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What to see at Petit Palais

Young women resting by the Seine River in summer, Courbet painting at Petit Palais.
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The permanent art collection

Explore paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts spanning antiquity to the early 20th century. Look out for works by major names including Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Courbet, and Rembrandt, alongside lesser-known pieces from the City of Paris collection.

The grand central galleries

The building is part of the experience. Walk beneath soaring ceilings, ornate columns, mosaics, and sweeping staircases that make the Petit Palais feel as much like a palace as an art museum.

The inner courtyard garden

At the heart of the museum is a peaceful semicircular garden lined with palm trees, columns, and mosaic floors. It’s one of the prettiest spots in the Petit Palais and a great place to slow down between galleries.

Sculptures and decorative arts

Beyond the paintings, you’ll find sculptures, furniture, jewellery, ceramics, tapestries, and Art Nouveau objects that show how French design evolved across the centuries.

Temporary exhibitions

Petit Palais regularly hosts major temporary exhibitions dedicated to individual artists, movements, and periods in art history. These displays are often among the museum’s biggest draws and give returning visitors something new to see.

Collections at Petit Palais

The Petit Palais holds around 43,000 works, with collections stretching from antiquity to the early 20th century. Its strongest galleries bring together Impressionism, French painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and works by some of Europe’s biggest artists.

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art

See works by some of France’s most celebrated artists, including Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, and Bonnard. A standout is Monet’s Sunset on the Seine at Lavacourt, Winter Effect, with its atmospheric view of the frozen Seine.

Paul Cézanne

Look out for Cézanne’s Three Bathers and Portrait of Ambroise Vollard. The latter portrays the influential Parisian art dealer who played a major role in promoting Cézanne and other modern artists.

Gustave Courbet

The museum holds several works by Realist master Gustave Courbet, including Courbet with a Black Dog. Painted as a young artist, the striking self-portrait shows Courbet posing dramatically in a landscape with his dog.

Rembrandt and the Old Masters

Petit Palais is also home to an impressive collection of older European art and prints. Highlights include works by Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer, and other Dutch and Flemish masters, largely drawn from the Dutuit collection.

Sculpture collection

Move beyond the paintings to discover sculptures from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The galleries feature works by leading French sculptors, with marble, bronze, and plaster pieces displayed throughout the museum’s grand interiors.

Decorative arts and Paris around 1900

Explore furniture, jewellery, ceramics, glassware, and Art Nouveau objects from the period when Paris was becoming a global centre for design. These galleries capture the creativity and craftsmanship of the city around the 1900 Universal Exhibition.

Petit Palais through the years

🏛️ 1900 | Built for the World Fair

Petit Palais was designed by Charles Girault for the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

🎨 1902 | Becomes an art museum

It reopened as the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, housing the city’s fine art collection.

✨ 1903–1925 | Interiors get their finishing touches

Murals, painted ceilings, sculptures, and decorative details were added across the palace.

🖼️ 20th century | Collections expand

Major donations brought in paintings, sculptures, antiquities, prints, and decorative arts from across Europe.

🔨 2000–2005 | Major restoration

The museum closed for renovation, restoring its grand interiors, galleries, and central garden.

🌟 2005–today | Petit Palais today

Reopened in 2005, it now combines its permanent collection with major temporary exhibitions.

Architecture of Petit Palais

Designed by Charles Girault for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, Petit Palais blends grand Beaux-Arts design with light-filled galleries and elegant decorative details. Its most striking features include the monumental entrance, gilded dome, sweeping staircases, mosaic floors, painted ceilings, and a semicircular courtyard garden at its center. Large windows and glass roofs bring natural light into the galleries, making the building itself one of the highlights of a visit.

Frequently asked questions about Petit Palais

Petit Palais is known for its impressive architecture and collection of paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and works by artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Courbet, and Rembrandt.