Musee de Montmartre (Montmartre Museum), Paris

The Montmartre Museum occupies several historic buildings including the Hôtel Demarne, Maison du Bel Air, and the studio apartment once a residence for painters, writers, and cabaret artists at the turn of the 20th century.

This time-honored structure dates back three centuries. The Maison du Bel Air, constructed in 1660, is among Montmartre's oldest surviving buildings and hosts the museum's permanent exhibits. The Hôtel Demarne, a private neoclassical mansion from 1680, accommodates temporary exhibits.

This address has been historically a hub for artists. One of its most illustrious occupants was Auguste Renoir. During his 1876 residency, Renoir created here several masterpieces, including the iconic "Dance at the Galette Windmill" painting immortalizing the scene of sun-soaked merrymakers.

Established in 1960 and redeveloped in 2011, the museum showcases a comprehensive collection of over 6,000 art pieces including paintings, sculptures, and prints, along with 100,000 archival items, which together chronicle Montmartre’s cultural, artistic, and social evolution. Exhibits capture the essence of Montmartre’s bohemian spirit, its cabarets like Agile Rabbit and Moulin Rouge, and the broader historical context of its integration into Paris.

The museum's permanent collection features historical maps, documents, photographs, Toulouse-Lautrec posters, and original musical scores of Erik Satie (a French composer who used to work as a pianist in café-cabaret in Montmartre). It also showcases sections dedicated to pivotal events in the neighborhood's history like the French Revolution, the Russian invasion of 1814, the Paris Commune, and the construction of the Sacred Heart Basilica in 1875.

Complementing the museum's exhibits are the enchanting Renoir gardens that have been revitalized and meticulously recreated according to the artist's paintings. From here, visitors can gaze at the vineyard flourishing since the Middle Ages.

Recent additions to the place include the Café Renoir, offering a seasonal dining experience within the gardens, opened in 2014. That same year, in a bold move the museum underwent an ambitious renovation expanding its exhibition space twofold. This was done by incorporating Suzanne Valadon's studio-apartment which was reconstructed to reflect its original state, based on extensive archival research and historical analysis. The French painter lived here together with her son, Maurice Utrillo, and partner, André Utter, both of whom were also painters and formed the so-called "Infernal Trio," significantly contributing to the Montmartre art scene.