Rodin, Carnavalet, Picasso: The Museums as Locals Know Them

Visitors line up at the Louvre at 2 p.m. on Saturdays. We understand them, we pity them, and we wrote this article so that you never find yourself in that line. A month in Paris moves you to the other side: here is how we practice our museums — as neighbors.

Our three faithfuls, first. The Carnavalet, five minutes from the Jewel: the history of Paris told across two hôtels particuliers, with free permanent collections — which changes everything, because you can drop in for three rooms and slip out through the garden, the way you'd stop by a friend's house. The Musée Picasso, in the Hôtel Salé, is best saved for the end of the day, when the groups have gone and the grand staircase recovers its silence. And from the Haven of Peace, the Musée Rodin remains our favorite secret: garden-only admission costs a few euros, and you have The Thinker, The Burghers of Calais, and three hectares of rose gardens nearly deserted at opening time.

The strategies that work. Late openings, first: the Centre Pompidou until 9 p.m. every evening, the Louvre until 9:45 p.m. on Fridays. A Friday-evening Louvre, Richelieu wing, bears no relation to a Saturday-afternoon Louvre; it is the same building and another world entirely. On the first Sunday of the month, the national museums are free: go at opening, never after lunch. The Musée de l'Orangerie on a weekday at 9 a.m., when the Water Lilies belong to just a handful of the silent.

But the true luxury of a longer stay is the right to return. To see the same room twice. To stand twenty minutes before a single work. To abandon a museum after an hour without guilt, because you'll be back on Thursday. This is how Parisians have always practiced their museums — as neighbors, not pilgrims — and it is exactly what your month gives you.