In the intimate atmosphere of a series of small galleries, the museum provides numerous images of the court, life in high society and the arts under the Second Empire. After the first room, dedicated to the humorous drawings of Daumier, the collection turns to the "beauties" of the day, of which Princess Matilda and Empress Eugenie are at the forefront. The museum owns the famous painting by Winterhalter portraying the empress and her corolla of ladies-in-waiting as well as numerous sculptures by Carpeaux.