Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes is the fine arts museum of Rennes in Brittany, at 20 quai Émile Zola on the bank of the River Vilaine, about 400 metres from Place de la République. Its collections run from antiquity to contemporary art, with Georges de La Tour's The Newborn Child, Rubens and the Pont-Aven painters among the highlights. It suits visitors spending a day in Rennes with two hours for art.

The museum was founded in 1794, during the Revolution, with works confiscated from churches and public buildings in the city. Much of the collection came from Christophe-Paul de Robien, a president of the Parlement of Brittany, whose holdings included drawings, prints, paintings, antiquities and sculpture. Part of it is shown as an 18th-century cabinet of curiosities. The building on the quay was built between 1847 and 1855 and has housed only the museum since 1911.

The galleries span European art over many centuries. Renaissance painting includes Veronese. The 17th-century rooms show La Tour's The Newborn Child together with Rubens's Tiger Hunt. In the 19th-century rooms, artists linked to Brittany are well represented, especially the Pont-Aven school around Paul Gauguin, with Paul Sérusier among them. Pablo Picasso appears in the modern rooms. The graphic arts collection, built partly on the Robien bequest, is shown in rotating displays.

The museum opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00. It is closed on Monday and public holidays. Last entry is about 30 minutes before closing. The permanent collections are free for everyone. Temporary exhibitions cost €5 (€3 reduced) and are free for visitors under 26 and students. From 21 November 2026 to 21 March 2027 the exhibition Simon Vouet, secrets d'atelier is on show at the quai Zola. A second site at Maurepas, 2 allée Georges-de-la-Tour, opens free on Wednesday to Sunday afternoons during its two exhibitions a year; L'Égypte au musée runs there from 12 December 2026 to 2 May 2027.

Weekend afternoons suit a visit. Allow 90 minutes to two hours. The museum is accessible with lifts and has a bookshop and a cloakroom.

Rennes station is about 1.2 kilometres away, roughly 15 minutes on foot; République metro station (lines a and b) is about 400 metres from the museum. The old town is about 600 metres away and the Parlement de Bretagne about 800 metres.