Located in Paris’s historic Marais district, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature offers an unconventional exploration of hunting and the natural world through a collection that blends art, taxidermy, and curiosity. Founded in 1967 by hunting enthusiasts François and Jacqueline Sommer, the museum occupies two adjacent 17th- and 18th-century mansions, presenting their collection as if it were displayed in a private home filled with Louis XV and Louis XVI furnishings.

Unlike traditional natural history museums, this institution is intentionally theatrical and imaginative, emphasizing a sensory and emotional experience over straightforward education. “It’s a joyful cabinet of curiosities,” said Alice Gandin, who became the museum’s director last year. While the museum centers on hunting, it refrains from adopting a moral judgment on the practice, instead using it as a lens to examine human relationships with animals and nature—including themes of attraction, conflict, and consumption.

Visitors encounter a variety of taxidermied animals, such as rare trophies like the kouprey, a wild Cambodian ox thought to be extinct, alongside imposing specimens like a baby elephant and Bengal tigers. Weapons and ornate hunting paraphernalia complement the displays, all arranged to provoke reflection. One particularly immersive space is a small, dimly lit room filled with enigmatic objects, including a preserved teddy bear in formaldehyde and a rhinoceros horn, evoking a sense of mystery and private ritual.

Since a major redesign in 2007, the museum has embraced ongoing collaborations with contemporary artists invited to insert their works amid the permanent collection. These interventions occur two to three times annually, with several pieces acquired to evolve the museum’s holdings. Currently featured is Lionel Sabatté’s exhibition, “Ce Qui Reste” (“What Remains”), running through February 2027. Sabatté, a finalist for the 2025 Marcel Duchamp Prize, brings new perspectives on death and transformation, including a site-specific bronze sculpture of a stag shedding its antlers, symbolizing loss as a form of strength.

Sabatté compares the artist’s and hunter’s encounters with mortality as different modes of confronting what society often avoids. His previous works have used unconventional materials, such as dust and dead skin, to create art from overlooked substances. Other recent guests include Annette Messager, a renowned French artist whose playful yet macabre pieces—combining taxidermy, stuffed toys, and dismembered limbs—integrated seamlessly within the museum’s collection. Messager’s installations often challenge viewers’ perceptions, hiding works in unexpected corners and replacing guns with soft fabric counterparts.

Reactions to the museum’s contemporary art program vary. Some visitors appreciate the provocative interplay between traditional hunting motifs and modern art, viewing it as politically charged yet poetic. Others, like tourist Christian Petrequin from Lyon, criticize the additions for lacking harmony with the museum’s historical context and prefer contemporary works in more neutral galleries.

The Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature continues to cultivate its unique identity, inviting visitors to explore the complexities of human-animal relationships in an environment described by Messager as both charged and mysterious. Reflecting on the museum’s atmosphere, she muses on the idea that when closed at night, “perhaps [the animals] tell each other stories,” suggesting a thoughtful resonance between the living and the preserved.