The Pompidou Museum is one of the major works of art in Paris, starting from its flashy and modern exterior to the priceless collection inside. Not for nothing it is also one of the most visited museums in the world! Design, architecture, painting and photography come together in one place to shape permanent and temporary exhibitions often accompanied by lectures, meetings, debates, concerts and shows. Here what to see at the Pompidou Museum in Paris with advice, prices and useful information to reach it
Index
- What to see and how to visit Pompidou Museum
- The Fountain
- The Violin d'Ingres
- Udnie
- Portrait of the Journalist
- Double Portrait with Glass of Wine
- Harlequin
- Mit dem Schwarzen Bogen
- The Returning
- The Romanian Blouse
- The wedding
- Hours and prices
- Online tickets and guided tours
- User questions and comments
What to see and how to visit Pompidou Museum
One of the most important places of modern and contemporary art in the world, the Pompidou Museum in Paris develops between the third and fifth floors of the Pompidou Center with an exhibition itinerary of 70 thousand works of art including paintings, sculptures, photographs and works of architecture and design. Artists include Picasso, Chagall, De Chirico, Duchamp, Matisse and Kandinskij, or the major exponents of styles such as cubiscus, surrealism and abstract expressionism. To visit the museum you will be provided with a free audio guide at the entrance, but if you are interested in personal or group guided tours then you will need to book from 1 month to 15 days in advance. In addition, to access the museum, in addition to the normal main entrance, a special entrance reserved for people with physical disabilities located on the corner of Rue du Renard and Rue Saint-Merri.
1 - The Fountain
The work La Fontana is actually a urinal, which has now become the most famous in the world, born almost for fun simply to verify whether the Society of Independent Artists was truly faithful to its principle of not rejecting any work presented. In this case it was a real revolution in the art of the twentieth century.
- creation date: 1917
- Author: Marcel Duchamp
2 - Le Violon d'Ingres
This work is a photograph of an artist who was first a Dadaist painter and later a surrealist photographer. Le Violon d'Ingres is a masterpiece representing Kiki de Montparnasse, a famous Parisian during the 20s, with two violin carvings on her back. A
- creation date: 1924
- Author: Man Ray
- Dimensions: 28,2 × 22,5 cm
- Technology: photography
3 - Udnie
Udnie is one of the first abstract works of art, a painting made according to the fundamentals of cubiscus and futurism united to create movement and make him the protagonist. The painting is in fact characterized by planes that, observing them, give the sensation of an incessant movement. The artist is said to have been inspired by a dance show that took place on a ship.
- creation date: 1913
- Author: Francis Picabia
- Dimensions: 290 x 300 cm
- Technology: oil painting on canvas
4 - Portrait of the Journalist
The Portrait of the Journalist is a nonconformist painting with which the artist he wanted to represent the grotesque side of German society of that period through the figure of a young German journalist sitting at the Romanische Cafè who presents herself as independent and unscrupulous but who in reality wears a mask. Due to its significance, the Nazi government considered the work offensive to the German people and did not allow Otto Dix to publish it.
- creation date: 1926
- Author: Otto Dix
- Dimensions: 121x89 cm
- Technology: oil painting on canvas
5 - Double Portrait with a Glass of Wine
The Double Portrait with a Glass of Wine it represents a woman holding up a man who in turn is holding a glass of wine and toasts in a dream scene. This painting is considered fundamental in Chagall's art, a work that suggests a conjugation between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries but which does not fit into any particular pictorial current.
- creation date: 1917
- Author: Marc Chagall
- Dimensions: 233X136 cm
- Technology: oil painting on canvas
6 - Arlequin
Harlequin is one of the many unfinished drawings of the same character that the artist produced between 1915 and 1923 during a period in which classicism had re-imposed itself on Parisian art. Picasso never finished the work and did it deliberately for unknown reasons, giving color only to the face.
- creation date: 1917
- Author: Pablo Picasso
- Dimensions: 116x90 cm
- Technology: oil painting on canvas
7 - Mit dem Schwarzen Bogen
Mit dem Schwarzen Bogen is the German name of a painting whose Italian name corresponds to Painting with Black Arch. The protagonists of the painting are simply three blocks of color, discordant and distant from all theories on the harmony of forms. This established that painting can be the result of dissonances and contradictions and made this work the most important of the artist in question.
- creation date: 1912
- Author: Wassily Kandinskyj
- Dimensions: 188 × 196 cm
- Technology: oil painting on canvas
8 - The Returning
The Returning is a painting whose main subject is a seated mannequin with no arms and no head. Through this figure and this enigmatic and significant work the artist wanted to symbolize his own incompleteness in a rich universe even if the entire painting provides the possibility of multiple interpretations, one of the most widespread is a reference to Pinocchio.
- creation date: 1917
- Author: Giorgio de Chirico
- Dimensions: 94x77,9 cm
- Technology: oil painting on canvas
9 - The Romanian Blouse
This canvas was the work that revolutionized Matisse making him pass from a strong colorism to synthetic essentiality. The artist got the idea after seeing pen drawings published in the magazine of a model who wore an embroidered blouse, so he wanted to photograph and portray her, giving life, after six months of work, to this painting so simple and at same time processed.
- creation date: 1940
- Author: Henri Matisse
- Dimensions: 92x73 cm
- Technology: oil painting on canvas
10 - The Wedding
Le Nozza is a painting rich in elements and subjects, each of which has a very specific symbol. The protagonists are two spouses who dance above a rooster that indicates the song of the morning and of a new day. Next to the couple there is a child representing the union, while in the background there is a village with a hut that symbolize the concreteness and simplicity of daily life. Everything develops under the sun that gives off heat and drives away the darkness and finally on the right of the painting a violin plays the symphony of life.
- creation date: 1910
- Author: Marc Chagall
- Dimensions: 99,5x188,5 cm
- Technology: oil painting on canvas
Hours and prices
The Pompidou Museum is open 6 days a week and its only weekly closing day is Tuesday. Throughout the year, the entire center is granted only one day of extraordinary closure, i.e. May 1st. As for the entrance there is a significant reduction for minors, free admission for everyone every first Sunday of the month and the attraction is also part of the circuit of museums included in the Paris Museum Pass. Here are timetables and prices in detail:
- the entire center is open every day except Tuesday which is the closing day and follows a continuous opening from 11:00 to 21:00
- Best time to avoid queues: it is preferable to visit it in the morning in the early opening hours, therefore between 11:00 and 14:00, as it is always very crowded throughout the day and until closing
- the museum ticket also includes entrance to the exhibitions and costs € 14,00 but you can also choose a ticket of only € 5,00 which allows access only to Vue de Paris, finally there is the option to buy only the ticket for a specific show or concert whose cost ranges from € 10,00 to € 18,00 depending on the activity of interest
- Reductions: there is a reduction for admission to the museum and exhibitions for minors under 18 at a cost of € 11,00. Tickets for shows and concerts are also reduced and vary from € 5,00 to € 14,00 depending on the show
- Free: every first Sunday of the month there is free admission for everyone, while it is always free for those who have already purchased the Paris Museum Pass and for disabled people
Online tickets and guided tours
Useful tips for visiting the attraction
- Get up early: the ideal would be to reach the entrance by 11:00
- Buy the city card: if you are interested in visiting other museums or attractions in the city, you can buy the Paris Museum Pass for 2, 4 or 6 days and save on admissions
- Ticket online or by phone: buy your ticket online or by phone in advance to avoid the long queues at the entrance
- Watch out for restrictions: read the restrictions listed at the entrance and leave any backpacks, bags, suitcases, umbrellas, helmets and cameras in the free cloakroom made available by the museum
- Minimum time: we advise you to consider a minimum of 2 hours for the visit, even if the ideal would be to be able to dedicate at least 3 hours
Where is it and how to get there
- On foot: the main entrance is on Rue de Venise, reachable on foot via the main streets Rue Rambuteau and Rue Saint-Merri - Get directions
- By bus: the center has a special bus stop bearing the same name as the complex, which can be reached with lines 29, 38, 47 and 75
- By metroThere are several metro stops around the center, in fact it is possible to arrive with the brown line number 11 to Rambuteau, with the yellow line number 1 to Hotel de Ville and with the purple line number 4 to Etienne Marcel
- By RER: or the network of urban trains, which stop at Châtelet Les Halles right near the center with lines AB and D
- By car: it is possible to arrive at the center with your own vehicle and take advantage of the large parking area available for visitors by booking it in advance at no additional cost - Get directions
Historical notes and curiosities: what to know in brief
The Pompidou Museum was founded in 1969 by the will of Georges Pompidou, the then president of the French Republic, to create in the heart of Paris a multidisciplinary cultural institution dedicated to modern art, also embracing design, music and cinema. The reasons for his great project were many, but they were above all the desire to curb the decline of Paris on the art scene, opening up French creativity to new forms of art and creating a large building that represented the architecture of the city, hitherto irrelevant.
