Musée Marmottan Monet

This museum is a bit off the beaten track but well worth the effort to find.

It’s a former hunting lodge of a duke who was an avid collector of impressionist works and upon his death, was bequeathed to the French Academy of Fine Arts. One of Monet’s sons donated many of his works that are now housed in this museum, and other collections have been donated over the years.

The museum includes many works by a number of less well-known but interesting artists. It also includes period rooms and a large collection of illuminated manuscripts.

Its pièce de resistance is the source of the term “impressionism,” “Impression, soleil levant” (Impression, sunrise), first shown at the “Première exposition des peintres impressionistes” of 1874. Apart from this must-see masterpiece, the museum houses a nice collection of other Monets.

Apart from the permanent collection Marmottan-Monet has (often very interesting) temporary exhibitions.

Unlike in most French/Parisian museums it is not allowed to photograph inside, also not without flash.