The grandeur and fame of the Musée du Louvre in Paris can hardly be matched by any other museum in the world. It boasts a fabulous collection of art from antiquity to the 19th century and is home of the Mona Lisa and many other renowned works.
At just a 15 minute walk from there is the Musée d’Orsay, another world class museum that picks up roughly where the Louvre’s collections ends. It’s located in an old railway station and houses the national collection of art works from the 1848 to 1914 period.
Its excellent collection includes some of the best French Impressionist, post-Impressionist and Art Nouveau works, including Degas’ ballerinas and Monet’s waterlillies. The Musée National d’Art Moderne in Centre Pompidou, still in France’s capital, is the largest museum for modern art in Europe.
The Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon has an excellent collection varying from ancient Egypt antiquities to Modern art paintings and sculptures.
In Lille you’ll find the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, one of the country’s largest museums. Its varied collection is second in size after the Louvre and boasts anything from antiquities to modern art.
Smaller but still outstanding are the collections of the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi and the Picasso Museum in Paris.
Marseille has many galleries and its Musée Cantini has a good collection of modern art associated with Marseille as well as several works by Picasso.
Fondation Maeght houses modern art too and is situated in Saint-Paul de Vence.
