Why go

For many visitors the Orangerie is the most moving museum in Paris. It was built in 1852 to shelter the orange trees of the Tuileries Garden, and in the 1920s it was transformed to house Claude Monet’s great gift to the nation. After the Armistice of 1918 Monet offered the state a cycle of enormous Water Lilies paintings, and he worked with the architect on two oval rooms lit from above where they could be seen as he intended.

The result is a place of calm in the middle of the city. Eight panels, each two metres high, wrap around the walls so that you stand surrounded by water, sky, willows and light at different times of day. It is a museum you can see properly in an hour, which makes it a perfect partner for a longer visit to the Louvre or the Orsay. Monet died in 1926, and the rooms opened to the public a few months later, so the paintings have hung in exactly this space for a century. Few museums anywhere feel so close to the artist’s own wishes.

What to see

  • The Water Lilies. The two oval rooms on the ground floor, best seen in the morning when they are quiet.
  • The Walter-Guillaume collection. Downstairs, paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Soutine and the Douanier Rousseau.
  • The temporary exhibition. Monet, painting time runs from 30 September 2026 to 25 January 2027.
  • The Tuileries. The garden outside, with its fountains, statues and green chairs, is free to wander.

Plan your visit

The Orangerie opens from 9am to 6pm every day except Tuesday, with last admission at 5.15pm. During some exhibitions it stays open until 9pm on Fridays. It is closed on 1 May, the morning of 14 July and 25 December.

A full-price ticket costs €12.50 online or €11 at the museum, and the reduced rate of €8 is sold on site. Entry is free for under 18s and for EU residents under 26. On the first Sunday of every month entry is free for everyone, but you must book a time slot online in advance, and they go quickly. If you are also visiting the Musée d’Orsay, the combined ticket for both museums costs €20 at either ticket desk and is valid for three months.

The museum is small and can feel crowded in the middle of the day, especially at weekends. Book a morning slot online, head straight for the Water Lilies, and take time on the central benches. Your eyes need a few minutes to adjust to the soft light, and the paintings change as you look.

The entrance is on the Seine side of the Tuileries, near Place de la Concorde. Concorde Metro station, on lines 1, 8 and 12, is three minutes’ walk away. There is a cloakroom for coats and bags, and a small bookshop by the exit.

Nearby

The Place de la Concorde and its Egyptian obelisk are on the doorstep, and the Champs-Élysées starts just beyond. Walk east through the Tuileries to reach the Louvre, or cross the footbridge to the Musée d’Orsay on the Left Bank.