Musée Marmottan Monet () is an art museum in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France, dedicated to artist
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
. The collection features over three hundred
Impressionist and
Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 ''
Impression, Sunrise
''Impression, Sunrise'' () is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the " Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movem ...
''. The museum's fame is the result of a donation in 1966 by
Michel Monet, Claude's second son and only heir.
History
Originally a hunting lodge for the Duke of Valmy, the building at the edge of the
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...
was purchased in 1882 by Jules Marmottan, who later left it to his son, Paul Marmottan. The latter moved into the lodge and, with an interest in the Napoleonic era, he expanded his father's collection of paintings, furniture and bronzes. Marmottan bequeathed his home and collection, as well as his library (the
Bibliothèque Marmottan in Boulogne), to the
Académie des Beaux-Arts
The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect.
Background
The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...
. The Académie opened up the house and collection as the Musée Marmottan in 1934.
1985 theft
On October 27, 1985, during daylight hours, five masked gunmen with
pistol
A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...
s threatening security and visitors entered the museum and stole nine paintings from the collection. Among them were ''
Impression, Sunrise
''Impression, Sunrise'' () is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the " Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movem ...
(Impression, soleil levant)'' by
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
, the painting from which the
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
movement took its name. Aside from that also stolen were ''Camille Monet and Cousin on the Beach at Trouville'', ''Portrait of Jean Monet,'' ''Portrait of Poly, Fisherman of Belle-Isle'' and ''Field of Tulips in Holland'' also by Monet, ''Bather Sitting on a Rock'' and ''Portrait of Monet'' by
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...
, ''Young Woman at the Ball'' by
Berthe Morisot, and ''Portrait of Monet'' by
Seiichi Naruse. The stolen paintings were valued at $12 million.
A tip-off led to the arrest in Japan of a
yakuza
, also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...
gangster named Shuinichi Fujikuma who had spent time in French prison for trafficking
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
and was sentenced for five years. There he met Philippe Jamin and Youssef Khimoun who were part of an art syndicate. Fujikuma, Jamin and Khimoun planned the Marmottan theft.
In Fujikuma's house, police found a catalog with all the stolen paintings from the museum circled. Also found were two paintings by
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French Landscape art, landscape and Portraitist, portrait painter as well as a printmaking, printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in ...
stolen in 1984 from a museum in France. This led to the recovery of the stolen paintings in a small villa in
Corsica
Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...
in December 1990.
Collections
Though originally a showcase for pieces from the
First Empire, the nature of the museum's collection began to change with two major donations. In 1957, Victorine Donop de Monchy gave the museum an important collection of
Impressionist works that had belonged to her father, Doctor Georges de Bellio, physician to Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley and Renoir, and an early supporter of the Impressionist movement. In 1966, Claude Monet's second son,
Michel Monet, left the museum his own collection of his father's work, thus creating the world's largest collection of Monet paintings.
["Jules and Paul Marmottan"](_blank)
Musée Marmottan. Retrieved 20 February 2010. In 1985, Nelly Duhem, adopted daughter of the painter
Henri Duhem, donated his large collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works (which included several Monets) to the museum.
Since 1975 the museum has organized two exhibitions annually dedicated to an individual or collections, including Toulouse-Lautrec in 1976, Boilly in 1984, Daumier in 1989, Goya in 1990, Boldini in 1991 and Pissarro in 2017. The museum's paintings from late in the career of
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
were exhibited at the
New Orleans Museum of Art
The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...
and
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in 1995. The works later traveled to the
Walters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...
,
San Diego Museum of Art
The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine art museum in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. It opened as the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego on February 28, 1926, and changed ...
and
Portland Museum of Art in 1998–1999.
The museum also contains works by
Berthe Morisot,
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...
,
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...
,
Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedic ...
,
Camille Pissarro
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
,
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...
,
Paul Signac,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...
, and others. It also houses the
Wildenstein Collection of
illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...
s and the Jules and Paul Marmottan collection of Napoleonic era art and furniture.
Design and layout
Jacque Carlu, then curator of the museum, built a special exhibition space for the Monet collection in a lower level of the museum. Inspired by the hall designed for Monet's ''
Water Lilies'' murals in the
Musée de l'Orangerie, the large, open room allows visitors to see a progression of Monet's work, as well as to view his canvases both up close and from afar. One of the most notable pieces in the museum is Monet's ''
Impression, Sunrise
''Impression, Sunrise'' () is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the " Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movem ...
'' ''(Impression, Soleil Levant)'', the painting from which the Impressionist movement took its name. The painting was stolen from the Musée Marmottan in 1985 but recovered five years later and returned to the permanent exhibit in 1991.
Location
The museum is located at 2, rue
Louis Boilly in the
16th arrondissement of Paris
The 16th arrondissement of Paris (; ) is the westernmost of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. Located on the city's Right Bank, it is adjacent to the 17th and 8th arrondissements to the northeast, as well as to the ...
. The nearest
métro station is
La Muette, on line 9.
See also
*
Fondation Monet in Giverny
The Fondation Claude Monet is a nonprofit that manages the house and gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny, France, where Monet lived and painted for 43 years. Monet was inspired by his gardens, and spent years transforming them, planting thousan ...
, Monet's home, studio, and gardens
*
List of museums in Paris
There are around 130 museums in Paris, France, within city limits. This list also includes suburban museums within the "Grand Paris" area, such as the Air and Space Museum.
The sixteen :fr: Musées de la Ville de Paris, museums of the City of Pari ...
*
List of single-artist museums
*
List of tourist attractions in Paris
Paris, the capital of France, has an annual 30 million foreign visitors, and so is one of the most visited cities in the world. Paris's sights include monuments and architecture, such as its Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower and neo-classic Baron H ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marmottan-Monet
Art museums and galleries in Paris
Buildings and structures in the 16th arrondissement of Paris
Musee marmottan monet
Art museums and galleries established in 1934
1934 establishments in France
Former private collection in France