Petit Palais, Art museum in 8th arrondissement, France.
The Petit Palais is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, built by architect Charles Girault for the 1900 Exposition Universelle. Its trapezoidal plan forms a semicircular peristyle courtyard, where coupled columns of pink Vosges granite and gilt-bronze border a covered gallery. The main façade, about 125 metres long, centres on a monumental porch topped by a dome.
Charles Girault designed this Beaux-Arts building between 1897 and 1900 specifically for the 1900 Universal Exhibition. It was one of several new structures created expressly for that international event.
The museum's core is the Dutuit bequest of some 20,000 works, received in 1902, including Rembrandt's self-portrait and Rubens's The Abduction of Proserpine. Edward and Julia Tuck gave their 18th-century French furniture and objects in 1930, and Roger Cabal left a collection of icons in 1998. The name Petit Palais, "Small Palace", distinguishes it from the Grand Palais facing it.
The museum sits on Avenue Winston-Churchill and is open Tuesday through Sunday with free entry to the permanent collections. Visitors should expect clear signage throughout the building and easily accessible gallery spaces.
The Roger Cabal bequest of 1998 gave the museum a collection of religious icons, and in 2019 it acquired its first and only 21st-century artwork. The entrance rotunda and main gallery have mosaic floors, marble-lined walls and allegorical paintings in the dome and vaults.
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