When in Paris you’re absolutely spoiled for choice for cultural delights, but on my latest trip to the city I was able to enjoy a different angle to the main galleries, as I walked through Montmartre in the company of a private guide. On what was my fourth trip to the city, I skipped the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, and met my expert Kirker guide, Laurent, on the steps of Sacre Coeur.

My goal was retracing steps of the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Cubist artists that made this northern most point of Paris a point of inspiration. La Bonne Franquette was the setting of Van Gogh’s ‘La Guinguette’, which is mere minutes from Le Lapin Agile, the setting of Picasso’s harlequin self-portrait ‘Au Lapin Agile’ - where you can still take in dinner and a cabaret in the evenings - with Paris of course being where the artist met Georges Braque, with whom he would create Cubism.

Montmartre was once an agricultural outcrop beyond the city of Paris, and the arrondissement’s one remaining vineyard can be found at the Musée de Montmartre, created at the site of Renoir’s studio and which still holds the studio of Suzanne Valadon, kept as it was over a century ago. The museum’s permanent collection is a fantastic selection of works from the period - some of my particular favourites being the Rodin sketches and the room of silhouettes, similar to those found at the Musée d’Orsay (but without the crowds).

Montmartre remains the artistic hub of Paris, teeming with authenticity and charm, and a day in what is the city’s cultural heart would complete any visit to the city.