Art & architecture - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 99

West

Musée Marmottan-Monet Monets galore
2 rue Louis Boilly, 16ème • 01 44 96 50 33 • Q Ranelagh
www.marmottan.com Open 10-6 Tue-Sun
The Musée Marmottan-Monet boasts the world's
largest collection of works by Claude Monet - all
thanks to a generous donation by the artist's son.
Rich pickings include an early series of Le Havre
caricatures and a flurry of watercolours from travels to
London, Normandy and Norway. The famous series of
paintings of Rouen cathedral at different times of the
day is also on show here. Don't miss the purpose-
built basement, which displays a number of vibrant
water-lily paintings inspired by the artist's garden at
Giverny. Complementing the Monets are major works
from fellow Impressionists Berthe Morisot, Manet,
Degas, Renoir, Gauguin and Alfred Sisley. Most
recently, the museum has added a collection of over
300 wonderfully crafted, medieval illuminated
manuscripts from the English, French, Italian and
Flemish schools. Adm

Musée Guimet oriental art
6 place d'Iéna, 16ème • 01 56 52 53 00
www.museeguimet.fr Open 10-6 Wed-Mon
Recently renovated, the four floors of this excellent
museum of Asian art contain objets , paintings and
sculptures from most of the major Eastern cultures
over five millennia. Highlights include exquisite
Japanese wood-block prints, archaeological finds
from Pondicherry, India, and Chinese ceramics. Adm

8 E3

Fondation Le Corbusier modern architecture
Villa La Roche, 10 sq du Dr Blanche, 16ème • 01 42 88 41 53
www.fondationlecorbusier.asso.fr • Q Jasmin
Open 10-12:30 & 1:30-6 Mon-Fri (to 5pm Fri)

part of a larger development, only these two houses
were actually built. Pioneering his now-celebrated
five points of architecture, Le Corbusier harnessed
natural light and applied his Purist theory to the
colour scheme. Villa La Roche itself, with its triple-
height space, swooping curved gallery and blocks of
colour, is the star of the show. Its rooms also feature
small displays of the architect's paintings, furniture,
drawings and sculpture. Adm

Modernist architect Le Corbusier designed this private
house in 1923 for his fellow countryman, the Swiss art
collector Raoul La Roche. The adjoining Villa Jeanneret
was built for Le Corbusier's brother and is now home
to the Foundation's offices. Originally conceived as