Ary Scheffer's Garden: The Musée de la Vie Romantique in Pigalle

At number 16 rue Chaptal, in the 9th arrondissement, a gate opens onto a paved, tree-lined lane leading to a small cream-coloured hôtel particulier with green shutters. This is the Musée de la Vie Romantique, set up in the house where the Dutch-born painter Ary Scheffer (1795-1858) moved in July 1830, when the quarter of the Nouvelle Athènes was the most fashionable in Paris. The street is a few minutes from the din of Pigalle, but once you step through the door only the courtyard remains, with its wisteria and two studios on either side.

The Romantic salon

For decades this house was one of the most frequented salons of Parisian Romanticism. Scheffer and his daughter Cornélia received guests on Friday evenings: George Sand came on foot from the nearby house, often with Frédéric Chopin, and through the rooms passed Eugène Delacroix, Ingres, Lamartine, Franz Liszt, Rossini and the singer Pauline Viardot. Later in the century came Charles Dickens, Ivan Turgenev and Charles Gounod as well. The property remained in private hands, by inheritance, until 1982, when it became a municipal museum; the present name dates from 1987.

The collections

The route is short and for that reason restful. On the ground floor of the pavilion the rooms recreate George Sand's art of living with furniture, paintings, jewellery and objects from her house at Nohant, in the Berry, given to the City of Paris in 1928 by her granddaughter Aurore Lauth-Sand. Among the most curious pieces are the plaster casts made by Clésinger of the writer's right arm and of Chopin's left hand, and a series of her rare watercolours, the so-called "dendrites". On the upper floor are the canvases of Scheffer and other Romantic artists: the portraits of Pauline Viardot and of Queen Marie-Amélie, and paintings inspired by Byron, Goethe and Dante. The permanent collection is free for all; you pay only for the temporary exhibitions.

The garden

The real reason not to hurry is the garden. In the inner courtyard, in the shade of the greenery, a tea room operates (run by Rose Bakery) where you sit among the rose bushes for a tea or a pastry: it is the best way to understand why the salons were held here. On sunny days the outdoor tables are few, so it is best to arrive mid-morning or in the early afternoon on a weekday.

Hours and access

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 6pm, closed on Mondays (as well as 1 January, 1 May and 25 December); the last admission to the collections is around 5.45pm and the café closes shortly before. It should be said that the house has recently reopened after a lengthy restoration, so it is worth checking hours and closures on the official site before setting off. It is easily reached by métro: the nearest stop is Saint-Georges (line 12), but Pigalle (lines 2 and 12) and Blanche (line 2) work well too. From there you walk uphill for a few minutes to the gate on rue Chaptal. It is a stop that pairs well with a stroll through the Nouvelle Athènes, among the nineteenth-century mansions of place Saint-Georges and the streets climbing towards Montmartre, without the crowds of the central museums.

Getting there

The museum is at number 16 rue Chaptal, in the 9th arrondissement, in the Nouvelle Athènes quarter near Pigalle. The handiest metro stations are Saint-Georges (line 12), Pigalle (lines 2 and 12) and Blanche (line 2), all a few minutes on foot. Several bus lines serve the area. The railway stations of Gare du Nord and Saint-Lazare are not far, while the nearest airports are Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly.

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