Top 10 Museums of Art in Paris

No trip to Paris can be complete without visiting the Louvre, the 2nd-largest art museum in the world. One of the undeniable landmarks of the city, the museum’s pyramid-shaped gateway is famous the world over.

Louvre houses the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, apart from other fascinating and renowned works of art. Beneath the museum’s pyramid, it is believed that Mary Magdalene has been buried.

In 1818, this museum became Paris’ first ever museum of contemporary art; however, it was opened for public much before that in 1750.

Currently owned and operated by the French Senate and Ministry of Culture, it hosts two temporary exhibitions each year about European Renaissance and the relationship between art and power.

Founded in 1905, this is a decorative arts museum in Paris displaying things such as altarpieces, tapestries, wallpapers, ceramics, furniture, etc.

In its permanent collection, the museum has more than one million decorative objects. This makes it the largest decorative arts museum in the whole of continental Europe.

Sitting on the left bank of River Seine, this is exclusively the museum of French art from the period between 1848 and 1914. Their largest collections belong to the Impressionist and Post-impressionist periods.

It houses a stunning collection of paintings, sculptures, pictures, and photographs. The most famous paintings in their collection include Van Gogh’s Self Portrait and Édouard Manet’s Olympia.

Dedicated to the works of the founder of Impressionist art movement - Claude Monet - this museum has over 300 paintings in its permanent collection.

In October 1985, paintings worth $12 million were stolen from this museum. They were later found in 1990 in a villa on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

Opened in October 2014, this Parisian art museum sits in a very modernistic-futuristic building that instantly catches attention.

The two-storied museum has 11 galleries in all displaying artworks by well-known artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, and Gilbert & George.

Popularly known as MAM, the Paris Museum of Modern Art houses modern and contemporary artworks created in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is one of the main municipal museums in the city.

Originally constructed in 1937 to host the International Exhibition of Arts and Technology, it currently holds more than 15,000 masterpieces of European and international modern art.

Also known as Musée Picasso, this is a museum cum art gallery dedicated solely to the works of Pablo Picasso, the Spanish painter, sculptor, ceramist, printmaker, and more.

The current collection consists of thousands of paintings, personal papers, manuscripts, photographic archives, etc., belonging to Picasso. Some of these were donated by the artist’s family after his death.

The Rodin Museum is the museum of sculptures by the famous French sculptor, Auguste Rodin. This museum has two campuses - at Hôtel Biron in Central Paris and at Rodin's old home on the outskirts of Paris.

Some of the remarkable sculptures in their permanent collection include the Age of Bronze, the Thinker, the Kiss, and so on.

Literally meaning “the small palace” in English, this building is home to City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts. The building was originally erected to host the 1900 Paris Exposition.

The exhibits displayed in Petit Palais museum comprise beautiful artifacts made of ivory, metal, and porcelain. Objects such as tapestry, furniture, and jewelry are exhibited in this museum.