Marseille Museum of Art

About

The Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille traces its origins to 1801, when it was founded as one of fifteen provincial museums established by decree under the French Consulate. Its early collection was built largely around artworks confiscated during the French Revolution. Designed by architect Henri-Jacques Espérandieu, the Palais Longchamp was built to commemorate the arrival of Durance canal water in Marseille and was completed in 1869; the museum began welcoming visitors in one wing of the building on January 1, 1873. It later underwent a major restoration from 2005 to June 2013, after which it reopened. The museum holds 17th- to 19th-century paintings, drawings, and sculpture, including works by Rubens, Jacques-Louis David, Jean-François Millet, and Gustave Courbet, alongside a sculpture donated by Auguste Rodin.