Petit Palais

The Petit Palais was created for the Universal Exposition of 1900 as a city museum in which to showcase the works bought from the yearly Salons. Most of the collection is the legacy of Auguste Dutuit. Among this collection you can find ancient artifacts, medieval objects, rare manuscripts and books, Dutch paintings from the seventeenth century. The collection includes western art from the Egyptian era to the present. Dutuit also left a fund for the further purchase of works.

Le Petit Palais was opened officially December 11, 1902, between the Champs-Elysees and the Avenue Alexandre III. The collection includes Poussin's The Massacre of the Innocents, Ruben's Prosperpina, and Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Poodle. There are also Impressionist selections from the nineteenth century by Pisarro, Morisot, Cassatt, Manet, Renoir, and Gauguin. The museum has also more than 12,000 prints.

(Paris, June 2008)