While many of you are losing your minds on trashy Bridgerton, I’ve moved on to Lupin on Netflix. Lupin is a very original take on the famous French literary character Arsène Lupin starring Omar Sy as the charming Assane Diop who sets out to avenge his father for an injustice that happened 25 years earlier while using the Lupin book as his inspiration.

“Created by the French writer Maurice Leblanc in 1905, Arsène Lupin is an elite member of the gang of delightful rogues known as gentleman thieves. Like Thomas Crown, Danny Ocean, Simon Templar and (to include a gentlewoman) Selina Kyle, Lupin is elegant and efficient. He prefers disguise and persuasion to violence and is so dashing that his victims almost thank him for the honor of being robbed.”

Via The New York Times

Lupin is one of the most intelligent, exciting, and intriguing shows on television right now. I especially love how it seamlessly switches between the present day and flashbacks. There are five episodes available to binge now with five more in post-production that should air in three to six months. Since we can’t travel now, I love seeing Paris as another main character of Lupin which starts with the Louvre and winds its way through the City of Light.

I was most excited to see my favorite house museum used as the home of the character Hubert Pellegrini. I immediately recognized the cour d’honneur of the Musée de Nissim de Camondo as soon as it appeared on screen. I’ve written about it before and these photos are from my 2013 trip.

The Musée de Nissim de Camondo is located on rue Monceau in front of the Parc Monceau in the 8th arrondissement.  It was the location of the Camondo family home but when Moïse de Camondo started collecting 18^th-century furniture and objects, he commissioned architect Rene Sergent in 1911 to create a place to house his collection which was inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles.

It was completed in 1914 but sadly his son Nissim de Camondo was killed in action in World War I in 1917. Moïse de Camondo was devastated which later prompted him in 1924 to bequeath the mansion and its contents to the French state with the stipulation that it must shown to the public and forbid the lending of works or moving them anywhere other than the room where they reside as a memorial to his son.

The preservation of the home makes it a bit of a time capsule and while the public areas are devoted to the late 18^th-century, the kitchens and bathrooms were incredibly modern for when the home was completed and they are some of the most popular rooms on the tour. The Musée de Nissim de Camondo was opened to the public in 1936 and is run by Les Arts Decoratifs. It is also available to visit on Sundays which is a rarity in Paris although it’s currently closed due to Covid.

This is the scene in Lupin when the Musée de Nissim de Camondo appears on screen in a rainy flashback scene at the home of character Hubert Pellegrini with Assane Diop’s father as chauffeur of the Bentley.

This old floorplan shows how the back of the house was designed to take advantage of the view of the Parc Monceau.

The saddest part of the story is that Moïse’s daughter Beatrice de Camondo, her ex-husband Léon Reinach, and their two children were forcibly removed from Paris in 1943 and taken to the Drancy deportation camp north of the city. They were subsequently deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where they all died.

The areas behind left side of the courtyard would have housed stable and grooming room.

Another photo from Lupin.

The trelliswork above the horse grooming room was designed by landscape designer Archille Duchêne and installed in 1919. It was raised in height in 1929.

The area to the right of the courtyard would have housed the tack room and garage which has been renovated and turned into Le Camondo restaurant.

This is the view from the house to the entrance from the street.

When we see the Bentley driving into the courtyard in Lupin.

The main entrance would have been in the center of the facade but to enter the Musée de Nissim de Camondo, you enter in a door on the left which leads into the guest cloakroom which is where you buy your ticket.

If you look closely, you can see a display stand inside the Musée de Nissim de Camondo in this scene in Lupin. The interior scenes were filmed either at another mansion or on a sound stage. The interiors of the museum are too full of valuable and fragile itmes to allow any movie or television show to film inside.

A view of the entrance hall and main staircase.

In this scene in Lupin, you can see that the a display stand and a rope from the Musée de Nissim de Camondo as the character Hubert Pellegrini leaves the house for a news conference.

Normally, a guard sits in front of what was the main entrance of the house.

I love the color and patina on the doors in the guest cloakroom which is now where you buy your entrance ticket.

The elevator.

This hallway leads to the kitchen, servant’s dining room, pantry, cold room, scullery, butler’s office, and chef’s office which were renovated in 2003 and are all open to the public. The family entertaining rooms are upstairs.

I didn’t post pictures from the 18th-century rooms so I’ll have to see if I can find them in my old external hard drives.

The best part of the museum is that you can look out the windows upstairs to see the garden designed French landscape designer by Archille Duchêne. He was very in demand among high French society at the turn of the twentieth century.

In a flashback scene in Lupin, Detective Dumont visits Hubert Pellegrini and again, you can see a security rope in the Musée de Nissim de Camondo. The museum usually allows events in the garden but it’s amazing that they let the actors walk out from inside the house.

The back garden view of the house.

Another scene from Lupin.

I’ve visited the Musée de Nissim de Camondo in all weather but it’s especially beautiful in the sunshine. I suspect there was an entrance to the Parc Monceau from the garden but I can’t find any reference of one. If not, you would have had to walk around the block to enter the park.

Another view from Lupin.

Sculptures in the original landscape design plan were never installed in the garden.

In this scene from Lupin, you can see posters from the adjacent Musée Cernuschi on the back wall.

The history of the Camondo family is very sad especially considering that no members survived the wars but their legacy lives on in the beautiful museum and now on screen in Lupin. Definitely watch it tonight and I promise you won’t be disappointed and visit the Musée de Nissim de Camondo when it reopens. I know it will at the top of my list when I’m allowed to travel to Paris again.

Photos by Heather Clawson in 2013 for Habitually Chic.