Record numbers attend Paris Monet exhibition as doors open all night

The Monet exhibition showing at the Grand Palais near the Champs-Elysée is offering exceptional opening hours due to huge demand. Doors opened Friday morning and will not close again until Monday evening, allowing visitors access to the museum at any time, day or night.  

It is the first retrospective of the French impressionist master in over thirty years and ticket sales have exceeded 845,000 since it opened on 22 September.

Out of the 65,000 people expected to attend the show this weekend, some 33,000 will visit during the nocturnal opening hours, according to the Grand Palais.

Some of the works are on loan from private and foreign collections, so the originals will rarely have been seen in France.

The Grand Palais believes visitor numbers could top 910,000 which has not been seen since the Egyptian King Tut  exhibition in 1967.

"Queuing time can range from between two to three hours at around midnight but may be no more than 15 minutes at around three in the morning," says the Grand Palais.

Organisers say they will hand out chocolate bars and energy drinks to those waiting in line.