Orangerie

The Orangerie was renovated last year and is a fabulous building, combining old and new in a very exciting way. It houses Monet's Les Nymphéas in two oval rooms beyond the simple white vestibule. They were so amazing viewed in this way, too much to capture in photos.














On the lower level, are the collection of paintings of the Walter-Guillaume Collection. We saw paintings that we'd previously only seen in reproduction by artists like Soutine, Picasso, Rousseau, Modigliani and more. Breathtaking!

I was also intrigued by the two miniature rooms showing the office and dining room of one of Paul Guillaume's apartments. As a child, my mother had often taken me to the Art Institute of Chicago, where the Thorne Miniature Rooms are housed. I had that same feeling of delight looking at these tiny rooms. And what made it more interesting, and surprising, was that M. Guillaume owned the painting that I'd sat in front of in the Art Institute, when I was a freshman art student. You can see it in the hallway through the doors of the dining room. A big Matisse painting. Aren't these rooms amazing? Someone had to recreate all these tiny paintings, sculptures, furniture and room features.