Musée de Grenoble

The Musée de Grenoble is one of the main fine arts museums in France outside Paris, and its collection of Western painting runs from the thirteenth century to the present. It was founded at the end of the eighteenth century, one of the first public museums in the country, and the modern building, which opened in 1994 on the Place de Lavalette, close to the Isère river, is a large, bright structure of glass and metal designed to give a clear and rational path through the galleries. A local museum in this Alpine city has long had a reputation for adventurous acquisitions, and it was among the earliest in France to collect the work of Matisse, Picasso and other modern artists.

The museum is arranged in two main chronological sections. The first deals with ancient art and the European schools of painting from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. It includes Italian, Flemish, Dutch, French and Spanish painters, among them Rubens, Veronese, Tintoretto and Zurbarán, along with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by artists such as Monet and Gauguin. The second section covers the twentieth century and contemporary art. The highlights here are Matisse's Interior with Aubergines, one of the best-known canvases of his early career, works by Picasso and a range of European art after 1945, down to artists such as Warhol. Alongside the paintings, there are drawings and a collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, which recall that Grenoble was the home of the family of Champollion, the decipherer of hieroglyphs.

The museum often presents a major temporary exhibition with a separate ticket, and smaller shows that are often free, and it runs guided tours and workshops. The building is accessible for visitors with reduced mobility, and there is a space for groups. Opening times, charges and the days of closure change from time to time, so check them in advance. Allow two hours or more.

The museum suits art lovers who like a wide choice of periods, students of modern art and anyone who wants a break from the mountains. Because Grenoble is surrounded by high ranges, you can combine a morning in the museum with an afternoon on the Bastille, the fortress on the hillside that is reached by a cable car, with views of the Alps.

In the old town, the Place Grenette, the Place Saint-André and the Saint-Laurent quarter on the right bank are good places for a walk. The Musée archéologique Saint-Laurent and the Musée de l'Imprimerie offer other themes.