Be moved and transported by a masterpiece, reflect on the world around us, rethink our relationship with others and with nature. Throughout France, major museums display the works of international artists. From Claude Monet to Pierre Bonnard and Vincent Van Gogh, not forgetting André Masson, enjoy our selection of the best exhibitions.
"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 18 October to 31 December 2024
This autumn, the Bassins des Lumières in Bordeaux are awakening the childlike spirit in all of us with a new immersive exhibition revisiting Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's work The Little Prince. An imaginary and poetic journey in anticipation of the festive season.
*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.
"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.
"The Infinite Woman" à la Villa Carmignac sur l’île de Porquerolles en Méditérranée
Villa Carmignac - Fondation Carmignac, Hyères, France
From 27 April to 3 November 2024
In the heart of Porquerolles, the jewel of the Hyères islands which - according to legend - was originally a princess frozen into a rock to escape pirates, the Villa Carmignac is offering a captivating artistic plunge into the world of female representations.
Nurturing women, spider-women, sacred women, science-fiction characters, objects of desire... At the invitation of Alona Pardo, curator of the exhibition, some sixty artists from diverse backgrounds question, revisit or deconstruct stereotypes by taking a contemporary look at classic mythologies.
Visit the Villa Carmignac, between Provence and the Côte d'Azur
Indiscretion
Provence
"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.
"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.
‘Seeing time in colour’ at the Centre Pompidou-Metz
Centre Pompidou-Metz, Parvis des Droits de l'Homme, Metz, France
From 13 July to 18 November 2024
From now until November, the Centre Pompidou-Metz will be showing photography enthusiasts more than 300 works tracing the history of the eighth art form, the development of techniques and the role of colour. Visitors can discover autochrome plates from the Albert Kahn museum and seascapes by Gustave Le Gray.
‘Les Voix des fleuves, Crossing the water’ - Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art
Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, Cité Internationale, Quai Charles de Gaulle, Lyon, France
From 21 September 2024 to 5 January 2025
It's one of the most eagerly awaited cultural events. The Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art is back in 2024. For almost 4 months, a number of exhibitions and artistic installations will take over the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, the garden of the Musée des Beaux-Arts and new venues such as the Grandes Locos (former SNCF workshops) and the Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie. At the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, some sixty artists will be exploring the links between human beings and their environment.
Read more: - Exhibitions not to be missed in Paris in 2024 - Major cultural events not to be missed in France
‘Exiles, Artists‘ Views’ at the Louvre-Lens Museum
Musée du Louvre-Lens, Rue Paul Bert, Lens, France
From 25 September 2024 to 20 January 2025
From Homer to Marc Chagall, via Jacques-Louis David, Victor Hugo and Gustave Courbet, the question of exile - in all its forms - has inspired artists from the earliest days of art history right up to the present day. Through 200 works, including paintings, sculptures, photographs and literary works, this autumn's exhibition at the Musée du Louvre-Lens explores the close links between the various stages of exile (departure, uprooting, displacement, welcoming, etc.) and artistic creation, including contemporary art.
Stylish mining area!
Northern France
‘To see, close your eyes’ at the Centre de création contemporaine Olivier Debré in Tours
Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré (CCC OD), Jardin François 1er, Tours, France
From 4 October 2024 to 9 March 2025
This autumn, the Centre de création contemporaine Olivier Debré invites visitors to immerse themselves in the world of Ana Vidigal, a leading figure in contemporary Portuguese painting. Recent and previously unpublished works reveal the artist's favourite themes: her own childhood, the recent history of Portugal and its democratic aspirations, individual and collective memory...
Visit the Centre de création contemporaine Olivier Debré in Tours, in the Loire Valley.
‘Experience Raphael’ at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille
From 18 October 2024 to 17 February 2025
This autumn, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille is offering an exhibition enhanced by digital devices, rediscovering 40 drawings by the painter Raphael. It's a chance to immerse yourself in the work of the genius of the Italian Renaissance. Digital devices allow visitors to admire the monumental frescoes in the Signatura Chamber in the Vatican Palace.
‘Parade, une scène française’ at MO.CO in Montpellier
MO.CO. Panacée, Rue de l'École de Pharmacie, Montpellier, France
From 26 October 2024 to 12 January 2025
The Laurent Dumas Collection comes to MO.CO this autumn. Abdel Abdessemed, Nina Childress, Claire Tabouret... Many emblematic contemporary artists of the French scene supported by the patron and director of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris Laurent Dumas are to be discovered. The exhibition illustrates the diversity and vitality of the French art scene over the last 30 years, particularly in terms of pictorial and plastic practices.
Occitanie
‘Senn, collectors and patrons’ at the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre
musée d'art moderne André Malraux, Boulevard Clemenceau, Le Havre, France
From 16 November 2024 to 16 February 2025
Courbet, Delacroix, Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Cross... the greatest Impressionist painters are in the limelight this autumn at the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre. Over 200 works bequeathed just 20 years ago by Hélène Senn-Foulds, granddaughter of the famous art patron Olivier Senn, are on show.
Visit the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre, Normandy
By 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…
