Musée des Arts Décoratifs

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs occupies the Pavillon de Marsan, a grand wing of the Louvre Palace that stretches along the Rue de Rivoli. While many visitors walk right past it to enter the main Louvre galleries, this site stands as a dedicated monument to the beauty of everyday objects. The museum was founded in 1905 by a collective of private collectors, industrialists, and craftspeople who wanted to bridge the gap between fine art and utility. Their central mission was to prove that common household items, from cutlery and wallpaper to chairs and toys, could possess as much artistic merit as a grand oil painting or a marble statue.