4 Best Sights in Les Grands Boulevards, Paris

Wealthy Milanese banker and patriot Enrico (Henri) Cernuschi fled to Paris in 1850 after the new Italian government collapsed, only to be arrested during the 1871 Paris Commune. He subsequently decided to wait out the unrest by traveling and collecting Asian art. Upon his return 18 months later, he had a special mansion built on the edge of Parc Monceau to house his treasures, notably a two-story bronze Buddha from Japan. Reopened in 2020 after restoration, France's second-most-important collection of Asian art, after the Musée Guimet, expanded its galleries to include objects never before displayed, widening the collection to include more works from Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Cernuschi had an eye not only for the bronze pieces he adored but also for Neolithic pottery (8000 BC), mingqi tomb figures (AD 300–900), and an impressive array of terra-cotta figures from various dynasties. A collection highlight is La Tigresse, a bronze wine vessel in the shape of a roaring feline (11th century BC), purchased after Cernuschi's death. Although the museum is free, there is a charge for temporary exhibitions.

Among the city's best small museums, the opulent Musée Jacquemart-André is home to a huge collection of art and furnishings lovingly assembled in the late 19th century by banking heir Edouard André and his artist wife, Nélie Jacquemart, when this was their home. Their midlife marriage in 1881 raised eyebrows—he was a dashing bachelor and a Protestant, and she, no great beauty, hailed from a modest Catholic family. Still, theirs was a happy union fused by a common passion for art. For six months every year, the couple traveled, most often to Italy, where they hunted down works from the Renaissance, their preferred period, and prominently displayed them in their home. Their collection also includes masterworks by French painters Fragonard, Jacques-Louis David, and François Boucher, plus Dutch masters van Dyck and Rembrandt. The Belle Époque mansion itself is a major attraction. Its elegant ballroom, equipped with collapsible walls operated by then-state-of-the-art hydraulics, could hold 1,000 guests. The winter garden was a wonder of its day, spilling into the fumoir, where André would share cigars with the grands hommes (important men) of the time. You can tour the separate bedrooms—his in dusty pink, hers in pale yellow. The former dining room, now an elegant café, features a ceiling by Tiepolo. Don't forget to pick up the free audio guide in English, and do inquire about the current temporary exhibition, which is always world-class. Plan on a Sunday visit, and enjoy the popular brunch (€32) in the café from 11 am to 2:30 pm. Reservations are not accepted, so come early or late to avoid waiting in line.

Visiting the quirky town house and studio of painter Gustave Moreau (1826–98) is well worth your time. With an eye on his legacy, Moreau—a high priest of the Symbolist movement—created an enchanting gallery to showcase his dark paintings, drawings, and sculpture. The first-floor rooms trace Moreau’s “sentimental journey”; their walls are festooned with family portraits and works offered by close friends and allies like Chassériau, Fromentin, and Degas. The two light-flooded top floors house Moreau’s vast workshops, where hundreds of paintings, watercolors, and more than 4,000 drawings give a broad overview of his techniques and subjects. Some of the pieces appear unfinished, such as Unicorns (No. 213), inspired by the medieval tapestries in the Musée de Cluny: Moreau refused to work on it further, spurning the wishes of a wealthy would-be patron. His interpretations of Biblical scenes and Greek mythology combine flights of fantasy with a keen use of color, shadow, and tracings influenced by Persian and Indian miniatures. There are wax sculptures and cupboards with sliding vertical doors containing small-format paintings. The Symbolists loved objects, and Moreau was no different. His cramped private apartment on the second floor is jam-packed with bric-a-brac, and artworks cover every inch of the walls.

French artist Jean-Jacques Henner (1829–1905) was a star in his day, and although his luminous nudes and clear-eyed portraits are largely forgotten now, the handsomely renovated 19th-century mansion-cum-museum stocked with his works is an interesting stop for art enthusiasts. Henner painted more than 400 portraits, including a substantial number sold in America, with a Realist's eye, yet there is much beauty here as well: witness Lady with Umbrella, a portrait of a fur-clad aristocrat with glistening blue eyes. Many of his soft-featured nudes betray other influences. Don't miss them in the light-filled atelier on the museum's third floor, where they share space with a series of religious paintings, notably the haunting Saint Sebastian and a stark portrayal of a lifeless Christ, whose luminescent white skin is offset by a shock of flaming red hair. There is some information in English.