Art & architecture - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 94

Art & Architecture

16 E3

Musée du Luxembourg art exhibitions
19 rue de Vaugirard, 6ème • 01 42 34 25 95
www.museeduluxembourg.fr Open 11-10:30 Mon, Fri-Sun,
11-7 Tue-Thu

This museum's popular temporary shows are based
around two themes: the Italian Renaissance (in tribute
to the palace's founder, Marie de Médici) and 19th-
and 20th-century art (a nod to the venue's previous
incarnation as a modern-art museum). Adm

16 E3

Eglise St-Sulpice Left Bank church
Place St-Sulpice, 6ème • 01 42 34 59 98
Open 7:30-7:30 daily
Similar in size and layout to Notre Dame, St-Sulpice
demonstrates an intriguing mix of architectural styles
because it took 120 years to build, starting in 1646.
Its Italianate façade is topped by two famously
uneven towers. Inside, there are three notable
Delacroix frescoes in the Chapelle des Sts-Anges.

16 E2

Musée National Eugène Delacroix
6 rue de Furstenberg, 6ème • 01 44 41 86 50
www.musee-delacroix.fr Open 9:30-5 Wed-Mon
The former apartment and studio of Romantic painter
Delacroix (1798-1863) now house an intimate
museum displaying his paintings and engravings,
and tracing his life via photographs, personal
belongings and letters. Drawings include studies for
his celebrated murals inside nearby St-Sulpice. Adm

The Big Three
Justice cannot be done to the dauntingly large Musée
du Louvre in a single visit, so stick to a specific
period of art, or to the works of particular countries.
Many of the smaller rooms contain gems, such as
works by Dutch Masters that are often overlooked in
the rush to see more famous exhibits. The Musée
dOrsay is synonymous with Impressionism, but the

collection also includes major works by realist
painter Gustave Courbet, Art Nouveau furniture and
photographs - notably Man Ray's shot of Proust
on his deathbed. Worth visiting for its stunning
temporary exhibitions (as well as its architecture),
the Centre Pompidou (aka the Centre Beaubourg)
also has a splendid permanent collection of modern
art. For details, see p224 .