The new presentation of the Musée de l’Orangerie collection, in renovated spaces, creates a closer connection between the two parts of the collection – Water Lilies / École de Paris [School of Paris] in the early 20th century – with an elegant spatial and visual coherence within the building and a fluid, educational and stimulating visitor circuit. The visit begins with a striking entrance to the collection with a large polyptychs by Joan Mitchell (loan from the Musée national d’Art moderne) on the one hand, and large-scale works by the modern "primitives” - Picasso, Douanier Rousseau, Derain, Modigliani, Matisse, etc. on the other - based on the vision of the poet Guillaume Apollinaire. The monographic galleries offers the public a new, more up-close and comfortable perspective of the works.
The exceptional loan of a set of African and Oceanian sculptures, previously in the Paul Guillaume collection, by the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, as well as several drawings and archives, enrich the tour. The two new galleries – one dedicated to close-ups of the collection (three per year) and the other to contemporary counterpoints to the Water Lilies – contribute to the dynamism and constant renewal of this prestigious collection.