Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, Rouen

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen was created under Napoleon's Chaptal Decree of 1801 and occupies a building completed in 1888. Renovated by designer Andrée Putman in 1994, the museum houses one of France's most significant art collections outside Paris.

The 1909 donation by collector François Depeaux established Rouen as home to the country's largest Impressionist collection outside the capital. Works span from Renaissance masters like Gerard David and Veronese through Rubens, Ingres, and the Impressionists. Monet painted the nearby Rouen Cathedral facade over 30 times, and several of those studies have ended up here.