The museum is free to enter and a marked route helps you work your way through the galleries chronologically—perhaps with a stop at the excellent café in the atmospheric sculpture garden along the way. Although many travelers focus on the Impressionist masterpieces—Monet, Pissarro, and Sisley all worked in Rouen, which became a center of the movement—it’s fascinating to chart the evolution of artistic taste over seven centuries. Caravaggio’s The Flagellation of Christ is a must-see.
The Rouen Museum of Fine Arts is a must for anyone interested in art and is worth a detour for fans of Impressionism.
Allow between 2 hours to 2 days to discover the collection, depending on your level of interest. A guide can help you zip to the highlights faster.
Large bags and suitcases are not allowed in the museum.
The museum is wheelchair-accessible, with elevators and dedicated entrances for people who use wheelchairs.
The Rouen Museum of Fine Arts is just 500 yards (450 meters) from Rouen train station. Walk down Rue Jeanne d’Arc and then turn left at Square Charles Verdrel. Direct trains from Paris Saint Lazare depart for Rouen regularly and take around 1.5 hours.
The Rouen Museum of Fine Arts is open from mid-morning to early evening from Wednesday through Monday, with the café open all day. Like so many French museums, it closes on Tuesday, as well as on January 1, May 1, November 1 and 11, and December 25. It’s rarely crowded, but visiting midweek makes sense if you’d like to contemplate or sketch.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts is a great place to start an Impressionist tour of Rouen: Its Monet collection includes views of Rouen Cathedral, while there’s also a Pissarro painting of Boieldieu Bridge. Besides exploring the cathedral Monet painted over 30 times, you can walk along the Seine River to soak up the atmosphere that captivated many Impressionists. Monet’s home in Giverny is less than a 1-hour drive from Rouen.