CITY GUIDE
What to do in Paris?

The Dior Gallery, which bears witness to the bold vision of Christian Dior and his six successors: Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Since its creation in 1984 by Alain Dominique Perrin, then President of the Maison Cartier, it has exhibited artists from all horizons, decompartmentalizing practices and fields of thought. Its collection, built up over the course of an international program, reflects its multi-disciplinary approach and the breadth of the themes it tackles, in direct contact with contemporary issues.

The Fondation Cartier is committed to making contemporary art accessible to as many people as possible. Through its exhibition projects and its program of meetings, debates, performances and conferences, the Fondation Cartier builds bridges between places of creation and nurtures a genuine space for multicultural dialogue.

The collection of the Fondation Louis Vuitton does not aim for the objectivity and exhaustiveness of a public collection. Rather, it aims to share the emotions and questions provoked by certain works whose power to "break the rules" reinvents a relationship with the world. To do this, it is naturally organized around sensitive lines that draw four directions: Contemplative, Popist, Expressionist, Music and Sound.

Cartoonist, actor, and radio commentator, Geluck created Le Chat in 1983, which within a few years became a comic book icon and the subject of numerous exhibitions, notably in the form of monumental bronze sculptures on the Champs-Élysées in 2022. This exhibition looks back at the creation of Le Chat, now forever associated with Geluck, through the discovery of the cartoonist's early drawings, watercolors, and the character's first steps and subsequent development. The many mediums used by the artist are highlighted: sketches, original drawings, comic strips, acrylic paintings, silkscreen prints, unusual objects, and sculptures.

Philippe Geluck himself is the curator of the exhibition, in which visitors can see him and Le Chat interacting with prestigious artists such as Warhol, Picasso, Banksy, Vermeer, and Courbet. Courbet is not mentioned by chance in this list of great predecessors, as one room will be dedicated to L'Origine du monde (not the one painted by Gustave Courbet, but a meticulous copy attributed to René Magritte—a painting that has never been exhibited before), whose history is surreal in itself.

In this solo exhibition, American artist Mickalene Thomas (born in 1971 in New York) explores the visibility and representation of Black women in art, history, and popular culture. Through a vibrant synthesis of painting, collage, photography, and video, she reinvents the classical portrait with a unique queer and Black feminist perspective.

Internationally recognized for her bold and multidimensional practice, Mickalene Thomas explores love as a force for liberation, self-affirmation, and joy. Inspired by bell hooks' seminal text All About Love: New Visions ( 1999), the exhibition celebrates the power of love to transform personal and collective lives. Mickalene Thomas's practice often reinterprets and disrupts canonical moments in European art history. Works referencing masterpieces such as Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1863) and Ingres' La Grande Odalisque (1814) are reimagined through a contemporary lens of emancipation, placing Black women at the center of the narrative.

The exhibition sheds light on the final years of Henri Matisse's career, between 1941 and 1954, through more than 230 works, including paintings, drawings, cut-out gouaches, illustrated books, textiles, and stained glass windows, from the Centre Pompidou collection and major international loans. It reveals the multidisciplinary nature of his practice during this period, while bringing together an exceptional collection of cut-out gouaches.

The exhibition brings together the works of 72 urban artists who have taken over a historic Paris metro map. Collector Jérôme Dauchez offered the urban artists the Paris metro map as a backdrop for their imagination. This map, dating from 1947, thus becomes a symbolic surface for expression, where the intertwining metro lines, the curves of the Seine, and the abundance of iconic locations form the backdrop for their creations.

Fluctuart is hosting its first private collection, that of Jérôme Dauchez, for an exhibition that highlights the turbulent relationship between urban art and the Paris metro. The works, which range from reflections on the artists' in situ interventions to interpretations of their relationship with the capital, offer an eclectic panorama of urban art, from graffiti to street art, addressing all kinds of figurative and abstract expressions.

Drawing played a decisive role in the development of Renoir's art, from his early student exercises in the 1850s and 1860s to his most modern explorations in the 1910s. This exhibition, dedicated to his drawings, highlights the importance of graphic techniques in the evolution of his art. It also reveals the intimate links between his paintings and drawings, particularly from the 1880s onwards, when Renoir moved away from Impressionism.

The exhibition, which will feature around 100 works, including previously unseen sketches and several paintings, is designed to offer an intimate insight into the artist's creative process, focusing on his exploration of light, form, and color. The artist used a wide variety of techniques: graphite, Conté crayon, charcoal, pen and ink, pastels, watercolors, gouaches, etc. Special attention will be given to the technique of sanguine, which became the artist's medium of choice from the 1880s onwards.

The Petit Palais revisits a powerful theme in its collections: portraits and self-portraits of artists. By presenting a wide selection of 19th-century works, including paintings, sculptures, graphic arts, photographs, and decorative arts, the museum takes a fresh look at some of its most famous masterpieces and invites the public to rediscover rarely exhibited works. The exhibition questions the function of the artist portrait, an exercise in admiration and friendship, a reflection of artistic filiation or, on the contrary, ironic criticism.

The exhibition adopts a narrative perspective that starts with the individual and moves towards the collective, offering a four-part thematic journey from self-portraits to tributes by peers. It also explores the inventions, singularities, and metamorphoses of portraiture through thematic groupings punctuated by historical context and insights into the history of the permanent collections. As a counterpoint, the Petit Palais presents a dozen women artists working in Paris today who question the genre of portraiture, between tradition and modernity.

The new immersive experience at the Atelier des Lumières takes a look at one of the most formative periods in the history of Western art. In a three-dimensional space where light, sound, and architecture interact, new scenographic installations (lasers, fog screens) and graphic reconstructions take the audience on a journey to the heart of the Italian Renaissance.

To bring this Italian Renaissance and the visual and intellectual revolution it embodies to life, the Atelier des Lumières incorporates new technologies: digital twins, high-resolution scans, 3D modeling, and graphic reconstructions. In addition to these digital tools, the Atelier des Lumières is adding physical atmospheric effects for the first time—a veil of fog, beams of light and lasers visible in the air, and heavy smoke on the ground—which give the experience a new presence. Combined with the network of video projectors and spatialized sound, these tools create a setting where images are no longer just decorations on the walls.

A major figure in Impressionism, Pierre Auguste Renoir invented a fluid and light painting style, bursting with light and color, but also new subjects, focusing on relationships between men and women. This exhibition, co-organized with the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, reexamines Renoir's fundamental contribution to Impressionism and 19th-century art history through the complex and universal notion of love, the central driving force behind his work.

For the first time since 1985 (when the last Renoir retrospective was held in Paris at the Grand Palais), some of the artist's and Impressionism's greatest masterpieces will be brought together in France.

Born in Lancashire, England, in 1917, Leonora Carrington developed her identity through travel, both internal and external. From Florence to Paris, the South of France to Spain, and on to Mexico, her extraordinary journey inspired a body of work at the crossroads of surrealism, mythology, and esotericism. Through a chronological and thematic approach, as well as a unique presentation of her diverse visionary creations, the exhibition explores the artist's main themes and interests.

Bringing together 126 works, the exhibition presents Leonora Carrington as a total artist, highlighting her artistic and intellectual universe through a unique presentation of her diverse visionary creations. The exhibition explores the artist's lifelong relationship with Italy and France, which served as a starting point that illuminated her entire career. A feminist and avant-garde environmentalist, Leonora Carrington leaves behind a legacy that is as extraordinary as it is radical.

On all fronts, among Republican soldiers in Spain in 1937-1938, among American troops landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944, in the shootings during the Liberation of Paris, and even in Indochina, where he died in 1954 in a mine explosion, camera in hand, Capa forged the legend of the war photographer. The exhibition recounts the journey of this Hungarian Jewish immigrant, focusing on the creation of his legend and his images, from the moment they were taken to their publication in the press.

A committed witness, Robert Capa left a lasting mark on the history of photojournalism and shaped the new figure of the war photographer. More than 60 press prints from the period are presented alongside magazines, books, documents, and personal items. By presenting Robert Capa's work, the exhibition offers a historical perspective on a reality that is still relevant today: the risks that must be taken to report on war.

The Grand Palais and the Centre Pompidou are dedicating a unique exhibition to Hilma af Klint (1862-1944), highlighting the multiple sources of inspiration for her work (esotericism, folklore and popular art, scientific culture). The exhibition reveals, for the first time in France, the Temple paintings (1906-1915), her magnum opus, including the famous monumental series of the Ten Greatest, which testifies to the visionary power of an artist who was decidedly ahead of her time.

Trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, Hilma af Klint led a double artistic life: one that was conventional, with traditional figurative works, and one that was secret, with resolutely avant-garde productions (the artist chose not to reveal her abstract work to her contemporaries, including in her will the wish to keep her works sealed for 20 years after her death). Long before established figures of abstraction such as Kandinsky and Malevich, Hilma af Klint produced exceptionally bold paintings from 1906 onwards, combining geometry, flat areas of bright color, and organic motifs, which heralded the major trends of the 20th century.

A key figure in the international avant-garde, Lee Miller (1907–1977) was a model, surrealist artist, portraitist, fashion photographer, and war correspondent accredited by the US Army. Today, she is recognized as one of the great photographers of the 20th century. The exhibition brings together nearly 250 vintage and modern prints, including several previously unseen works, and offers a new perspective on her work.

This major retrospective is organized by Tate Britain in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition traces the entire career of photographer Lee Miller, from her beginnings in New York to the war years in Europe, including her stay in Egypt and her life in London. It highlights the richness of a body of work that combines formal experimentation, visual audacity, and political engagement.

The Musée de l'Orangerie, in collaboration with the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, is organizing a monographic exhibition on the painter Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), bringing together major loans from international institutions. This exhibition looks back on the artist's career and his pictorial practice, and aims to go beyond the legends surrounding the name of "Douanier Rousseau" to study his artistic career in depth. Thematic sections allow visitors to explore the materiality of the works and place them in the context of the modern art market.

This exhibition, in collaboration with the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, echoes the history of the two institutions: Paul Guillaume, whose collection forms the core of the Musée de l'Orangerie, acted as Albert Barnes's intermediary for the purchase of his eighteen Rousseau paintings. The exhibition and its catalog revisit this close collaboration between the Parisian dealer and the American collector, and more broadly, the network of collectors and dealers in which the painter was involved during his lifetime. Around fifty works are on display for this occasion.

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The museum is presenting an exhibition dedicated to American painter Henry Taylor. Designed in collaboration with the artist himself, it covers his entire artistic career while continuing to explore the reception of Pablo Picasso on the American scene. Having become one of the leading figures in African American painting alongside Kerry James Marshall, Henry Taylor has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in the United States and abroad. This is the artist's first retrospective in France.

The exhibition brings together around a hundred works—paintings, sculptures, installations, painted objects—through which Henry Taylor depicts the human condition in all its variety: whether friends, loved ones, anonymous characters, or public figures, his effigies and figures construct a certain image of America, that of black neighborhoods. Taylor weaves visual narratives that reflect not only individual trajectories but also collective histories, blending personal experiences, shared memories, and reinterpretations of inspiring works of art.

An internationally renowned American actress, Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) starred in more than thirty feature films directed by renowned filmmakers. Yet she was widely disparaged, suffering from the sexism of the Hollywood machine, and her career has often been recounted through the prism of her emotional problems. The exhibition will highlight her work as a performer, exploring her performances and iconic roles, and will take a step back from the myths surrounding the star. Without seeking to disentangle truth from fiction, it will examine what the multiplicity of fictional and fantasized narratives reveals about our relationship with icons and Hollywood.

But who was Marilyn Monroe really? A myth created by Hollywood, the media of her time, and a public that both mocked and adored her? Beyond the legends that live on today, the exhibition will shine a light on the actress, the driving force behind the films she starred in, the embodiment of style and savoir-faire, and a woman capable of invention and innovation. The exhibition will explore how her talent and technique sought to flourish within the Hollywood studio system, despite economic and aesthetic constraints.

Two masters of Western sculpture engage in dialogue across the centuries: Michelangelo and Rodin. Their works, which embody the strength of the body and the depth of the soul, come together in an unprecedented confrontation that reveals both continuities and ruptures. By showing connections, borrowings, and diversions, the exhibition offers a sensitive interpretation of the myths surrounding the two artists and invites us to rethink sculpture as a laboratory for artistic innovation.

Organized into five sections—Two Legendary Artists; Nature and Antiquity: Reinventing the Model; Non finito; Body and Soul; Energy and Life—the exhibition brings together marbles, bronzes, plasters, terracottas, casts, and a rich collection of graphic works. The exhibition highlights the formal and conceptual issues that lead to a single ambition: to reveal the inner energy of the body.

A fantastical creature, the unicorn has inspired artists since ancient times. Marco Polo himself claimed to have encountered one during his travels in Asia. Although modern times have come to accept its legendary nature, the unicorn remains present in the imagination of young and old alike and has left a deep mark on art history. To discover these traces, the Musée de Cluny, home to the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, is presenting an exhibition exploring the many facets of the unicorn through a selection of around 100 works.

The exhibition, composed of nine thematic sections, explores the many symbolic meanings of the unicorn from the Middle Ages to the present day. The exhibition features a Unicorn by Niki de Saint Phalle, as well as Suzanne Husky's tapestry, La Noble Pastorale, largely inspired by the Lady and the Unicorn tapestry series, a series of six tapestries created in the early 16th century and a masterpiece of the museum's permanent collection.