Musée Marmottan Monet ( en, Marmottan Museum of Monet) is an art museum in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, France, dedicated to artist

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

. The collection features over three hundred

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...

and

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 '' Impression, Sunrise''. 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 located along the western edge 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 t ...

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 An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

. 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 handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, a ...

s threatening security and visitors entered the museum and stole nine paintings from the collection. Among them were '' Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant)'' by

, the painting from which the

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

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 artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, feminine sensuality ...

, ''Young Woman at the Ball'' by

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly e ...

, 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 ter ...

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 potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and bro ...

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 ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...

stolen in 1984 from a museum in France. This led to the recovery of the stolen paintings in a small villa in

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

in December 1990.

Collections

Though originally a showcase for pieces from the

First Empire First Empire may refer to: *First British Empire, sometimes used to describe the British Empire between 1583 and 1783 *First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018) *First French Empire (1804–1814/1815) * First German Empire or "First Reich", sometimes use ...

, 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

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"
Musée Marmottan. Retrieved 20 February 2010. In 1985, Nelly Duhem, adopted daughter of the painter

Henri Duhem Henri Aimé Duhem (7 April 1860, Douai - 24 October 1941, Juan-les-Pins) was a French Impressionist painter. Biography He was descended from an old Flemish family and originally practiced as a lawyer. In 1887, his passion for drawing and waterc ...

, 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

were exhibited at the

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the ...

and

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

in 1995. The works later traveled to the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. The San Diego Museum of Art opened as The Fine Arts Galler ...

and

Portland Museum of Art The Portland Museum of Art, or PMA, is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S. state of Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. It is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District in Portland, Maine. ...

in 1998–1999. The museum also contains works by

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Printmaking, prints ...

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French 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 to Impressionism. Bor ...

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 dedicatio ...

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 Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. Biography Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. ...

and others. It also houses the Wildenstein Collection of

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

s and the Jules and Paul Marmottan collection of Napoleonic era art and furniture.

Design and layout

Salle d'exposition des Nymphéas au musée Marmottan

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 ''Water Lilies'' (or ''Nymphéas'', ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artisti ...

'' murals in the

Musée de l'Orangerie The Musée de l'Orangerie ( en, Orangery Museum) is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings located in the west corner of the Tuileries Garden next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The museum is most famous as th ...

, 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, 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 Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

in the

16th arrondissement of Paris The 16th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''seizième''. The arrondissement includes part of the Arc de T ...

. The nearest métro station is La Muette, on line 9.

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 established in 1934 1934 establishments in France