Petit Palais – Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris
The Petit Palais is located on Avenue Winston Churchill, opposite the Grand Palais. Designed by visionary architect Charles Girault for the 1900 World’s Fair, this architectural gem was initially slated for demolition after the event closed.
Fortunately, it was redesigned in 1902 to become the Palais des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris. Thanks to this transformation, the museum became a bastion of artistic expression, housing permanent collections of paintings ranging from Antiquity to the late 19th century.
Today, the Petit Palais continues to attract visitors thanks to a rich program of permanent and temporary exhibitions. Its walls feature paintings by renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Courbet, Fragonard, Rubens, Cézanne and Bonnard.
The museum’s offerings are not limited to painting: it also houses magnificent works of art from Greek and Roman antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the French Renaissance.
In recent years, the museum has expanded its repertoire to include contemporary photography, enriching its vast collections of prints and drawings with modern perspectives and innovations.
Petit Palais’ lavish architecture
The Petit Palais is a masterpiece of architectural harmony, where modernity and classical elegance brilliantly blend.
Its majestic 130-metre-long main facade boasts harmonious proportions, and is one of the building’s exceptional architectural assets.
So is the monumental porch’s wrought-iron gate that leads into the grand entrance rotunda, which illuminated by four magnificent stained-glass windows.
Commissioned by Charles Girault, the interior decoration spared no expense, calling upon the talent of renowned artists of the time.
From 1903 to 1925, luminaries such as Albert Besnard, Injalbert, St-Marceaux, Cormon and Roll thus brought their know-how to the creation of superb frescoes and sculptures which adorn the rooms. Maurice Denis created the stunning dome above the staircase of the southeast wing.
Built on a trapezoidal plan, the Petit Palais consists of four wings arranged around a picturesque semi-circular garden.
An elegant vaulted portico painted by Paul Baudoin delimits this charming garden.
You will also find a statue of Sir Winston Churchill, sculpted by Jean Cardot in 1998, along Avenue Churchill.
From this vantage point, you can fully admire the magnificent architecture of the building, even if you do not have time to visit its art collections.
Directions: 8th District
Metro: Champs-Elysées-Clémenceau on Line 1
Coordinates Petit Palais: Lat 48.866084 – Long 2.314670
