Museum nights not to be missed

In Paris, museums also like to stay up late. Often crowded during the day, they offer evening visitors a privileged tête-à-tête with the works they house. Discover our list of Parisian museums where it is good to end your day in peace and culture.

The Louvre Museum

The last time you went there was on a Thursday morning at 9am. You even avoided the Pyramid entrance and its queue. So is a night at the Louvre really reasonable? Until this year, the answer was yes, but only on Wednesdays, as the crowds are often very high on Friday nights. Things have changed a bit in 2019, since the world's most visited museum has introduced a free nighttime event every first Saturday of the month. That should welcome more visitors than the 10.2 million who roamed its galleries in 2018. And rediscover the collections of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, and French and Italian paintings.

Louvre Museum
Rue de Rivoli, Paris 1
Nocturne until 9:45pm on Wednesdays and Fridays
Free admission every first Saturday of the month from 6pm to 10pm

The Musée d'Orsay

We know them by day, under the natural light diffused by the immense glass roof of the main hall, but the works exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay can also be admired at night. On Thursday evening to be exact. And no, you don't have to wait an hour before going through the doors of the most famous museum on the Left Bank. Except perhaps during the Curieuses Nocturnes, organized to celebrate the opening or the end of the great exhibitions. Concerts, workshops, guided tours, meetings... Very good reasons to wait.

Musée d'Orsay
1 rue de la Légion d'Honneur, Paris 7
Nocturne jusqu'à 21h45 le jeudi

The Pompidou Centre

In this museum where the doors never close before 9pm, it's almost night time every night. This gives visitors time to admire the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe. The famous building, designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, houses more than 120,000 works of art, as well as two libraries and two cinemas. So don't hesitate to linger until 11pm on Thursdays to admire the finalists of the latest Marcel Duchamp Prize or the view of Paris, which is even more beautiful at night.

Pompidou Centre
Place Georges Pompidou, Paris 4
Nocturne until 11pm on Thursday

The Palais de Tokyo

Against the grain of its contemporaries, the Palais de Tokyo is no longer lacking in originality. And that's why we love it so much. Within its walls, where concrete is the backdrop, you can stroll to the rhythm of the temporary exhibitions that honour today's artists. No permanent collection here: each visit has the flavour of a first meeting. And the most important thing: it's open until midnight, so you can take your time.

Palais de Tokyo
13 avenue du Président Wilson, Paris 16
Open until midnight, every day except Tuesday

The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art

A lot happens when night falls on the Fondation Cartier. Since 1984, people have not only come to admire the works in its collection. People also flock there for its exhibitions, both day and night. The Fondation Cartier organizes numerous events, such as the Soirées Nomades, where artists and visitors meet, and the Nuits de l'Incertitude, where artists, scientists and intellectuals discuss the issues raised by the current exhibition in public.

Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art
261 boulevard Raspail, Paris 14
Open until 10pm on Tuesday and Thursday

Lafayette Anticipations

Within the walls of Galeries Lafayette's public interest foundation, we don't just present works to the public. We also create them. Lafayette Anticipations defines itself as a multidisciplinary artistic production center, where invited artists benefit from all the resources necessary for the preparation of their exhibitions. On Thursday nights, you can walk around until 9pm. And on Fridays at 7pm, you can be guided by the foundation's meditation team for a themed tour.

Lafayette Anticipations
9 rue du Plâtre, Paris 4
Open Thursdays until 9pm
Open every Friday at 7pm until January 2020, by reservation

The Museum of Decorative Arts

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs is a meeting place for the beautiful and the useful. It focuses on furniture, textiles, jewelry, advertising and graphic design. If its permanent collection, composed of more than 60,000 works, is worth a visit in itself, the temporary exhibitions are also very popular. The Thursday night shows, until 9pm, are reserved for them. Perfect to discover them without hurrying, and without the usual rush.

Museum of Decorative Arts
107-111 rue de Rivoli, Paris 1
Nocturne on Thursday until 9pm