Musée Réattu

Top choice in Arles


This superb 150-year-old museum, housed in an exquisitely renovated 15th-century Hospitaller priory by the Rhône, might be assumed old-fashioned, yet its modern collection is truly top-notch. Among its holdings are works by 18th- and 19th-century Provençal artists, two paintings and 57 sketches by Picasso, and of course some works from its namesake, Jacques Réattu. It also stages wonderfully curated cutting-edge exhibitions.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Arles attractions

1. Thermes de Constantin

0.05 MILES

These partly preserved Roman baths were built for Emperor Constantin's private use in the 4th century. While much of the complex has been built over…

2. Place du Forum

0.12 MILES

Just as social, political and religious life revolved around the forum in Roman Arles, so the busy plane-tree-shaded place du Forum still buzzes with life…

3. Fondation Vincent Van Gogh

0.13 MILES

Housed in a listed 15th-century manor, now twice repurposed (its other incarnation was as a bank), this Van Gogh–themed gallery is a must-see, as much for…

4. Hôtel de Ville

0.17 MILES

Completed in 1676, and still the seat of Arles' government, the handsome Town Hall is also the entrance to the subterranean Roman Cryptoportiques.

5. Cryptoportiques

0.17 MILES

The origins of these fascinating underground chambers, now sitting below the current city centre, go at least back to the first Roman colony in Arles in…

6. Théâtre Antique

0.19 MILES

It's easy to admire the grace and engineering of this theatre – built at the behest of the unofficial first Roman Emperor, Augustus, in the 1st century BC…

7. Église St-Trophime

0.19 MILES

Named for Arles' semi-mythical first archbishop, this Romanesque-style church, built over a 5th-century basilica, was a cathedral until the bishopric…

8. Les Arènes

0.19 MILES

In Roman Gaul, every important town had an amphitheatre, where gladiators and wild animals met their (usually grisly) ends. Few examples have survived,…