The Lyon Museum of Fine Arts at a glance
Located in the heart of the capital of the Gauls, within the stunning abbaye royale des Dames de Saint-Pierre (Royal Abbey of the Ladies of Saint-Pierre), the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts welcomes nearly 300,000 visitors every year. You will appreciate the elegant Italian-style cloister, the quiet interior garden, and the depth of the collections. Take a moment to look at the refectory and the grand baroque-style staircase.
The foundation was established after the French Revolution, once the nuns had departed the premises. It began with an initial state collection of 110 paintings, including Adoration of the Magi by Rubens and The Invention of the Relics of Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius by Champaigne.
The museum is organized into 6 departments: antiquities, art objects, coins and medals, paintings, sculptures, and graphic arts. To accommodate different visitor needs, the museum offers various paths, including a one-hour tour, art history cycles, and specific visits for children, both guided and independent. If you want to see the most famous paintings among the 2,000 listed, the museum website is a useful resource for locating them. The room dedicated to the 19th century is particularly impressive, featuring works by Géricault, Eugène Delacroix, Honoré Daumier, Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, and others. The 20th century is equally well-represented, with pieces by Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Dubuffet, De Staël, and Bacon. These galleries house a significant collection of major artists.
Be sure to check the schedule for temporary exhibitions. They are well-curated and consistently high in quality.
If there is one thing I took away from this museum, it is the magnificent sculptures inspired by Greek mythology (though the paintings are worth it too!). The layout of the rooms shows them off perfectly. The architecture with the columns also makes the whole place very elegant. The setting is on par with the content. In short, it is a very beautiful museum that is clearly worth the trip.