The Water Lilies after hours at the Orangerie

Why it is on the list

Monet worked with the architect Camille Lefèvre on the two oval rooms that hold his eight Water Lilies panels; the canvases are two metres high, run 91 metres in all, and are lit by daylight from above.¹ The museum opened with them in May 1927, a few months after Monet's death.¹ After hours the museum can give the Water Lilies rooms to a single group, 120 seated in the larger room or 200 standing, and the rest of the collection (Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Soutine) can be left open for guests to walk through.²

It is the wrong choice for a party of more than 200 in one room, or for a gala: the Louvre takes private events from 50 to 3,000 guests.³ For something smaller and quieter, the Musée Eugène-Delacroix in Saint-Germain-des-Prés offers private visits with a reception for up to 80 in the painter's studio or its garden.³ For Impression, Sunrise and Monet's easel paintings rather than the late murals, take the Monet gallery after hours at the Marmottan.

How to get it

Call the museum's events office on +33 1 44 50 43 38 or write to location@musee-orangerie.fr with your dates and numbers.⁴ The museum is open for private hire from 6 pm every day, and all day and evening on Tuesday.² Ask for a private visit of the Water Lilies rooms; it can be combined with breakfast, a glass of champagne, a cocktail, or lunch or dinner for up to 80 in the glass-roofed Verrière, with a caterer of your choice for the champagne and a lecturer on request.²

Discretion

Cars can drop guests off, entering over the iron bridge from Avenue Lemonnier; the museum is accessible to wheelchair users and can lend wheelchairs.² During a private visit the guests have the works to themselves.²