This year, we're going back to the great museums of France to be moved by works of art. The wonderful exhibitions planned in France for 2024 promise to make us reflect on the world around us, to rethink our relationship with others and with nature. From Claude Monet to Pierre Bonnard and Vincent Van Gogh, not forgetting André Masson, enjoy our selection of the best exhibitions.
"Stéphane Tidet, il n'est pas de nouveau monde" at the Cité internationale de la langue française in Hauts-de-France
*From 1 November 2023 to 10 March 2024
The Cité internationale de la langue française, a new cultural centre dedicated to French literature to be inaugurated in the autumn of 2023 at the heart of the Château de Villers-Cotterêts, will host Stéphane Tidet's work Il n'est pas de nouveau monde: a wooden staircase of 108 steps leading to a treetop cabin in the grounds of Villers-Cotterêts. It's a monumental installation and the exhibition dedicated to it explores the relationship between man and nature.
*This summer, the Cité is hosting a temporary exhibition on French song.
Visit the Cité internationale de la langue française in Hauts-de-France
"Les Elles des Jeux" at the Musée National du Sport in Nice
*From 8 November 2023 to 22 September 2024
It wasn't a foregone conclusion, but they have managed to enter the pantheon of international sport. They are athletes such as Alice Milliat, Christine Caron, Marie-José Pérec, Laure Manaudou and Simone Biles, whose sporting achievements and commitment have helped to develop gender equality in sport. As part of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the National Museum of Sport - located at the Allianz Riviera, which will host several matches in the Olympic football tournament - is drawing up a history of women's sport. The exhibition is part of the Cultural Olympiad.
Visit the Musée national du sport in Nice, on the Côte d'Azur
"From Vermeer to Van Gogh, the Dutch masters" at the Bassins des Lumières in Bordeaux
*From 16 February 2024 to 5 January 2025
Throughout 2024, the long programme of the Bassins des Lumières will offer visitors the chance to experience the genius of the Dutch masters of painting through digital creation, a true immersion in nature and the subjects that inspired them. From Vermeer to Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Hendrick Avercamp and Jan Steen, the exhibition immerses visitors in a fascinating world of colour and chiaroscuro. Painting light and its atmosphere is the leitmotif of this former naval base in Bordeaux, now transformed into a digital art centre. Direct or subdued, cold or sunny, it reveals the facades, invites introspection or contemplation - and it's magical!
A second immersive exhibition takes visitors into the abstract world of Piet Mondrian, whose colourful grids have inspired many artists.
"In the forest with Vincent Munier" at the Musée des Confluences, Lyon
*From 16 February 2024 to 27 April 2025
How about a dip in the forest? Come to Lyon and the Musée des Confluences for a sensory walk accompanied by photographer and filmmaker Vincent Munier. Deer, owls, lynx, capercaillie, black woodpeckers... watch and listen - in silence - to the sounds of a fauna as surprising as it is fragile. Let the show begin!
"Bringing work out of its darkness" at the Centre de création contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours
*From 16 February to 1 September 2024
Celebrated and even applauded during the health crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, care assistants, cleaners, home-delivery workers and other "front-line workers" have since been forgotten. Four years after the first closure, the Olivier Debré Centre de création contemporaine continues its reflection with an exhibition on invisible work in contemporary societies in the digital age. It's an opportunity for visitors to ask questions about the world of tomorrow.
Visit the Olivier Debré Contemporary Art Centre in Tours, in the Loire Valley
"Please touch! Art and matter" at the Musée d'arts de Nantes
*From 23 February to 29 September 2024
What if we didn't just touch works of art with our eyes? In 2024, the Musée d'Arts de Nantes, in partnership with six other French art museums, will offer visitors a rare experience: touching, feeling and manipulating reproductions of ancient, modern and contemporary sculptures... with your hands. It's a sensory visit that's even more exciting when you're blindfolded. Children will love it too...
Visit the Musée d'Arts de Nantes, in the Pays de la Loire region
"Désordres - Extraits de la collection Antoine de Galbert" at the Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon
*From 8 March to 7 July 2024
A self-taught collector of contemporary art, Antoine de Galbert is exhibiting over 250 works from his personal collection at the Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon. In the spring of 2024, the museum will present works by established artists and emerging talents, including Jane Alexander, Richard Jackson, Christian Lhopital, Stéphane Pancréac'h and Thomas Schütte.
"Underground Worlds" at the Louvre-Lens Museum
*From 27 March to 22 July 2024
What could be lurking beneath our feet? From ancient times to the present day, people have been fascinated by the subterranean world. Paintings, sculptures, objets d'art, books, film clips... In the spring of 2024, the Louvre-Lens Museum will be presenting the various representations of the abyss in the history of art.
"Impressionism and the sea" at the Musée des impressionnismes Giverny
*From 29 March to 30 June 2024
150 years of Impressionism is worth celebrating. To mark the occasion, the Musée des impressionnismes Giverny in Normandy is devoting an exhibition to the sea, one of the favourite subjects of Impressionist painters such as Eugène Boudin, Claude Monet, Gustave Courbet and Paul Gauguin. The highlight of the Normandie Impressionnist festival (22 March to 22 September 2024), this exhibition invites visitors to take a poetic stroll around Deauville and Cabourg and discover the seascapes from a new perspective: the life of fishermen, the maritime industry, storms, etc.
As part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Impressionism initiated by the Ministry of Culture and the Musée d'Orsay, 16 Impressionist masterpieces are on loan to the Musée des Impressionistes Giverny this year, including L'Evasion de Rochefort by Edouard Manet.
"André Masson: there is no finished world" at the Centre Pompidou-Metz
*From 29 March to 2 September 2024
One hundred years after the publication of the first Surrealist manifesto, the Centre Pompidou-Metz is devoting a retrospective exhibition to André Masson. More than 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures, magazines and previously unpublished archives from international collections illustrate the unusual career of this "Surrealist rebel", who was also a painter, draughtsman, sculptor, theatre designer, art critic, poet and writer. The exhibition focuses in particular on the invention of automatic drawing, which had a major influence on American Abstract Expressionism.
"Achilles and the Trojan War" at the Romanité Museum in Nîmes
*From 26 April 2024 to 5 January 2025
Do you know the story of Achilles, the hero of the Trojan War? In 2024, the Musée de la Romanité in Nîmes will retrace the story of this great figure from Greek mythology, from his birth to his death, in an immersive exhibition. This is an opportunity to discover the museum's collection, including an impressive 30 m² mosaic, which will be on show to the public for the first time since its restoration in 2010.
"Objectif Mer: l'océan filmé" at the Musée de la Marine
From 13 December 2023 to 5 May 2024
From Jacques Perrin and the Lumière brothers to Pierre Schoendoerffer and even James Cameron, filmmakers have long been fascinated by the seas and oceans. To mark its reopening, the Musée de la Marine, in collaboration with the Cinémathèque française, is offering a journey through the seventh art. Over 300 works are on display, including costumes, posters, paintings, objects and film extracts.
"Bonnard and Japan" at the Hôtel de Caumont in Aix-en-Provence
From 3 May to 6 October 2024
His nickname of "the very Japanese Nabi" was no accident. Supple movements, contrasting colours, arabesques, stylised elements and flattened space... At the end of the 19th century, Pierre Bonnard gradually adopted the codes of Japanese art. This correspondence is highlighted at the Hôtel de Caumont as part of an exhibition dedicated to the post-impressionist painter, featuring a series of Japanese prints from the Leskowicz collection.
"En amour" at the Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris
From 2 February to 25 August 2024
An immersive, interactive experience combining theatre, performance art and digital installation awaits music and art lovers at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2024. Conceived by artists Claire Bardainne and Adrien Mondot, this participatory choreography invites visitors to dance for nearly 40 minutes to the rhythms of a composition combining pop, electronic and experimental music, all while blending in with the projected images.
"The dawn of the American century, 1919-1944" at the Caen Memorial
From 8 May 2024 to 5 January 2025
Who were the soldiers on D-Day? What kind of society did they grow up in? From jazz clubs to prohibition, from the Great Depression of 1929 to the New Deal, from Charlie Chaplin to California surf culture, from New York skyscrapers to the motor car... To mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy, the Caen Memorial takes visitors back to inter-war America, a time of power, excess and racial tension.
"Photography in Normandy (1840-1890): a pioneering dialogue between the arts" at the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre
*From 25 May to 22 September 2024
A source of inspiration for Impressionist painters, Normandy also played a role in the development of photography, thanks to its incomparable light, coastal architecture, authentic landscapes and seascapes... As part of the Normandie Impressionniste festival, the Havre Museum of Modern Art is exploring the reciprocal influences of these two artistic worlds by exhibiting masterpieces and lesser-known works.
Visit the Musée d'art moderne André Malraux in Le Havre, Normandy
"Amitiés, Bonnard - Matisse for the 60th anniversary of the Maeght Foundation" in Saint-Paul-de-Vence
*From 29 June to 6 October 2024
Close friends for over 40 years, Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse will be reunited this summer on the Côte d'Azur, which Matisse so loved to sketch. To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the Fondation Maeght is organising a joint exhibition to (re)discover the works of these two masters of modern painting - and their links with the Maeght family - revealing their similarities but also their distinct approaches to themes such as self-portraits, light, models and street scenes.
To mark the anniversary, the Maeght Foundation is also unveiling new exhibition spaces to house key works from its collection.
Exhibitions to see in Paris
Henri Matisse and Mark Rothko at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Claude Monet and the Impressionists at the Musée d'Orsay, Frida Kahlo at the Grand Palais Immersive, Constantin Brancusi at the Centre Pompidou... There's a long list of must-see exhibitions in Paris in 2024! See our selection.
By Rédaction France.fr
The magazine of the destination unravels an unexpected France that revisits tradition and cultivates creativity. A France far beyond what you can imagine…
