Musée de la Vie Romantique

tanto — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:50:04 +0000

Musée de la Vie Romantique (Museum of Romantic Life).
A visit to the charming Museum of the Romantic Life, dedicated to novelist George Sand (1804-76), will transport you to the countryside. In a pretty 1830s mansion at the end of a tree-lined courtyard, the small permanent collection includes drawings by Delacroix and Ingrès, among others, though Sand is the star. There are glass cases stuffed with her jewelry and snuff boxes, and even a mold of the hand of composer Frederic Chopin, one of her many lovers. The museum, about a five-minute walk from the Musée Gustave Moreau, is in the picturesque neighborhood once called New Athens, a reflection of the architectural tastes of the writers and artists who lived there. There is usually an interesting temporary exhibit. Don’t miss the garden café, open from Easter to late September.

This museum is located at the bottom of Montmartre (not far from the Moulin Rouge) in the Scheffer-Renan mansion, an artist’s home and studio built more than 150 years ago for court painter Ary Scheffer, who once taught the children of King Louis Philippe.

The museum’s main room is devoted entirely to Sand and exhibits a selection of the novelist’s personal belongings, including a collection of watercolours, lockets and jewellery (there’s a cast of Chopin’s hand!). On the other side of the courtyard is Ary Scheffer’s workshop where, from 1830 to 1858, he worked and received Chopin, Liszt, Lamartine, Turgenev, Delacroix, and other luminaries of the contemporary cultural scene.

Address
16 rue Chaptal (9th district)
Métro station : Pigalle or Blanche
Open: 10 a.m.-5.50 p.m.
Closed: Monday, bank holidays.

PS: If it’s fine, take some refreshment in the atmospheric tea salon in the garden area outside the museum and pretend you’re a 19th century romantic…

European Vacation & Architecture Destinations » personal belongings

Musée de la Vie Romantique