From 150 years of Impressionism to the artistic programme of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, this year in Paris promises to be as sporting as it is cultural. Constantin Brancusi, Frida Kahlo, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and the Lumière brothers... Paris' museums and digital art centres host some of the world's greatest artists. Discover our selection of must-see exhibitions and immersive experiences this year. Ready, set, go!
Mark Rothko at the Fondation Louis Vuitton
From 18 October 2023 to 2 April 2024
Mark Rothko, a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism, is the guest of honour at the Fondation Louis Vuitton this autumn in a retrospective exhibition retracing his work through 115 paintings from major international collections. From urban landscapes and ancient myths to surrealism, the tour follows the painter's artistic evolution towards abstraction, as illustrated by the Multiformes series, characterised by suspended masses of colour and superimposed rectangular shapes. The exhibition also includes two major installations, including a recreation of one of the rooms in the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and a set of bright red murals intended for the Four Seasons restaurant, which the artist eventually kept.
"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.
"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.
"Egypt of the Pharaohs: From Cheops to Ramses II" at the Atelier des Lumières
From 9 February 2024 to 5 January 2025
In 2024, the Atelier des Lumières offers a colourful plunge into the heart of ancient Egypt. The temples of Luxor and Abu Simbel, the tombs of Tutankhamen and Nefertari in the Valley of the Kings and Queens, the monumental sculptures of the pharaohs, the pyramids... The façades of the digital art centre in Paris reveal the sumptuous landscapes and architectural treasures of Egyptian civilisation in this new immersive exhibition.
"Transparences, the power of materials" at the Yves Saint-Laurent Museum
From 9 February to 25 August 2024
Modern, powerful and liberated, this was the image of the woman that Yves Saint-Laurent conveyed through a play of transparent materials such as chiffon, lace and tulle. In 2024, the French designer's former fashion house - converted into a museum in 2017 - will host an exhibition of more than 40 creations, including the first topless blouse and a black dress belted with ostrich feathers. Visitors will be able to decipher the poetic and innovative language of the great couturier through sketches, tracing patterns, photographs, drawings inspired by Goya's paintings and an astonishing collection of hats, jewellery and shoes.
"MATCH. Design & Sport - A History Looking to the Future" at the Musée du Luxembourg
From 13 March to 11 August 2024
Materials, ergonomics... What would sporting performance be without art and design? In the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Musée du Luxembourg is exploring the links between these two not-so-distant and mutually inspiring worlds. The exhibition, part of the Cultural Olympiad, looks at the role played by leading designers in helping athletes achieve sporting success, with a particular focus on the automotive and ready-to-wear sectors.
"The world as it is" at the Bourse de Commerce
From 20 March to 23 September 2024
How do contemporary artists view current events and the world around them? In 2024, a series of contemporary works from the Pinault Collection - dating from the 1980s to the present day - will take over the Bourse de Commerce, starting with Kimsooja's mirror on the floor of the Rotonde: an upside-down vision of the museum (and the world) echoing the works on display.
"Brancusi: art has only just begun" at the Centre Pompidou
From 23 March to 1 July 2024
Considered one of the masters of modern sculpture in the 20th century, Constantin Brancusi is the centre of honour at the Centre Pompidou in spring 2024. Sculptures, photographs, drawings, films, archives... More than 200 works from the artist's studio, bequeathed to the French state in 1957, are to be (re)discovered as part of the museum's relocation of its collections during the renovation works (due to start in 2025). Sculptures on loan from other international museums complete the exhibition.
"Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism" at the Musée d'Orsay
From 26 March to 14 July 2024
This is one of the most eagerly awaited exhibitions in Paris in 2024. To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Impressionism, the Musée d'Orsay invites visitors to take a contemporary look at 130 masterpieces by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley and Cézanne, first exhibited in the spring of 1874. Scenes of modern life, light-coloured landscapes, lively brushstrokes, sketches made in the open air... By showing paintings and sculptures hung simultaneously at the official Salon, the "Paris 1874" exhibition aims to reveal the innovative, even revolutionary character of the first Impressionist paintings.
"Olympism. A modern invention, an ancient heritage" at the Musée du Louvre
From 24 April to 16 September 2024
Baron Pierre de Coubertin was responsible for organising the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. But that's not all... As France welcomes athletes from all over the world to the Paris Games in 2024, the Louvre is devoting an exhibition to the scientists and artists who reinvented the ancient Olympic Games before they became the world's most watched sporting event. Among the works on display in the museum's Richelieu wing is the first Olympic trophy, awarded to the winner of the 1896 marathon and made by a French goldsmith.
"Matisse, L'Atelier rouge" at the Fondation Louis Vuitton
From 7 May to 9 September 2024
Six paintings, three sculptures, one ceramic... More than just a painting, L'Atelier rouge by Henri Matisse (1911) is a gateway to the intimacy of the master of Fauvism, whose touch of red inspired Mark Rothko and Ellsworth Kelly. Each of the works that make up this masterpiece of modern art can be discovered at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, including Le Jeune Marin, 75 years after leaving Matisse's studio in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. Other works, such as La Fenêtre Bleue and Grand Intérieur rouge, as well as a number of archive documents, provide a better understanding of the history of this singular modern work.
To coincide with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Fondation Louis Vuitton is also exhibiting a selection of works from its collection on the theme of sport, such as Olympics Rings, created in 1985 by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.
"Frida Kahlo ¡Viva La Vida!" at the Grand Palais Immersif
From 18 September 2024 to 2 March 2025
If we were to open Frida Kahlo's diary, discovered 20 years after her death, what could we read and learn about the life and work of one of the great figures of the 20th century? This is what the Grand Palais Immersif will offer visitors in 2024 in a new immersive exhibition. His personal life, his relations with the artists of his time, his intense artistic production: these are the aspects of the Mexican artist's private life and career that will be revealed in one of the rooms of the Opéra Bastille thanks to monumental projections, visual animations and soundtracks.
By Rédaction France.fr
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