Included with The Louvre Museum tickets
Timings
RECOMMENDED DURATION
5 hours
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The Coronation of Napoleon is included with all Louvre Museum tickets. No separate ticket is needed. You’ll find it in the Denon Wing on the 1st floor, and unlike fixed-route spaces, you can head there directly after entering the museum, so most visitors see it early or midway through their visit. Book reserved access, hosted entry, or a guided tour if you want to reach it without wasting energy in ticketing lines and crowded junctions.
Go between 9am–10:30am, or after 4pm on Wednesday and Friday late-opening days. The Denon Wing gets noticeably busier once Mona Lisa-bound groups spill into nearby French painting rooms. If you arrive from 11am–2pm, expect interrupted sightlines and short waits for space in front of the canvas.
Plan 10–15 minutes self-guided, or 15–20 minutes with a guide. The canvas is nearly 10m wide, so you need time to scan from Napoleon to Joséphine to David’s self-portrait in the crowd. If you rush, it reads like a wall-sized backdrop instead of a staged political statement.
Put it early in a Denon Wing route, before the museum’s heaviest traffic drains your focus. From the Pyramid entrance, a direct walk usually takes about 15–25 minutes. See this before smaller rooms if you can; the painting works best when you still have the patience to step back and read it properly.
This gallery rarely reaches Mona Lisa-level density, but it does clog when guided groups stop here in waves around late morning. The busiest stretch is usually 11am–2pm. If the front row is blocked, wait 5 minutes rather than forcing a view from the side; most groups move on quickly.
Stand halfway back, centered on the painting, so the composition opens up. First find Napoleon, Joséphine, and Pope Pius VII, then look high into the crowd for Jacques-Louis David painting himself into the scene. If time is tight, keep this stop and trim smaller nearby rooms instead.
Most visitors walk too close and study one face at a time. Step back first; the logic of the scene only works at full width. Also, don’t follow a Mona Lisa-only route and leave the Denon Wing immediately afterward, or you’ll miss one of the Louvre’s clearest examples of art as state power.
| Ticket type | Why choose it |
|---|---|
Reserved access | Pick a timed slot and reach the Denon Wing without losing 2–3 hours in the ticketing queue. |
Hosted entry | Best if Louvre navigation feels overwhelming; you’ll get inside fast and start oriented. |
Small-group guided tour | Best for decoding the ceremony, symbolism, and political staging built into the painting. |
What makes The Coronation of Napoleon irreplaceable within the Louvre is its combination of scale and political theater: Jacques-Louis David turns one ceremony into a nearly 10m-wide argument for imperial legitimacy. Most visitors assume it shows Napoleon crowning himself, but the painting’s emotional pivot is him crowning Joséphine. Use the details below to read it from the center outward, so it feels like a staged message rather than just a very large canvas.
Stand slightly right of center and look to the raised crown above Joséphine’s bowed head. That gesture controls the whole painting. It shifts the image from simple ceremony to deliberate image-making, because David chooses the moment Napoleon looks most sovereign.
Look just behind and left of the imperial couple. Pope Pius VII is present, but visually subdued, with a restrained blessing rather than command. That matters because it lets religion legitimize the scene without overpowering Napoleon, who remains the painting’s undisputed center.
Look high into the right-hand gallery of spectators. Jacques-Louis David painted himself there, watching the ceremony he later monumentalized. Once you spot him, the picture changes: it becomes not only an event record, but also a signed act of political authorship.
Painted from 1805–1807 by Jacques-Louis David, this work was less a neutral record than a carefully controlled image of legitimacy after Napoleon’s 1804 coronation. The real ceremony took place at Notre-Dame, but David adjusted figures and gestures to strengthen imperial authority, even including Napoleon’s mother, who was not actually there. Today the painting remains one of France’s clearest visual statements about power, propaganda, and memory.
👉 Explore the full history of the Louvre Museum
Painted the work from 1805–1807, turning ceremony into one of Europe’s defining state images.
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Commissioned imagery that presented his rule as orderly, sacred, and visually uncontested.
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Shown kneeling as Napoleon crowns her, anchoring the painting’s most deliberate political choice.
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Attended the 1804 coronation and appears here in a deliberately secondary role.
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Yes. Entry to The Coronation of Napoleon is included with every valid Louvre ticket. No separate ticket exists.
No. Any Louvre ticket gets you in. Reserved access saves time, and guided or hosted entry makes the painting easier to reach and understand.
No. The painting has no independent entrance and sits inside the Denon Wing. You must enter the Louvre first.
Usually early or midway, depending on your route. If you head there directly, allow about 15–25 minutes from the main entrance.
Plan 10–15 minutes self-guided, or 15–20 minutes with a guide. The nearly 10m-wide composition rewards slow looking.
No. Not every Louvre guided tour includes it. Choose a small-group or private tour if this painting is a priority.
It is in the Denon Wing, 1st floor, in the large French painting galleries. Follow Denon signs after entering.
Yes. Non-flash photos are usually allowed. Flash, lighting equipment, and selfie sticks are prohibited.
Yes. The Louvre is wheelchair accessible, and elevators can get you to the Denon Wing. Busy periods can slow navigation.
Yes. It gives you scale, politics, and French history in one stop. Pair it with Winged Victory for a strong 60–90 minute Denon visit.
[Link to main Louvre Museum LP]
[Link to Louvre history shoulder page]
[Link to Mona Lisa sub-attraction page]
Inclusions #
Expert English, French, Spanish or German-speaking guide (as per option selected)
2 to 3-hour private guided tour of the Louvre
Timed access to the Louvre
Small group of up to 20 guests (as per option selected)
Semi-private group of 6 to 10 guests (as per option selected)
Private tour for your group of up to 6 guests (as per option selected)
Headsets when appropriate
Get escorted past Louvre ticket lines with a hosted intro, then explore on your own with smart tips to find the masterpieces faster.
Inclusions #
Reserved access to the Louvre Museum
Hosted introduction to the museum and its highlights
Accompaniment to the museum’s main highlights for orientation (as per option selected)
Exclusions #
Guided tour inside the museum (visit is self-guided after the introduction)
Audio guide (available to rent at the museum)
See Paris in two complementary ways: understand its artistic legacy inside the Louvre with a licensed guide, then step back and take in the city’s grand scale from the Seine.
Inclusions #
1.5 to 3-hour English guided tour of the Louvre
Timed access to the Louvre
Small group tour up to 20 people
Headsets when appropriate
1 – 1.5-hour Seine River cruise with onboard audio guide available in 10+ languages
Cover Paris’s most iconic sites in one day with a guided small-group tour for a seamless experience.
Inclusions #
Entry to Notre-Dame Cathedral
Walking tour of Île de la Cité
Entry to Louvre Museum
Entry to Sainte-Chapelle
Entry to Conciergerie
Entry to Musée de l'Orangerie
Lunch included (as per option selected)
Private Louvre tour with reserved entry and a licensed guide for up to 6 guests.
Inclusions #
2-hour private guided tour of the Louvre Museum
Reserved entry to the Louvre Museum
Licensed private guide for groups of up to 6 people
Private tour in English, Spanish, or French (as per option selected)
Exclusions #
Food and drinks
Gratuities
Access to temporary exhibitions
