The Impressionist Trail: Chasing Monet, Renoir & Degas Across Paris
Between 1860 and 1910, a handful of radical painters in Paris changed how the world sees light, colour and ordinary life. This full-day walk connects the four greatest Impressionist museums in the city before finishing in the Montmartre neighbourhood where Renoir and Van Gogh actually lived and painted. Book the Orsay and Rodin online to skip queues.
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Musée d'Orsay
The world's greatest Impressionist museum occupies a converted 1900 Beaux-Arts railway station. The main hall alone is worth the entrance fee. Head directly upstairs to room 32 for Monet's series paintings, Renoir's Le Moulin de la Galette (painted in Montmartre, where you'll finish today), and Degas's ballet dancers. Allow two hours minimum. The building itself, with its giant clocks looking over the Seine, is one of the finest in Europe.
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Pont de la Concorde & Jardin des Tuileries
Cross the river at Pont de la Concorde and walk east through the Tuileries. This garden, stretching between the Louvre and the Orangerie, was where Monet and his contemporaries strolled and sketched the Paris bourgeoisie. The light on the gravel paths at mid-morning is exactly the kind of dappled luminosity that obsessed the Impressionists. The Orangerie is at the western end.
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Musée de l'Orangerie
Monet specifically designed two oval rooms in this museum for his giant Water Lilies canvases—eight panels totalling 91 metres of painting, created when he was nearly blind. The effect is overwhelming and meditative. Downstairs holds a smaller but extraordinary collection including Cézanne, Renoir, Matisse and Picasso. Combined ticket with the Orsay saves money. Spend 45 minutes here.
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Musée Rodin
A short walk through the 7th arrondissement leads to the Rodin Museum, housed in the sculptor's own 18th-century mansion. The garden—where The Thinker and The Gates of Hell stand outdoors among roses—is open with a low-cost garden-only ticket. The connection to Impressionism is direct: Rodin worked alongside Monet, shared exhibitions, and applied the same philosophy of captured movement and light to sculpture.
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Rue Lepic, Montmartre — Where Renoir & Van Gogh Lived
Take the metro to Abbesses and walk up to Rue Lepic. Van Gogh lived at number 54 with his brother Theo in 1886–88, during which time he painted over 200 Montmartre canvases. Renoir's Le Moulin de la Galette was painted at the dance hall 100 metres away (now a restaurant). Walk past the two surviving windmills—Moulin Radet and Moulin de la Galette—and pause for a glass of wine at any of the terrasse cafés. The hill hasn't changed much since the 1880s.