It's almost impossible to escape the image on a trip to Paris, but how did Leonardo Da Vinci's painting become the most famous picture in the Louvre?
Walk off all those croissants and fromage with a roam around the many Parisian art galleries. Kate Ford puts together a guide of the heavy hitters.
Paris is cold and rainy when we visit. There are no picnics under the Eiffel Tower, no slinging back glasses of champagne at an outdoor cafe. Instead, there is art. Great masterpieces from artists who need only surnames: da Vinci, Monet, van Gogh. There was weird and wonderful; art you didn't know if you loved or hated. Here is a list of Paris' greatest galleries that you should visit, rain or shine.
MUSEE D'ORSAY
The site of the beautiful Musee d'Orsay, on the Left Bank of the Seine, has a tumultuous history. In the 19th century it was home to the cavalry barracks and the Palais d'Orsay, which succumbed to fire in 1871 during the violent uprisings of the Paris Commune, when soldiers burned down many public buildings.
It was rebuilt as a railway station and opened to the public in 1900, ahead of the World Fair, before being used as a mailing centre for dispatching packages to prisoners of war during World War II. Finally, as modern trains became too long to fit the station platforms, it was converted into the fine art gallery it is today.
Since 1986 the building has housed the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in the world. The building itself is just as beautiful as the art inside. Famous for: Monet, Manet, Degas, van Gogh; basically, name any master painter from the 19th and 20th centuries and you are bound to find them here.
Don't miss: The selection of Art Nouveau furniture and objects.
One of the most recognisable buildings in Paris, the Pompidou Centre is Europe's largest museum of modern art. It opened in 1977 after architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers developed their ground-breaking design in an international architecture competition for the site.
The external structure features functional elements, all colour-coded depending on their purpose. The blue ducts signify air conditioning and the green pipes are for plumbing.
Putting these functional components on the outside means each floor can be used in its entirety to display exhibitions without being interrupted by load-bearing structures.
Venture inside this modern art playground and you'll come across paintings, sculptures, installations and design work from artists including Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, to name just a few. If you're not an "art person", this may not be your favourite gallery due to some of the more unconventional works, but it's worth visiting for the magnificent architectural design alone.
Famous for: The escalators that scale the side of the building.
Don't miss: The amazing views of Paris you get from the upper-level windows.
THE LOUVRE
Louvre Museum Paris at sunset. Photo / 123RF
This grande dame of the Parisian art world is no doubt on everyone's radar when they visit the French capital. Featuring an estimated 38,000 objects on display, the Louvre had more than 8 million visitors in 2017, making it the world's most visited art museum.
It is divided into three wings that house such highlights as 13th to 18th-century Italian paintings (da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael et al); Egyptian antiquities (including mummies and musical instruments); and Greek and Roman sculptures (among them the Venus de Milo).
Making your way from the ground up, the Louvre unfurls into chambers and it seems an impossible feat to feast your eyes on everything on display. To give it your best shot, wear comfy shoes.
Famous for: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, as well as the museum's distinct pyramid-shaped entrance.
Don't miss: Walk through the belly of the lower level to see the excavations of the medieval castle that used to be on this site.
MUSEE DE L'ORANGERIE
The old orangery of the former Tuileries Palace (which was also incinerated during the Paris Commune) is on a patch of lush garden on the Seine's edge. Since 1921 the building has flaunted an impressive number of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.
Musee De l'Orangerie. Photo / Getty Images
To mark the end of World War I Claude Monet donated eight of his water lily murals, a series known as Nympheas, to the French government to be housed in the gallery. The remarkable pieces were installed in 1927 and have remained, withstanding even six-year renovations during which time they could not be detached from the walls. To protect the pieces, which would stretch to 91m if placed side-by-side, each was attached to an alarm system during construction.
These huge works seem to envelope you when you enter the room but be sure to escape their clutches for long enough to see the work from other artists. Head downstairs to the underground galleries and you'll find pieces by Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Rousseau and many more.
