You Will Love These Five Souvenir-Worthy Art Supplies From Paris

Paris is a city known for its art and, as a result, its art supplies. Its allure extends far beyond galleries and museums. Paris is great for visitors seeking the best tools to create their masterpieces. This blog post will explore the best art supplies from Paris.

Spending time in Paris guarantees being inundated with art and art supplies everywhere you turn. Below is a list of the top five French-made art supplies and tools you shouldn’t leave the city without. You will find that these art supplies are not only of great quality but will also make truly unique souvenirs for yourself or the artist in your life.

This post is all about the best art supplies from Paris.

1. Watercolor paints from Sennelier & Charvin Arts

While you can purchase Sennelier watercolors outside of France, they are cheaper at the source. They make a fun, usable souvenir that lasts long after returning home. Sennelier has a conveniently located shop outside the Louvre. Here, you can purchase Sennelier’s high-quality honey-based watercolors. When you head out to Drink ‘Til It’s Blurry At Monet’s Garden, these are the perfect paints to bring.

What makes these paints special? Sennelier continues to utilize traditional methods in crafting their watercolors, using slow-rotating grindstones to avoid overheating or overworking the watercolor paste. These techniques have been in practice for over a century and continue to produce quality bright pigments. This results in their top-tier products, which have made their way worldwide and have become the staples of many artists.

Charvin Arts is a beautifully family-owned operation with an actual brick-and-mortar shop in the center of Paris. It rejects consumerism and mass manufacturing of art supplies, instead opting for high-quality small-batch operations. They offer travel sets with pre-selected pans to swap out for your preferred colors. They have a wide selection of watercolors and other paints and the most beautiful smock options or handmade brushes. Truly, this shop is worth visiting for any artist, where you can stock up at a lower cost than online out-of-country orders.

At Outlaw Academia, we have found that these also make a great addition to your travel journal kit.

Charvin Art Supply shop in Paris — Charvin
📍 57 Quai des Grands Augustins, 75006 Paris

2. French High-Quality Pressed Paper (Hot, Cold, and Rough)

Arches hot pressed paper may feel quite the financial stretch on this list. However, Arches’ hot-pressed smooth watercolor paper is worth the cost. For those who have visited the Sennelier shop and have a few new paints, this is the perfect paper to pair it with. If their hot press silky smooth paper is out of budget, look for their cold press paper.

The primary difference between the two paper styles is the textures and absorption speeds. Hot press paper is smooth and provides lighter absorption. Alternatively, cold-pressed paper has a much greater absorption rate and produces a more textured piece due to its natural ridges and bumps. Finally, Arches most budget-friendly tier is their rough paper. Rough is, as the name implies, highly textured and allows for highly granulated pieces with your watercolor work.

Watch for Canson XL if you need something more wallet-friendly. It is a smooth alternative at a very reasonable price. Additionally, they have a higher-quality héritage line that offers hot press options in line with Arches. The Canson Héritage line offers 300 and 640-gsm weight papers. Artists looking for a lengthier working time will love this brand of pure cotton paper with grains from hot, cold, and rough.

Pastel selection at La Maison du Pastel Paris — La Maison du Pastel
📍20 Rue Rambuteau, 75003 Paris, France

3. Pastels from La Maison Du Pastel in La Marais

La Maison Du Pastel has been operating in Paris since the 1720s. La Maison Du Pastel is well known for consistently producing highly pigmented handmade pastels. In 1999, Isabelle Roche took over the shop and production of pastels solely. In 2011, Margaret Zayer joined the shop. As of now, the two offer 1,900 nuances of pasteles.

If you make it to the shop, your greatest struggle will be picking which colors to take home. They have slowly been bringing back nuance ranges from the 1650s while continuing to develop their own steadily. There’s a wide range of nuances offered, from natural to iridescent. Thankfully, they provide half-sticks to reduce some of the burden of deciding. This shop is open only once a week to the public on Thursday afternoons, 2p-6p.

If multiple shops don’t fit your itinerary, Sennelier also has its hands in quality pastels. Much like its watercolors, the pastels are cheaper to obtain in France. (The Sennelier shop by the Louvre is an excellent place to pick an affordable set.)

La Maison du Pastel
📍20 Rue Rambuteau, 75003 Paris, France

4. Paint Brushes – Isabey and Raphaël

Isabey has been making their paint brushes by hand out of France since 1895. For generations, women in Brittany have handed down the craft of fine brush making. These are no ordinary brushes. To become a brush maker, one must complete an apprenticeship, lasting seven to ten years, depending on the brushes they produce. Isabey has natural squirrel hair and synthetic hairs in their offerings. They range from oil to watercolor and mixed media brushes to buy from, including travel sizes.

Raphaël operates as the oldest fine art brush maker in Europe, touting the founding year 1793 in Paris. Craftswomen of Raphaël train in apprenticeship for years under master brush makers to develop and hone their skills. Natural hair in brushes can be expensive and nerve-wracking to travel with. For anyone who fears traveling with natural hair brushes, synthetic hair Raphaël travel mini brushes are a reasonably priced must-add to anyone’s travel art kit.

Either of these brushes will make a beautiful addition to your kit and become one of your most coveted possessions.

Brush Selection at Charvin art supply in Paris — Brush selection at Charvin Paris

5. Charcoals – Conté à Paris

These Charcoals are uniquely Parisian, making them a great art supply in Paris. Conté à Paris began in 1795 when the founder Jacques Conté developed the modern graphite lead in pencils. This mixture of clay and graphite allowed for pencils with varying hardness grades.

They offer natural-state willow and vine, compressed, and charcoal pencils that make beautiful sketching tools. Whether loafing at a cafe, drawing the couple crossing the road, or practicing marking work in a park, these quality charcoal pencils travel well and bring a unique, memorable souvenir home.

Art Supply Shops in Paris

Looking for places to get your hands on these truly unique souvenirs?

Charvin Arts in the 6th Arrondissement

Located just steps from the iconic Pont Neuf, Charvin Arts is a treasure trove for artists in Paris’s bustling artistic quarter. Renowned for its exquisite oil paints and luxurious acrylics, this storied shop draws art lovers seeking the essence of French artistic tradition in a quintessential Parisian setting.

Rougier&Plé in Saint-Germain

Rougier&Plé in Saint-Germain blends Parisian charm with artistic abundance. Situated in the vibrant heart of the Left Bank, this beloved store is a cornerstone for creatives, offering everything from sketching tools to specialty inks. Its prime location makes it an easy stop amidst the area’s famed cafes and galleries.

Magasin Sennelier in Quai Voltaire

Magasin Sennelier, a historic art supply store, is a landmark for artists visiting Paris. Perched on the bustling Quai Voltaire, opposite the Louvre, it offers an extensive selection of premium paints and pastels. Stepping into Sennelier is like entering a colorful realm where Paris’s artistic heritage comes vividly to life. This shop is beautiful. It is well worth checking out while in the area.

While many of these supplies are offered in art shops worldwide, coming home with any of them directly from the source brings a different feel to using them regularly. For example, the next time you reach for your charcoals, perhaps you’ll think of the afternoon you spent sketching at a corner cafe sipping an espresso. When you pull out your watercolors on your next local park visit, without a doubt, you’ll fondly reminisce on your trip through Monet’s Garden and your own painted version of his bridge.