Petit Palais
Free tour – 10th of May
How was the Petit Palais built?
In 1897, the architect Charles Girault won a competition to draw the plans of the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. Together with the Alexandre-III bridge, they were revealed at the 1900 Universal Exhibition. This exhibition was inaugurated by Emile Loubet, who was the incumbent President of the IIIrd Republic.
How was the Petit Palais received?
The Petit Palais was strongly acclaimed : it was considered the nec plus ultra of the Universal Exhibition. Its success was partially due to the eclectic architectural style developed by Charles Girault, visible with the stucco decorations, the mosaic on the ground and the stain-glass. Thanks to its success, it became the Fine-Arts museum of the city of Paris in 1902.
How did the Petit Palais acquire its collection?
It started with the city of Paris’s own collection. Thanks to its success at the Universal Exhibition, donations flocked. The Dutuit borthers specifically offered 20,000 art pieces. Nowadays, the Petit Palais compte owns 40,000 works of art covering from the Antiquity to 1920.
What activities does the Petit Palais offer?
The Petit Palais offers sculpture, drawing, engraving, sketches, woodcut and writing workshops. The museum also organizes multi-sensorial visits adapted to visual impairments, as well as “baby visits” for sensorial awakenings to art. It is also possible to access Art History classes and History conferences.
SAMA For All at the Petit Palais :
On Tuesday May 10th, we organized a free tour at the Petit Palais, in order to develop the cultural mediation skills of our beneficiaries by enriching their knowledge of the cultural patrimony present in the museums of the city of Paris.
We started our visit with the sculpture by Paul Roussel « Baby’s dance » (1910).
We appreciated « The Halles » (1895) by Léon Lhermitte. This painting is famous due to its ability to realistically transcribe the bustle of the Halles market and value the work of farmers.
We then compared portrayals of different XIXth century women with « Madame de Lancey » (1876) and « Portrait of Madame Edgar Stern » (1889) by Charles Durand (known as Carolus-Duran). We saw « Portrait of Sarah Bernardt » (1876), which is referred to as the « Joconde of the Petit Palais », by Georges Clairin, a close friend of the actress.
We continued the visit with impressionist works of art : « Sun set on the Seine at Lavacourt, winter effect » (1880) by Claude Monet and « The Church of Moret » (1894) by Alfred Sisley.
To finish, we observed « Still-life of fruits and flowers » (between 1624 and 1700) by Isaak Soreau.