The Louvre has 35,000 works on display across 73,000 square meters. The average visitor sees 5 to 10% of them in a single visit and spends approximately 15 seconds looking at the Mona Lisa. In 2025, 9 million people came through the doors, making it the most visited museum in the world for another year running. The glass Pyramid entrance by I.M. Pei was designed in 1989 to handle 4.6 million visitors annually. It now handles nearly double that, and the queues regularly exceed 45 minutes in high season. Since January 2026, the museum has been operating under a new pricing structure: visitors from outside the European Economic Area pay EUR 32, while EEA visitors pay EUR 22. A staff strike that began in late 2025 has periodically reduced the museum to a "masterpiece route" limited to the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
The Louvre is not just the Mona Lisa. It is three museums in one. The Denon Wing holds Italian Renaissance painting, French Romanticism, and Greek antiquities. The Sully Wing holds Egyptian antiquities, Greek sculpture, and the medieval foundations of the original fortress. The Richelieu Wing holds Northern European painting, French sculpture, decorative arts, and the Napoleon III Apartments. Most visitors charge through Denon and never see the other two wings. That is a mistake.
This guide covers the Big Three, an efficient 3-hour route, the underrated Richelieu Wing, practical crowd-avoidance tips, and the 2026 exhibition program.
The Big Three: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory
The three works most visitors come for are all in the Denon and Sully wings, and they could not be more different from each other. The Mona Lisa (Denon, Room 711, Salle des Etats) is 77 x 53 cm, painted on poplar panel, and sits behind bulletproof glass. Leonardo da Vinci worked on it from approximately 1503 to 1519. The queue is 10 to 20 minutes at opening and 30 to 40 minutes at peak. The painting is smaller than most people expect. The glass is reflective. The crowd is dense. I will say it plainly: the Mona Lisa is the least rewarding viewing experience in the Louvre. You will see it better on your computer screen at home.
The Venus de Milo (Sully, Room 345) is 204 cm tall, carved around 150-125 BCE, and discovered on the island of Milos in 1820. She is displayed without glass, which means you can walk around her and see the sculpture from every angle. The twist of the torso and the falling drapery are worth a long look. The room is less crowded than the Salle des Etats by a factor of ten.
The Winged Victory of Samothrace (Denon, Daru Staircase, Room 703) stands 244 cm tall at the top of a stone staircase, carved around 190 BCE. The statue is headless and armless, but the wind-blown drapery pressed against the body is the most theatrical sculpture display in any major museum. You see her from below as you ascend the stairs, which is exactly how she was meant to be seen. This is the one of the Big Three that genuinely rewards the visit.
Here is the tip most people miss. Veronese's "Wedding Feast at Cana" (1563) hangs on the wall directly opposite the Mona Lisa in the Salle des Etats. It is 6.77 x 9.94 m, the largest painting in the Louvre. While everyone faces the Mona Lisa with their phones raised, they have their backs to one of the greatest canvases of the Venetian Renaissance. Turn around. Spend ten minutes with Veronese instead of ten seconds with Leonardo. For more on how to approach looking at art in a museum setting, see our guide on how to look at art for beginners.
Leonardo da Vinci, "Mona Lisa" (c. 1503-1519). Oil on poplar panel, 77 x 53 cm. Denon Wing, Room 711. Wikimedia Commons.
The Efficient Route: Denon Wing First
If you only have three hours, spend two in Denon and one in Sully. Roughly 80% of the famous works are in Denon, and the layout funnels you through a single path that hits the major rooms in order.
Hour 1 (9:00 to 10:00 AM): Enter via the Carrousel du Louvre, the underground mall entrance, rather than the Glass Pyramid. The security line is shorter. Take the escalator up and head for the Daru Staircase. The Winged Victory is at the top. From there, turn left into the Grande Galerie, the long corridor of Italian paintings that runs the length of the Denon Wing. Halfway down, the Salle des Etats branches off to the right. This is where the Mona Lisa and the Wedding Feast at Cana hang. See them first, while the room is still manageable.
Hour 2 (10:00 to 11:00 AM): Continue through the Grande Galerie to the Salle Mollien, where Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" (1830) and Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa" (1818-19) hang. These are the two paintings that defined French Romanticism, and they are in the same room. "Liberty Leading the People" is 260 x 325 cm: a bare-breasted woman carrying the tricolor flag leads citizens over the bodies of the fallen. "The Raft of the Medusa" is 491 x 716 cm, based on a real shipwreck in 1816 where 147 people were set adrift on a raft and only 15 survived. The painting caused a scandal when it was first shown at the Salon of 1819. From the Salle Mollien, continue to the Salle Daru, where Jacques-Louis David's "Coronation of Napoleon" (1807) and "Oath of the Horatii" (1784) hang. On the ground floor below, you will find Michelangelo's "Dying Slave" (c. 1513-16) in the sculpture galleries.
"Winged Victory of Samothrace" (c. 190 BCE). Marble, 244 cm. Denon Wing, Daru Staircase, Room 703. Wikimedia Commons.
Hour 3 (11:00 AM to 12:00 PM): Cross into the Sully Wing. The Venus de Milo is in Room 345. From there, the Egyptian antiquities galleries lead to the Great Sphinx of Tanis (c. 2600 BCE, granite, 1.83 m tall) and the Seated Scribe (c. 2600-2350 BCE), a small limestone figure with inlaid crystal eyes that is one of the most arresting objects in the museum. Underneath the museum, in the crypt, you can see the 12th-century fortress walls of the original Louvre, built by Philip II in 1190. Most visitors do not know these exist.
The Richelieu Wing: What Most Visitors Miss
The Richelieu Wing is the least visited of the three wings and the one where you can actually be alone with the art. If you have a second visit in you, or if you finish the Denon route early, come here.
The Cour Marly and Cour Puget are enormous covered sculpture courtyards with glass ceilings. French sculpture from the 17th and 18th centuries fills the space. Marly was the country estate of Louis XIV, and many of these sculptures were originally commissioned for its gardens. The scale of the courtyards and the natural light make this one of the most beautiful spaces in the museum.
The Napoleon III Apartments are a time capsule of Second Empire excess: gilded ceilings, velvet drapes, crystal chandeliers, and furniture that looks like it was designed to intimidate visitors. These rooms give you a sense of what the Louvre felt like when it was still a royal palace rather than a public museum.
The Dutch and Flemish paintings on Level 2 are often empty. Vermeer's "The Astronomer" (1668) is here, along with Rembrandt's "Bathsheba at Her Bath" (1654) and Van Eyck's "Virgin and Child with Chancellor Rolin" (c. 1435). The Rembrandt painting is 142 x 142 cm and shows Bathsheba receiving King David's letter while a servant kneels at her feet. The letter will summon her to the king, an affair that will lead to the death of her husband. Rembrandt painted her expression with a subtlety that no other painter of the period could match. For more on Rembrandt's approach to the human face, see our guide on Rembrandt: light, shadow, and the human face.
The Code of Hammurabi (c. 1754 BCE) is also in the Richelieu Wing. It is a 2.25-meter basalt stele inscribed with 282 laws, one of the oldest legal codes in the world. The top of the stele shows King Hammurabi receiving the laws from the sun god Shamash. It is carved in cuneiform, and it is one of those objects that changes your sense of how old civilization actually is.
Eugene Delacroix, "Liberty Leading the People" (1830). Oil on canvas, 260 x 325 cm. Denon Wing, Salle Mollien. Wikimedia Commons.
2026 Exhibitions at the Louvre
The Louvre's 2026 exhibition program is one of its strongest in years. Three major shows run through the spring and summer, with a fourth opening in the fall.
"Martin Schongauer: The Beautiful Immortal" runs from April 8 to July 20, 2026, in the Mezzanine Napoleon. Schongauer (c. 1445-1491) was a late Gothic engraver nicknamed "Beautiful Martin" by Albrecht Durer. He was one of the most popular artists of the late Middle Ages, and this is the first major exhibition dedicated to his work. Roughly 100 pieces are on display, including drawings, engravings, and a near-complete collection of his paintings. The centerpiece is the 1473 "Madonna of the Rose Bower," his only dated panel painting.
"Michelangelo and Rodin: Living Bodies" runs from April 15 to July 20, 2026, in the Hall Napoleon. This is the first exhibition to pair the two sculptors. Organized in partnership with the Musee Rodin, it brings together marble, bronze, plaster, and terracotta works across five sections. The premise is that both artists treated the body as a vessel for inner life, and the comparison reveals a continuum between Renaissance sculpture and modern sculpture that has not been explored this directly before.
"Primeval Waters: Lessons from Mesopotamia" runs from May 20, 2026, to March 15, 2027. Unlike the other two exhibitions, this one is not in a single gallery. It winds through the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities in Rooms 227-230 of the Richelieu and Sully wings. The exhibition explores how ancient Mesopotamia managed the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, from the invention of irrigation to the earliest known hydraulic structures. The connection to contemporary climate issues is explicit.
Looking ahead, a major Zurbaran exhibition opens October 7, 2026, and runs to January 25, 2027, in the Hall Napoleon. Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664) was one of the leading masters of the Spanish Golden Age, and the exhibition will focus on his austere religious painting. You can read more about the Louvre's 2026 program on the Art Daily announcement.
Practical Tips for Actually Enjoying the Louvre
Enter through the Carrousel du Louvre, the underground mall entrance, rather than the Glass Pyramid. The security lines are shorter, and you avoid the outdoor queue entirely. The Pyramid entrance was designed for 4.6 million visitors a year. The museum now receives 9 million. The math does not work in your favor.
Arrive at 9:00 AM. The first 90 minutes are the quietest the museum will be all day. The Mona Lisa queue is shortest at about 9:05 AM, if you go straight there. By 11 AM, the Salle des Etats is packed.
Wednesday and Friday late nights are the best-kept secret. The museum stays open until 9:45 PM on both days. After 6 PM, the crowds thin dramatically. You can walk into the Salle des Etats and have the Mona Lisa to yourself for a few minutes. This is the single best way to experience the Louvre.
Most tickets do not allow re-entry. Eat inside or plan one continuous visit. The food options are mediocre and overpriced, but the cafeteria on the lower level under the Pyramid is adequate.
The Islamic art galleries on the lower level of the Denon Wing are stunning and almost always empty. The collection spans 1,300 years and includes metalwork, ceramics, textiles, and architectural elements. The gallery design won several architecture awards when it opened in 2012.
As of 2026, the Apollo Gallery and the French Crown Jewels may have limited access due to ongoing staff actions. Check the Louvre's official site before your visit to see which galleries are open. The staff strike that began in late 2025 has periodically reduced access to the full collection.
For more general advice on navigating large museums without burning out, see our guide on how to visit an art museum without getting overwhelmed. For the broader context of where the Louvre fits in the history of art, the complete guide to art movements covers the timeline from ancient to contemporary.
Final Thoughts
The Louvre is not a museum you "do." It is a museum you visit repeatedly. The strategy is not to see everything but to see what matters to you, and to leave time for the unexpected. The best Louvre experiences happen in the empty rooms of the Richelieu Wing, where you can stand alone in front of a Vermeer or a Rembrandt and actually look.
The 2026 exhibition program is strong enough to justify a visit on its own. The Michelangelo and Rodin pairing is a once-in-a-generation event. If you are going between April and July, book a timed ticket for the exhibitions and plan your permanent collection visit for a Wednesday or Friday evening, when the crowds disappear.
Book timed tickets at louvre.fr. Go on Wednesday or Friday evening. Skip the Mona Lisa if the queue is more than 30 minutes. Turn around and look at the Veronese. For more on the stories behind the Louvre's most famous paintings, see our guide to famous paintings explained, and for a quick overview of art history, try the art history cheat sheet. What is your favorite wing of the Louvre? Share in the comments below.
