20 artworks in Paris to see before you die

Where? Musée de l’Orangerie

Nearly 100 metres of lilies, shadows and water stretch across the curved walls of the Orangerie. It’s not for nothing that ‘Les Nymphéas’ features on most tourist itineraries, sometimes overloading the Tuileries museum. Twelve years of work and eight panels went into Monet’s masterpiece, whose dimensions, almost abstract beauty and impression of infinity never cease to fascinate. Here, Monet condenses a lifetime’s visual research in his career as an impressionist.

Drawing on his garden at Giverny over 30 years, the Orangerie paintings are his most successful depictions of his ponds, which he painted more than 200 times. They represent the water at different times of the day, from dawn until dusk. If they’ve been hanging in the museum since 1927 (Monet promised to donate them to the State the day after the armistice in 1918), we had to wait until the museum’s renovation in 2006 to see ‘Les Nymphéas’ in the gorgeous environment that hosts them today.

Where? Centre Pompidou

As they say, size isn't everything! At barely 30 centimetres tall, this self-portrait by Frida Kahlo has become one of the Mexican artist's most famous works. Inspired by Catholic iconography, the composition also reflects the artist's roots through its vibrant colours and the presence of birds, a traditional motif in Mexican folklore. Painted directly on a thin sheet of aluminium, this small modern-day ex-voto was placed in a frame that Kahlo bought just hours earlier at a market in the village of Juquila, which inspired its title. Only a few of Frida Kahlo's works are displayed outside Mexico and 'The Frame' – which was the first painting by a twentieth-century Mexican artist to be acquired by a major international museum (the Louvre, in 1939) – is also the only work by Kahlo that can be seen year-round in France. And now, it can be admired at the Centre Pompidou!

Where? Fondation Louis Vuitton

Marina Abramovic is kind of like the art world’s mystical aunt. In her work 'The Kitchen V, Carrying the Milk' (part of The Kitchen series paying tribute to the life of Saint Teresa of Ávila), the Serbian artist portrays herself as an adoptive mother with the appearance of a stern matriarch, holding an overflowing pot of milk that drips slowly onto her hands. Filmed in the abandoned kitchen of the Universidad Laboral de Gijón, the short film honours the history of the site – originally built to house orphans (deprived of their mothers' milk) – while also referencing Abramovic's own life, shaped by a grandmother who was both cold and devout. The result? A Saint Abramovic who is as unsettling as she is captivating, delivering 12 minutes of oppressive silence and trembling tension.

Where? Musée de l’Orangerie

The identity of Antonia, whose name appears at the top left of the canvas, remains a mystery. Among the many portraits painted by the ill-fated artist, this one stands out: Antonia is depicted facing the viewer, arms crossed, almost like a modern-day Mona Lisa. Seated in front of a window, she appears thoughtful, almost absent, her green eyes both intensely engaging with the viewer and lost in introspection. An heir to cubism, Modigliani presents a portrait defined by geometric contours and deceptive perspective. The rounded curves of the face, cylindrical neck, and almond-shaped eyes contrast with the sharp double line of the nose, while the differently rendered ears suggest a blend of both frontal and profile views. A masterpiece.

Where? Centre Pompidou

No, you haven’t just stepped into a luxury sex shop near the Marais. And actually, madam, that smooth, polished bronze creature is not a sex toy but a princess. Of course, not everyone agrees with that assessment: in 1916, the sculpture’s phallic shape led to its exclusion from the Salon d'Antin and later, in 1920, from the Salon des Indépendants (before being reinstated thanks to a petition signed by numerous artist friends). Created in the dada era, Princesse X plays cleverly with double meanings and ambiguity (despite Brancusi's claims to the contrary). It is an extremely stylised female figure – reduced to the curves of a bust and face, with subtle details of a hand and a hint of flowing hair – that also evokes the androgynous, virile body of a woman transformed into a masculine symbol. A fusion of vanity, eroticism, and the ‘eternal feminine,’ this gleaming, abstract masterpiece was bequeathed to the state by the sculptor in 1957 and now resides in the reconstructed Brancusi workshop on the Beaubourg Esplanade.

Where? Fondation Louis Vuitton

Scattered across numerous private collections, the works of Jean-Michel Basquiat are only displayed to the public during rare temporary exhibitions. Fortunately, Parisians can rely on the Fondation Louis Vuitton to admire Grillo, a mixed-media piece on four wooden panels that brings together all the hallmarks of Basquiat’s art: a three-pointed crown, fragments of text, Haitian myth-inspired fetishes, collage, painting, and graffiti. The title references the griot, the traditional storyteller, a role Basquiat embodied throughout his career, building bridges between the Caribbean and the United States, as well as between street art and upscale galleries.

Where? Jardin des Tuileries

Regular visitors to the Tuileries Gardens will be well acquainted with these hands. Created by Louise Bourgeois, The Welcoming Hands is a set of five bronze sculptures depicting intertwined palms and arms, crafted in 1996. Modelled after the artist’s own hands (except for the child’s hand) they are situated just a short distance from the Jeu de Paume. The work reflects Bourgeois' personal experience of immigration to the United States, having left France in 1938 to marry American art historian Robert Goldwater. Acquired by the state in 2000, the sculptures, resting on granite pedestals, serve as a symbol of welcome and kindness, something the world clearly needs today.

Where? Jardin du Palais-Royal

Also known among locals as ‘the Buren Columns,’ Les Deux Plateaux has occupied the courtyard of the Palais-Royal since 1985. Comprising 260 black-and-white striped cylinders, the installation by Daniel Buren and Patrick Bouchain (made from Carrara and Pyrenees marble) plays with varying heights and optical illusions while referencing classical statuary and architecture. Today, the 3,000-square-metre space, commissioned by François Mitterrand, has become a favourite spot for influencers to get their pictures while in Paris. However, this contemporary art makeover was not always well-received. At the time, many were outraged by the installation, with Le Figaro describing it as 'the desecration of the Palais-Royal.’ Over the years, the controversy faded and ended in 1994 when Les Deux Plateaux was listed as a historic monument, much like the Palais-Royal garden, which has held the designation since 1920.

Where? Musée d’Orsay

Presented at the Salon des Refusés in 1863, ‘Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe’ provoked a scandal, as much for its subject as for its execution. With this pastoral scene, Manet cocked a snook at the predominant tastes of his era (characterised by a pretentious eroticism) and managed to shock with one of the most common images in painting: a female nude. Because this one was placed between two men in contemporary costume, there was no possibility of allegorical or mythological interpretation, and the direct gaze of the woman left no doubt that this was a painting about sex – even the upturned basket of fruits suggested that cherries weren’t the only things nibbled on during this picnic.

Where? Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

Commissioned to decorate the curved wall of the Hall of the Palace of Light and Electricity for the 1937 International Exposition, Raoul Dufy created this 600-square-metre composition that traces the history of electricity, blending mythology and technology, with Zeus's lightning bolt standing alongside power plants. Like a Garden of Earthly Delights, the painting is filled with details and allegories that reveal themselves over multiple visits to the Musée d'Art Moderne, where it has been displayed since 1964. It's hard to believe that this monumental work, consisting of 250 plywood panels, was completed in just ten months! Dufy's masterpiece is also a technical marvel, as it was created using a unique medium developed by chemist Jacques Maroger, which gave the painting the same transparency qualities as watercolour.