L’Atelier Rodin Musée Rodin

Housed in the stunning Beaux-Arts style Gare d'Orsay railway station, The Musée d'Orsay is home to significant and stunning works by painters including Gauguin, Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, and Van Gogh. It's widely considered to be one of the most culturally important museums in the world. Its entire collection is from the period 1848-1914, including many of the most significant Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings ever created. Chronologically, the works come after those of the neighboring Louvre, and before the collection of the nearby Pompidou Centre.

This museum is located in a stunning 17th century hôtel particulier in the Marais district of Paris. It's dedicated, as the name suggests, to the great artist Pablo Picasso. Descendants of the Spanish-born artist sowed the seeds for this gallery with works they offered to the French government in lieu of inheritance tax. French law allows for, in exceptional circumstances, the payment of inheritance taxes with artworks instead of money. This exception is only made if the art is an important contribution to France's cultural heritage - which is of course true in the case of Picasso. With a permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, and an in-depth archive, this is one of the most important collections of works by one of the 20th century's greatest artists.

In 1922 Claude Monet offered eight of his giant Water Lilies panels to the French state, as a way of commemorating the end of WWI. His only condition was that they be displayed in a suitable venue. The French government found the perfect spot: the Orangerie in the Tuileries Garden. The Orangerie was built in 1852 as a winter shelter for the orange trees that lined the garden of the Tuileries Palace. For a period of time it was also used as a storehouse for goods, a bunk for soldiers, and as a flexible exhibition space. Monet's generous gift transformed it into the Musée de l'Orangerie, a pre-eminent gallery of Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings. The huge (and hugely impressive) Monet paintings are definitely the main event, but they are far from the only reason to visit. The museum also contains works by Cézanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso, Renoir, and Rousseau, among others.