Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, Charles Girault’s Petit Palais became the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts in 1902. Its curved galleries circle a garden court, while the collection grew from municipal purchases into a broad public art museum through major bequests.
Quick facts
Charles Girault designed Petit Palais for the 1900 Exposition Universelle as part of an ensemble with the Grand Palais and Pont Alexandre III.
Petit Palais became the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts in 1902; a large 1902 bequest assembled by the Dutuit siblings accelerated the museum conversion.
The museum’s collection began with City of Paris purchases and commissions and expanded through the Dutuit bequest and later gifts, including the Tuck donation received in 1921.
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Petit Palais is the smaller name for a building with a deliberately grand civic role. Charles Girault designed it for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, alongside the Grand Palais and Pont Alexandre III. The three structures were conceived as parts of a new monumental approach between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine. The fair was temporary; the Petit Palais was one of its buildings intended to remain.
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