Le cirque : une usine d'art moderne

For once, buying here costs less. The museum charges €16 while an exhibition is on; we sell at €14, which is its out-of-exhibition rate. Two euros saved, which does not happen often on this site.

The rest of the grid is at the desk and not with us: €10.50 for students aged 18 to 25, teachers with the Pass Éducation and disabled visitors, €9 from 10 to 17, free under 10, €14 for members of the Amis du Louvre and the Société des Amis d'Orsay. And if you are only coming for the Renoir gardens, they can be visited on their own for €6.

Two practical warnings. The museum has neither a cloakroom nor left luggage: turn up with your hands free, you are at the top of the Butte. And the permanent collections are hard going in a wheelchair — cobbles, small steps, stairs — while the temporary exhibitions are served by a lift.

Open every day 10am-6pm, last admission forty-five minutes before closing, rooms shut at 5.45pm. The Café Renoir serves Wednesday to Sunday, 11am-5pm.

The subject is local: the Cirque Fernando, later the Medrano, two streets away. Degas, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Chagall, Rouault and Léger all went. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, posters, costumes and objects, in chronological order.