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Paris City Museum of Modern Art in Paris

Established in 1961, the Paris City Museum of Modern Art is smaller than many of the other grand museums throughout Paris, such as the Louvre or the Musée d’Orsay. However, it still holds eight thousand paintings, sculptures, and other art forms from some of Europe most famous and influential artists like Picasso and often has new and provocative visiting exhibitions on display by both established and up and coming artists. This is a great place to avoid the crowds, and it has a quaint café to enjoy in the summer time.

The main collection is free but visiting exhibitions will usually charges a daily admission. There are also a number of kids’ activities and a variety of adult tours throughout the day. Tours are lead by extremely well educated tour guides who will answer your questions and each you more about the different art and artists that grace the museum’s rooms depending on your interests. Tours are considered a good way to take away some of the confusions and misconceptions about modern art.

The Permanent Collection

The Paris City Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection has an array of pieces from many of the major artistic movements and artists of the twentieth century. Moving in chronological order, the museum’s different galleries and levels and set up in twelve different rooms, showcase the avant-garde art of fauvism, surrealism, Dadaism, abstraction, new realism, and even pieces from Pablo Picasso’s experimentation with cubism. Some of the pieces include “The Blue Bird” by de Metzinger and” Group of Furniture” which is decorative art in the style of Louis XVI built by Pierre Chareau.

Some of the pieces not to be missed are two by Henri Matisse. The world famous painting “The Dance” resides in Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. He also has another work here which takes up an entire room of woman who look as though they are in motion among alluring half circles called “La Danse inachevée,” or “Unfinished Dance.” It is said that when Matisse painted “La Danse inachevée” he used a paint brush attached to a piece of bamboo to reach the high part of Another that is a must see and hard to miss is Raoul Dufy’s “La Fée Electricité” or “The Good Fairy Electricity.” The painting uses over 250 panels of Dufy’s large, colorful, and distinctive style, of broad strokes and basic figures depicting human history from the time of the ancient Greeks to the invention of electricity. This painting is considered to be one of the largest in the world.

To see works from other movements in the twentieth century check out the Christian Boltanski Gallery which includes many of his mixed media masterpieces including the piece called “The Telephone subscribers 2000” which uses thousands of names and numbers form telephone directories around the world. If you are interested in Surrealism, André Brenton’s work is a good way to start. Due to the fragile nature of his pieces they are often rotated so they will change with different visits to the Museum.

Temporary Exhibitions

Changing a several times a year, these exhibits offer some of the best from today’s artists. While this may include traditional forms such as paintings and sculpture, newer forms such as multimedia and video exhibits are also on display. Unlike most of the other side’s Check with the museum to see what new exhibitions are on display during your visit to Paris.

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Paris City Museum of Modern Art in Paris