Café de la Rotonde, Art deco restaurant in Montparnasse, France.
Café de la Rotonde is an Art Deco restaurant on Boulevard du Montparnasse featuring large mirrors, red velvet benches, and white tablecloths that create an elegant dining space. Natural light streams through tall windows and illuminates the interior, making it bright and inviting throughout the day.
Victor Libion founded the restaurant in 1911, and it quickly became a central meeting place for international artists during the early twentieth century. The space grew important because painters and sculptors from many countries gathered there and shaped the artistic movements of the time.
Artists who frequented this place sometimes paid with their artwork instead of money, showing how welcoming it was to creative people. This practice made it a gathering spot where painters and sculptors felt accepted and could network with each other.
The restaurant is open daily from early morning until late evening and offers parking as well as a separate room for smaller groups. Visitors should know that the place is quite popular and can become crowded depending on the time of day.
In the 1920s, the establishment became known for allowing women to smoke on the outdoor terrace, which was unusual at that time. This freedom attracted a new circle of visitors, including the prominent art collector Peggy Guggenheim.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
