A six-year renovation job by London architects Stanton Williams has done wonders for Nantes’ art museum, open again since 2017 inside the historic Palais des Beaux Arts, which was built to house the city's collection of fine art between 1891 and 1900. Today's permanent collection spans the 13th to 21st centuries and fills both the palace and the striking new Cube building, linking the palace with 18th-century Chapelle de l'Oratoire (1777). The deconsecrated chapel hosts temporary art exhibitions.
Highlights of the impressive 19th-century collection include works by Gustave Courbet, several sculptures and an oil painting of Les Anémones (1900) by Auguste Rodin, plus Claude Monet's Les Nymphéas à Giverny (1917), one of 250 paintings of water lilies painted by the Impressionist at his home in Giverny (all 1st floor, Room 18).