Saralee S.
Yelp
Okay, so I seem to speak French. I was not really aware of this until I went to France, and people kept asking me quizically whether or not I was American. Mmmmm. All that reading about art history in French finally paid off!
I read about this musee in the French magazine in our hotel room. We tried to go on a Monday, but it was closed, so we saved it for the last day of our trip. This turned out to be a Wednesday, so admission was free! It is an act of love to reveal this museum, as there were no lines, no waiting, and the viewing crowd is almost exclusively French. There is also an excellent gift shop, with great books and high quality reproduction jewelry and scarves at reasonable prices for a museum gift shop.
The Petit Palace itself was built as an exhibition hall for the World Exposition of 1900, along with the larger Grande Palais located across the street. The building design has that hopeful exuberance that is characteristic of World Fair architecture, grand and expansive, yet with a certain wistful longing for what went before. It is like walking into a palace with mosaic floors, and beautifully painted barrel vault ceilings. The building was created as an exhibit space, and it perfectly shows off the art, but don't expect any English translations here. There are many delightful art pieces, representative an all periods of French art, but you will not see the "blockbuster" type paintings on display at the Louvre. These are brilliant representations of works like Monet's landscape similar to "Impression Sunrise," the work that started the Impressionist movement.
Also early works by Courbet the Realist, and even avery early Cezanne quartet of panels of the Four Seasons, that he mischeviously signed "Ingres." The true treasures were downstairs, in the early medieval to Renaissance rooms, some set up as period pieces as in the Musee des Artes Decoratives. These blended the works with their design equivalents. There is a large section of "Gothic Revival" art, showing a nostalgia for times past. The works flow through art periods historically, and we did not even need a guidebook
Treat yourself to this jewel casque of a museum!