For those looking for a luxury hotel in a prime location, Le Meurice in Paris checks all the boxes: incredible views over the Tuileries Gardens, enormous baths, tasteful art pieces, a heavenly cocktail bar. And the accolades to match — Edward VIII is said to have enjoyed its club sandwich. If you’re looking for more than sybaritism, it delivers too, thanks to its art tours, which follow in the footsteps of some of Paris’ most prominent artists.
The hotel has a long history of hosting artists. For decades Salvador Dali visited for a month every year. His suite is still there and there’s a picture of him in it on his motorbike. Apparently he kept ocelots and at one point, a herd of sheep. But the hotel is prudently avoiding a Dali trail for now; Monet, Rodin and Picasso are the trio who have been chosen. The latter had the reception for one of his weddings (to the Russian Olga) in the Pompadour room at Le Meurice.
I bagged the Rodin tour. My guide was a charming art historian called Marta – graduate of the Louvre and the Sorbonne.
While the Picasso trail takes in a number of his haunts in turn, this one is focused on the Rodin Museum, where much of the French sculptor’s work was made. You walk from the hotel across the river to the museum and gardens, taking in a statue of The Kiss in the Tuileries.
Marta was especially good at ensuring the work is seen from the best perspective. For instance, The Burghers of Calais (a cast of which you can also see on the Embankment), are displayed here as a group, but also as separate statues; each one representing a different emotion. There’s also a garden display of busts in one glass fronted room, including, disconcertingly, George Bernard Shaw.
Inside the museum, I was taken through Auguste Rodin’s most interesting pieces, from his early bust of the priest who told him to be a sculptor rather than a cleric, to the poignant room given to the work of Camille Claudel, his collaborator and mistress.
Marta also enlightened me about the works of other artists that Rodin collected. She was enthusiastic and engaging; she knew the good stuff she wanted to show us, but if I found something interesting, she would provide more insight.
For art fans wanting to return from Paris feeling they experienced more than the average whistlestop trip around the Louvre or the Orsay, or indeed the Rodin Museum, the trails are an unforgettable way to see the city. As well as being bespoke, you’ll feel like you’ve learnt something. Try the Picasso trail if you’re up for more walking, though the hotel can whisk you back in your own car at the end.
Le Meurice has always had an eye to its British guests; the eponymous Meurice himself started business hosting English visitors to Calais, and continued specialising in visitors from our isle when the hotel moved to Paris in 1815.
The staff here are outstandingly good. The rooms are blissful: light, airy, with enormous comfortable beds and, if you’re lucky, a view of the Tuileries Gardens.
The hotel boasts almost the most expensive dinner in Paris in the Alain Ducasse restaurant, but everyone can visit the same elegant Edwardian room for breakfast. Did I mention that the Eggs Benedict are excellent? So are the conserves.
For a grand hotel, offering a memorable experience is an obvious extension of its job — which is to make your visit as pleasurable as possible. If you can afford a stay here, its a job that been done with aplomb. Le Meurice’s art tour is a luxury that will stay with you long after you return home.
