Monet's Water Lilies Bloom Again

They are among the most popular paintings in the world but for decades they were starved of natural light and displayed in a building likened to an oversized garden shed.

Now, after six years of renovation work delayed by archaeological mishaps, Claude Monet's giant Water Lilies are finally back on display at the Orangerie museum in Paris, in a space restored to match the French impressionist's vision of how his work should be hung.

The unveiling of the museum's €30m (£21m) redesign is already two years overdue, after work was suspended in 2003 when builders stumbled across the remains of a 16th-century wall erected around the Tuileries palace and gardens by King Charles IX. Historians questioned how the wall could have been overlooked, given it was widely known to sit below the Orangerie, built in 1852 to house fruit trees in winter.

As the French culture minister, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, arrived yesterday to open the exhibition of Monet's eight vast canvasses, teething trouble continued. One small detail had been overlooked: the new building had no doormat. Critics and commentators were traipsing in mud and sand from the footpaths of the Tuileries while cleaners ran behind them vacuuming up the sludge that threatened the cream carpets. "It's the light in here that's the important thing," said curator Philippe Saunier, shrugging off the minor hitch. "This installation is unique, it is the Sistine chapel of impressionism."

Monet donated the canvasses to France as a "spiritual testament" after the first world war, when he was beginning to lose his sight. They were conceived for the Orangerie's oval galleries with daylight coming through the ceiling and were first shown there in 1927. In the 1960s, a second floor was added to the building, blocking out the light. Now that has been removed.

The gallery opens to the public on May 17.