Guimet Museum: France

The Guimet Museum (French: Musee Guimet) is a museum of Asian art located in Paris, France. It has the largest collection of Asian art outside Asia.

The museum which was first located at Lyons in 1879 and was handed over to the state and transferred to Paris in 1885, was founded by Emile Etienne Guimet, an industrialist. Devoted to travel, Guimet was in 1876 commissioned by the minister of public instruction to study the religions of the Far East, and the museum contains many of the fruits of this expedition, including a fine collection of Japanese and Chinese porcelain and many objects relating not merely to the religions of the East but also to those of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.

Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume: France

The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume is a museum of contemporary art in the north-west corner of the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.

The building was built in 1861 during the reign of Napoleon III. It originally housed tennis courts; the name is from the precursor of tennis, the jeu de paume.

It was used from 1940 to 1944 to store Jewish cultural property looted by the Nazi regime in France.

Before 1986, it contained the Musee du Jeu de Paume, which held many important impressionist works now in the Musee d’Orsay.

Musee Rodin: France

The Musee Rodin in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919 in the Hotel Biron and surrounding grounds. It displays works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Rodin used the Hotel Biron as his residence from 1908, and subsequently donated his entire collection of sculptures (along with paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Pierre-Auguste Renoir that he had acquired) to the French State on the condition that they turn the building into a museum dedicated to his works.

The Musee Rodin contains most of Rodin’s significant creations, including The Thinker and The Kiss. Many of his sculptures are displayed in the museum’s extensive garden.

The museum has also a room dedicated to works of Camille Claudel.

Centre Georges Pompidou: France

The Centre Georges Pompidou (constructed 1971-1977 and known as the Pompidou Centre in English) is a building in the Beaubourg area of the IVe arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles and the Marais. Designed by Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Gianfranco Franchini, it houses the Bibliotheque publique d’information, a vast public library, and the Musee National d’Art Moderne. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg.

Museum

Some of the art movements represented in the Musee National d’Art Moderne are Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. The museum has 50,000 works of art (including painting, sculpture, drawing, and photography), of which 1,500 to 2,000 are on public display.

Design

The building structure is very distinctive: it has been described by critics as “an oil refinery in the centre of the city”. The coloured external piping is the special feature of the building. Air conditioning ducts are blue, water pipes are green and electricity lines are yellow. Escalators are red. White ducts are ventilation shafts for the underground areas. Even the steel beams that make up the Pompidou Centre’s framework are on the outside.

The intention of the architects was to place the various service elements (electricity, water etc.) outside of the building’s framework and therefore turn the building “inside out”. The arrangement also allows an uncluttered internal space for the display of art works, drawing on ideas promulgated by Cedric Price’s Fun Palace project (1964).

Access and surrounding area

The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers such as mimes and jugglers.

The nearby Stravinsky Fountain (or Fontaine des automates) near the Centre Pompidou, features works by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle.

Public transport: metro Rambuteau, Les Halles, metro and RER Chatelet - Les Halles.

The museum is on the fourth and fifth floor.

The library is on the first three floors.

Musee Picasso: France

The Musee Picasso is located in the Hotel Sale on rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris, France. The mansion which houses the collection was built between 1656 and 1659 for Pierre Aubert, Lord of Fontenay, who became rich collecting the Salt Tax (the name of the building means “salted”). The architect was Jean Boullier, also known as Jean de Bourges, and is considered to be one of the finest historic houses in the Marais.

The mansion has changed hands several times through both sales and inheritances. The occupants have included: the Embassay of the Republic of Venice (1671); the Marechal de Villeroy; it was expropriated by the State during the Revolution; in 1815 it became a school in which Balzac studied; it also housed the municipal Ecole des Metiers d’Art. It was acquired by the City of Paris in 1964, and was granted historical monument status in 1968. The mansion was restored by Bernard Vitry and Bernard Fonquernie of the Monuments Historiques between 1974-1980.

The Hotel Sale was selected for the Musee Picasso after some contentious civic and national debate. A competition was held to determine who would design the facilities. The proposal from Roland Simounet was selected in 1976 from amongst the four that were submitted. Other proposals were submitted by Roland Castro and the GAU (Groupement pour l’Architecture et l’Urbanisme), Jean Monge, and Carlo Scarpa. For the most part, the interior of the mansion (which had undergone significant modifications) was restored to its former spacious state. (more…)

Petit Palais: France

The Petit Palais is a museum in Paris, France. Built for the Universal Exhibition in 1900 by architect Charles Girault, it now houses the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris.

Arranged around a pretty semi-circular courtyard and garden, the palace is similar to the Grand Palais. Its ionic columns, grand porch and dome echo those of the Invalides across the river.

The current exhibits are divided into sections: The Dutuit Collection of Medieval and Renaissance paintings, drawings and objets d’art; the Tuck Collection of 18th century furniture and the City of Paris collection of works by french artists, such as Jean Ingres, Eugène Delacroix and Gustave Courbet.

It served as model notably for Royal Museum for Central Africa near Brussels.