Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Museum of the Orangery of Tuileries occupies a building built in 1852 by architects Bouweois and Visconti to serve as an orangery at the Tuileries Palace, destroyed in 1871. Its pediments, carved by Gallois-Pognant, make it an architectural testimony of the Second Empire. The place retained its function of orangery until 1870, before being rearranged in the 20th century for cultural use.

From 1927, the Orangerie was transformed to expose Claude Monet's cycle of Nympheas, offered by the artist to the French state. The architect Camille Lefèvre designed a space dedicated to this monumental work, the culmination of the painter's career. This redevelopment marked the beginning of his museum vocation, centered on Impressionist and modern art.

In 1984, the museum integrated the collection Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume, acquired by the State between 1959 and 1963 subject to the condition of usufruct. Composed of 150 paintings gathered between the two world wars, this collection enriches the Orangerie of major works of the 19th and 20th centuries, consolidating its status as a must-have place for modern art in Paris.

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