How to see the Camondo collection while the museum is closed

I am wary of “virtual tour” pages, because most of the ones I have seen for the Camondo are third-party photo galleries of uncertain date. So this page is short. There is one official source, and there is one open museum.

The official site

Les Arts Décoratifs publishes information on both its museums and on the collections at madparis.fr. That is where the restoration schedule is announced, where the Camondo’s objects are documented, and where the reopening will be confirmed. I check it rather than aggregators, and I would ask you to do the same; the closure page on this site is only ever a summary of what is there.

The museum you can walk into

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs at 107 rue de Rivoli occupies the Pavillon de Marsan, the west wing of the Louvre palace, and is open throughout the Camondo works. Its period rooms and 18th-century décor are the closest thing to the house available in person, with the difference that it is a museum of cases and galleries rather than a lived-in home. Reviewers who came for furniture and found fashion and jewellery have said so, and its 3.7 rating reflects that expectation gap more than any fault in the museum; the ticket review sets it out. The upper floors look over the Tuileries, which reviewers mention as often as the exhibits.

The book

Edmund de Waal’s Letters to Camondo walks the rooms in words, which for the next three years is the nearest thing to walking them in person. Pair it with the room-by-room page here and the official collection pages and you will know the house well before its doors open again.

Frequently asked questions