For groups

The Permanent Collection

THE MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS

DISCOVERING THE MUSEUM

Discovering the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
This tour presents the principal period rooms (reconstructions of furnished rooms decorated in a particular historical style,) as well as a selection of emblematic pieces from the permanent collections, leading visitors to discover the French way of life from the Middle Ages through the 20^th Century.
Guided Tour

A History of Jewellery from the 18^th Century to Today
An essential element of a person’s attire, jewellery is a true marker of its historical period. This visit revisits the history of jewellery, combining a chronological approach with an understanding of technical evolutions in jewellery-making. Rings, bracelets, brooches… the Jewellery Gallery offers an exceptional panorama of historical and contemporary pieces.
Guided Tour

In the Company of the Marquise Arconati Visconti
Follow the story of the Marquise Arconati Visconti, a benefactor of the arts with extraordinary liberty and an exceptional destiny. In this theatrical tour, you will discover the magnificent pieces she donated to the museum: paintings, sculptures, furniture, objets d’art, as well as jewellery and ceramics. This prestigious collection illustrates the Marquise’s great passion for the decorative arts from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and 18^th and 19^th Centuries, as well as her interest in Asian and Islamic arts.
Theatrical visit

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Four themes are proposed to discover the permanent collections of the museum:

• A PERIOD, A WAY OF LIFE
• SHAPES AND USES
• MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
• INTERIOR DESIGN AND SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

Activities are offered around each of these themes.

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A PERIOD, A WAY OF LIFE
Discover how different objects reflect the cultural codes and way of life of a given historical period.

Château Living, From the Middle Ages to the 17^th Century
Many of the pieces in the permanent collection testify to the evolution of society between the Middle Ages and the 17^th Century. Tapestries, furniture, table settings, and other objects become increasingly varied and refined in response to an increasing desire for luxury and focus on outward appearances. Visitors will also learn how the discovery of Antiquity and the influence of Italy let to a rebirth of classicism in the “Grand Siècle.”
Guided Tour

Salon Living, the 18^th Century
Following the great pomp of Louis the 14^th’s reign, there was a renewed taste for intimate comfort. In the 18^th Century, the French art de vivre became a model imitated throughout Europe. This visit presents a wide diversity of furnishings that illustrate the period’s refined taste in objects and décor. Spanning from the Regency period through reign of Louis the 16^th, the guide evokes the Enlightenment and the evolution in taste: from “rocaille” to a return to Antiquity for inspiration, from chinoiserie to Anlgo-mania.
Guided Tour

From One Empire to Another, the 19^th Century
From the grandiosity of Napoleon’s empire, to the eclectic historicism of a society inspired by the past and by the world at large, this visit presents the evolution in taste over the course of a century particularly rich in political, industrial, social and aesthetic revolutions. By looking at masterpieces from the Universal Exhibitions, the visit also shows how artisans tirelessly sought to reinvent themselves in the face of industrialization.
Guided Tour

Toward Modernity: Art Nouveau
From the late 19^th Century to the Belle Epoque, this visit proposes to rediscover the museum’s Art Nouveau collection. The Art Nouveau movement reunited all the decorative arts in its quest for a “total art” that sought inspiration in movement, nature, and Japanese culture. From Émile Gallé to Hector Guimard, from Louis Majorelle to Eugène Graset, the aesthetic experience of this visit is also an invitation to identify the beginnings of modernity.
Guided Tour

Adventures in Industrial Design: the 20^th and 21^st Centuries
Spanning from the 1940s to the present, this visit is an invitation to discover the precursors of industrial design (Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé…) as well as contemporary artists such as Benjamin Grandorge, Alvaro Catalan de Ocon, Fanette Mellier… From post-war concerns to our current preoccupation with tech and the environment, this visit retraces the great social questions of the second half of the 20^th Century and the first half of the 21^st.
Guided Tour

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FORM AND FUNCTION
These visits examine the function of pieces in the collection and retrace the evolution of how we’ve used them over the centuries.

Sitting
On this visit, visitors discover the incredible diversity of seats that have been invented over the course of human history. To relax, work, or talk, there are a thousand and one ways to sit down. Benches, chairs, beanbags and sofas are just a few of the technical solutions furniture makers and designers have proposed to bring us greater comfort as our ways of living and clothing choices continue to evolve.
Guided Tour

Eating
Emblematic both to the museum’s collections and French culture, the art of dressing the table is at the centre of this visit, which follows the evolution of habits and mores surrounding how we eat. From glasses to forks, services to centrepieces, the wide variety of shapes, colours and patterns of the pieces on display are discussed, shining light on both their functionality and their fabrication.
Guided Tour

Lighting
From candles to electricity this chronological visit presents the history of light fixtures over the centuries. Candelabras, chandeliers, wall sconces… The inventiveness of designers seeking to light the home is discussed in connection with technical evolutions and the properties of the materials used in lighting fixtures. Direct or shaded? The question of how we use light is discussed in association with more general principles of interior design.
Guided Tour

Beauty Rituals
Necessaires for hairstyling, make-up boxes, perfume bottles, dressing tables, and hairpieces, the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs hold many examples of beauty rituals from across the centuries. The objects chosen for this visit retrace the history of beauty and how aesthetics have changed over the years.
Guided Tour, 1h30

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MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
Wood, glass, earth, metal, and stone. Develop a deeper understanding of the collections by discovering the materials and the techniques, tools and trades, past and present, that shaped them.

Working with Wood: Joiners, Gilders, and Cabinet Makers
Solid, painted, sculpted, or gilded, wood is a material that is particularly present in the museum’s collections. It is the central element of the furniture and design elements shown on this visit that spans from the Middle Ages to the Art Nouveau period. Samples and tools complement the visit, bringing a greater understanding of the gilders and joiners’ trades.
Guided Exploration

Working with Glass: Glassmakers and Glaziers
True magicians, glassmakers transform sand into glass using the alchemy of air and fire. Precious Murano glass, romantic opaline, recent vases made from molten glass, this itinerary invites the visitor to retrace the history of glass. It reveals both the great technical prowess of glass artisans and the creativity of contemporary artists.
Guided Exploration

Working with Metal: Silversmiths and Jewellers
Rings, bracelets, and necklaces take shape in the hands of the jeweller, a trade that demands infinite finesse, and endless creativity as it requires working with precious metals and other materials. Silver and goldsmiths are artists who work with gold, silver and enamel. Jewellery and other objects are engraved, chiselled, stamped... This itinerary through the museum’s Jewellery Gallery uncovers their secrets.
Guided Exploration

Working with Earth: Ceramicists
Since the beginning of time, ceramicists have mastered the art of transforming earth into objects. Stoneware, earthenware, soft and hard-paste porcelain, barbotine… this itinerary leads the visitor through the extraordinary variety of ceramic shapes and techniques that were born between the 15^th and 21^st Centuries.
Guided Exploration

Working with Stone: Marblers
Since Antiquity, marble has been used in sculpture and architecture, and the material is ubiquitous in the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Extremely resistant, marble is a choice material for floors and walls, but also for protecting furniture. This itinerary leads the visitor on a journey from the Renaissance to the present day, in which the incredible diversity of marble, and its surprising range of colours, is on full display.
Guided Exploration

French Savoir-Faire and Luxury
Present throughout history in a variety of forms, the notion of luxury is incarnated in a diverse range of periods and places. In the West, the notion of luxury is indistinguishable from notions of rarity, preciousness, and excellence. It is at the centre of this visit that spans from the Middle Ages through the 20Th Century.
Guided Tour

Artist, Artisan, Designer
Artisans, decorators, designers, and other decorative artists… the men and women who created the pieces on display in the museum’s collection often wore several hats at once. From the Middle Ages to the present day, this visit retraces the entire history of the decorative arts, and the museum that honors them, through the prism of the organization and evolution of the trades.
Guided Tour

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SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
Decode the vocabulary and the diverse sources of inspiration to enrich your understanding of a period, theme, or artistic movement.

Geometry and the Decorative Arts
This visit shows the major role geometry has played in the history of the decorative arts. Whether inspired by principles of Classical architecture, or in search of a certain simplicity, elementary shapes are found in objects from the 16^th Century to the present day. The visit focuses on the patterns, shapes, and geometric lines that give shape to both objects and entire styles of interior design.
Guided Tour

Nature and the Decorative Arts
Rose, iris, acanthus, and palm. Flowers and leaves are found throughout the museum’s collections. An untiring source of inspiration for artists, nature offers a marvellous repertory of shapes and colours that are renewed and updated in each successive era. Represented naturalistically, or highly stylized, sculpted, or as an element of interior design, the natural world is the focus of this tour that leads visitors from the Middle Ages to the Art Nouveau period.
Guided Tour

Walls for Dreaming
Covered in wood, sculpted, gilded, decorated with wallpaper or fabric, the walls of our living spaces are emblematic of the periods represented at the museum, from the Middle Ages to the 20^th Century. They are also an invitation to transport us elsewhere. Like windows that open to the exterior, exotic patterns carved into wood, and flowered or panoramic wallpaper, illustrated with historical scenes, invite us to travel while never leaving home.
Guided Tour

Antiquity as Model
The history of the decorative arts is regularly marked by a return to Antiquity as a source of inspiration. Objects and patterns inspired by ancient Greece, Rome or Egypt are found in this guided tour that leads the visitor from the Renaissance to the 20^th Century. A return to the past, a quest for simplicity or order, this visit unveils a decorative vocabulary that translates ideas and messages.
Guided Tour

Chinoiserie
The 17^th and 18^th Century European taste for chinoiserie had a profound effect on the decorative arts of the day. From porcelain vases to precious silks, European courts and collectors had a passion for all that came from China. Chinese objects were copied and reinterpreted by French artisans to better correspond to the prevailing tastes of high society. Pagodas and peonies, monkeys and dragons, the exotic and enchanting world unveiled in this visit greatly inspired both the objects and interiors of the day.
Guided Tour

Japonisme
In the Meiji era (1868 to 1912) Japan opened to the world. Collectors and artists became mesmerized by this culture with such a different set of aesthetic principles. The passion for Japan revolutionized Western decorative arts and accompanied 20^th Century creators in their quest for modernity. This guided tour begins with the inception of the Art Nouveau period and finishes with the most cutting-edge contemporary design, inviting visitors to uncover the influence of Japan on French decorative arts.
Guided Tour

Asian Objects and Dreams
Following in Marco Polo’s footsteps along the silk and spice routes, this visit is a voyage into the Asian decorative arts. The chosen objects illustrate how Asian decorative arts have continually influenced new shapes and fashions in French interior design.
Guided Tour

Red
Blood, fire, danger, love, glory, beauty… The colour red is rich in significance and symbolism. It is also the first colour that human beings created, mastered, and could reproduce in different tones. This guided visit is an invitation to discover the flamboyant history of the colour red through a presentation of diverse objects dating from the Middle Ages to the 20^th Century.
Guided Tour

Blue
Sky blue, royal blue, navy blue… Today blue is Europeans’ favourite colour. Though the secret to making indigo was mastered in the neolithic period, it wasn’t until the 12^th Century that blue became widely used as a colour. What changed? This visit proposes to follow a trail of clues to uncover the sumptuous history of the use of blue in the decorative arts.
Guided Tour

Black
It symbolizes the dark side, mourning, but also elegance and modernity. Black expresses strong feelings and stark contrast. It is commonly used in opposition to white, and both “colours” share the status of not being considered a colour at all. Since when? Why? And today? From the Middle Ages to the present day, this visit follows the trail of black across the museum’s collections.
Guided Tour


MUSÉE NISSIM DE CAMONDO

Joiners’ Treasures
This visit unveils the secrets of master joiners and furnituremakers through a presentation of the most prestigious and exceptional wooden pieces in the museum’s collection of 18^th Century furniture.
Guided Tour

History of a Collection, a Home, a Collector
Essentially featuring the decorative arts of the 18^th Century, the collection of Moise de Camondo still occupies the building designed to house it and the collector’s family. This visit delves into the two periods united here under one roof: the Ancien Régime of the count’s collection, and the modern bourgeois lifestyle of Camondo and his family in Paris of the 1920s.
Guided Tour

All the Colours of Marble
Cherry Red? Brèche d’Alep? Sarrancolin? Brèche Violette? Antique Green? These are only some of the remarkable colours and textures of marble used in a number of 18^th Century pieces. This tour of the history of marble will teach you to identify, observe and appreciate the many varieties made famous by the Château de Versailles.
Guided Tour

In the Company of Pierre Godefin, Count Moïse de Camondo’s Butler
This visit winds through the service quarters and reception rooms of the Musée Nissim de Camondo, as visitors follow in the footsteps of Pierre Godefin as he prepares for a reception that took place Tuesday the 3^rd of June 1930. The butler announces the menu for the luncheon to the kitchen, then pulls the public along to help get everything ready for the event. A step back in time and an exceptional moment shared by the group.
Theatrical Visit