, Strawberries

Among Renoir's late works, this still life reflects his preference for reddish tones in his final years. The ripe, red s…

Renoir, Woman with a Hat

The reddish palette of this painting signals Renoir's late style at a glance. The woman's small face contrasts with her…

Renoir, Woman Resting Her Arm

Another work from Renoir's late period, this painting also reflects the influence of the Dutch master Rubens, who saw vo…

Renoir, Gabrielle in the Garden

Unusually for his late period, Renoir painted this one outdoors. Gabrielle's jacket, rendered in the reds typical of his…

Renoir, Tulips in a Vase

Renoir also produced a number of still lifes depicting flowers and fruit. He reportedly said that, unlike painting peopl…

Renoir, Reclining Nude

This is one of a series of three paintings depicting a woman reclining against cushions, counted among the most beautifu…

Renoir, Bathers

Renoir returned to the theme of bathing women throughout his career. Compared with his 1883 Nude in a Landscape, the two…

Renoir, Blonde Woman with Roses

The woman in this painting is Madeleine Heuschling, an actress who later married Renoir's second son, Jean, and had mode…

Cézanne, Trees and House

This painting depicts a small village near Jas de Bouffan, the estate where Cézanne's family lived. He painted this view…

Cézanne, Landscape with Red Roofs

Painted in L'Estaque, a village near Marseille, this landscape clearly shows the influence of Pissarro, with whom Cézann…

Cézanne, In the Garden at Château Noir

Château Noir was an old estate near Aix-en-Provence, where Cézanne lived. He rented a room there to store his paintings,…

Cézanne, Red Rock

This painting is set at the Bibémus quarry near Aix-en-Provence, where Cézanne lived and produced many works.

Cézanne – Portrait of His Son

This painting is Paul Cézanne's portrait of his only son, Paul. Cézanne adored the boy, and his sketchbooks reportedly c…

Cézanne – Portrait of Madame Cézanne

This is Paul Cézanne's portrait of his wife, Hortense Fiquet, who met Cézanne at nineteen and went on to model for him f…

Cézanne – Fruit, Plate, and Milk Jug

Cézanne had a particular fondness for still life. Painting sessions stretched on for hours, and live models inevitably g…

Cézanne – Flawed Vase and Apples

Among his many still-life subjects, Cézanne held a special fondness for apples, which, unlike more perishable fruit, hel…

Cézanne – Flowers in a Blue Vase

This painting comes with a curious backstory. Paul Guillaume once bought a Cézanne titled Flowers and Fruit, and years l…

Cézanne – Pear Tree and Bathers

Painted around 1890, this work was commissioned to decorate the home of Cézanne's patron, Victor Chocquet — which may ex…

Cézanne – Luncheon on the Grass

This Cézanne painting shares both its title and composition with Manet's famous Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe.

Marie Laurencin – Spanish Dancers

This is Marie Laurencin's Spanish Dancers. Since her name may be less familiar in Korea, a brief introduction: Laurencin…

Marie Laurencin – Mademoiselle Chanel

This is Marie Laurencin's Mademoiselle Chanel, portraying Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, founder of the fashion house we all k…

André Derain – Nude Woman Reclining on a Sofa

The reclining nude is a classic motif dating back to the Renaissance, one that drew serious attention from painters like…

Renoir – Nude in a Landscape

After seeing the old masters firsthand during a trip to Italy in 1881, Renoir began to move away from the Impressionism…

André Derain – Portrait of Paul Guillaume

Because Paul Guillaume's former wife, Domenica, donated so much of the Orangerie's collection, the museum holds an unusu…

(Attributed to) Cézanne – Still Life with Pears and Green Apples

This still life, Pears and Green Apples, is traditionally attributed to Paul Cézanne. Its somewhat muddy coloring and br…

Henri Rousseau – The Fishermen

Henri Rousseau earned the nickname "the Sunday painter." His day job as a customs officer meant he could only paint on h…

Henri Rousseau – People Strolling in a Park

The figures in this painting look slightly off in both pose and scale, a result of Rousseau never having received formal…

Henri Rousseau – The Chair Factory

This painting is often exhibited alongside another of a different size sharing the same subject: the landscape around a…

Henri Rousseau – Child with a Doll

Despite the title, the face here looks unusually mature for a child. The figure reads as a girl, yet a closer look revea…

Henri Rousseau – The Cliff

This painting may strike you as oddly familiar — especially if you've visited the Musée d'Orsay, since it echoes the moo…

Henri Rousseau, Old Junier's Cart

This painting was Henri Rousseau's gift to Monsieur Junier, the grocer whose shop he frequented. Junier extended him cre…

Picasso, Woman with a Comb

This painting captures Picasso's transition from his Rose Period into Cubism. The palette leans toward red, but the woma…

Chaim Soutine, The Bellboy

The first thing that catches the eye here is a combination of red and white, Soutine's favorite colors and a pairing tha…

Chaim Soutine, Young English Girl

Soutine usually painted his portraits on an upright canvas, filling the frame with his sitter and leaving no empty space…

Chaim Soutine, Gladioli

In his still lifes, Soutine typically treated flowers as a secondary element rather than the main subject. Over time, th…

Chaim Soutine, The Rabbit

This is another entry in Soutine's recurring series of dead-animal paintings, but unlike the others, this rabbit, though…

Renoir, Bouquet of Flowers

Flowers were one of Renoir's most beloved subjects, an affection said to date back to his youth, when he worked painting…

Renoir, Bather with Long Hair

As he grew older, Renoir developed a deepening interest in classical art, a somewhat ironic turn given that Impressionis…

André Derain, Landscape of Provence

Derain painted two versions of this same scene, and both now belong to the Musée de l'Orangerie. The brown tree on the r…

André Derain, The Road

The road in this painting runs through a small village in Provence. Derain paints it bright, an indirect way of conveyin…

André Derain, Portrait of Madame Paul Guillaume in a Large Hat

After painting Paul Guillaume's portrait, Derain went on to paint one of his wife, Domenica. Everything about her, from…

Picasso, Study for Three Women at the Spring

The Orangerie typically displays two studies on this subject side by side. Picasso painted this one in 1921 while stayin…

Picasso, The Embrace

This painting belongs to Picasso's Blue Period, named for the melancholic blue tones that dominated his work after his c…

Picasso, Study for Peasants

Picasso painted this in 1906 while staying in the small Spanish village of Gósol, a work from the pivotal moment when hi…

Claude Monet, Sailboats at Argenteuil

In 1871, Monet moved with his family to Argenteuil, on the outskirts of Paris. He loved the lively atmosphere of the tow…

Alfred Sisley, The Road to Montbuisson, Louveciennes

Sisley loved painting the landscape around Paris, and this picture captures a view looking down from a high hill in the…

Kees van Dongen, Portrait of Paul Guillaume

The Dutch painter Kees van Dongen and Paul Guillaume shared a friendship that went back many years; Guillaume had even o…

Paul Gauguin, Landscape

Two years before painting this, in September 1901, Gauguin left Tahiti for the Marquesas Islands, which became his final…