Museum des Beaux Arts Nice, housed in a stunning former mansion, houses a vast collection of paintings from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. After entering through a striking English-style garden, you'll find amazing things to do and see. Then, as you step into this villa from the Belle Epoque, you'll see an elegant setting for an art museum, complete with a grand staircase and soaring ceilings.

This villa, saved from demolition and now a municipal museum, is a fitting setting for the equally stunning collection of artistic treasures. Over its history, the fine arts museum in Nice has accumulated a world-class collection of works. While you're strolling through two floors of exhibits, you'll have the chance to see an amazing collection of Italian masters from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Moving into the nineteenth century, the Beaux Arts Museum exhibits represent a wide array of work—Realism, Romanticism, and Symbolism, among others. Many visitors are delighted by the chance to see works from Degas and Monet in the same museum. You'll also have the chance to see some of Rodin's sculptures up close. The Fine Arts Museum in Nice also hosts traveling exhibits and workshops.

While it's pleasant to stroll through the exhibits on your own, it can be especially nice to go deeper. Guided tours provide a closer look at the Museum des Beaux Arts Nice and its treasures. A French-speaking guide leads the tours on set times on Thursday and Saturday, while an English option is available on Friday. Your guide has an insider's knowledge about the Beaux Arts Museum exhibits and the story behind the art and its beautiful display pieces.

Nice Map

You will be happy to know that Beaux Arts Museum exhibits are free of charge to see, while tours are quite inexpensive. All of the municipal museums, including the Museum des Beaux Arts Nice, stopped charging admission fees of July 2008. Without paying a dime, you'll have the chance to view an amazing collection of Asian art, poke around galleries, and tour some Belle Epoque villas. It's also free to tour the Cimiez Monastery as well as museums displaying modern art, and treasures created by Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall.