Paris Arts & Culture: 12 Top Picks for Fall/Winter 2024-2025

Paris Arts & Culture: 12 Top Picks for Fall/Winter 2024-2025

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Paris arts 2024
René Magritte, Les valeurs personnelles, 1952. Huile sur toile, 80 x 100 cm © San Francisco Museum of Modern Art/ Photograph Katherine Du Tiel © Adagp, Paris, 2024

When the air turns crisp and leaves turn colors, it signals the arrival of autumn and a new season of Paris arts and culture. In addition to comprehensive exhibits exploring artistic movements, there are several solo shows dedicated to vibrant female artists, ones tracing the evolution of folkloric figures, and others reminding us the City of Light is also the City of Fashion. As always, check the museum websites for opening times and booking information before you head out.

MAJOR MOVEMENTS

Surrealism

Before shutting down for renovations for a whopping five years, the Pompidou Center presents an exceptional exhibit retracing over 40 years of the Surrealist movement. Founded 100 years ago,  Surrealism aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself through art. Organized both chronologically and thematically, the exhibit takes the form of a labyrinth exploring the literary figures who inspired artists (Lewis Carroll, Sade, etc.) and the poetic principles that influenced their imagery (dreams, the philosopher’s stone, the forest, etc.).

Where: Centre Pompidou, Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris
When: September 4, 2024 to January 13, 2025

Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…

Dedicated to Pop Art, a major artistic movement in the 1960s, this exhibit showcases the work of Tom Wesselmann, one of the leading figures of the movement. Through 150 of his works, as well as additional works from 35 artists who share a similar sensibility, the exhibit traces Pop Art from its Dadaist roots to the present day, celebrating the intersection of fine art and popular culture, such as comic strips, advertising, cinema, celebrities, and tabloids.

Where: Fondation Louis Vuitton, Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, Bois de Boulogne, 75116 Paris
When:
October 17, 2024 to February 24, 2025


MASCULINE FEMININE

Caillebotte, Painting men

The Orsay Museum hosts two exhibits of singular 19th-century artists this fall. The first focuses on Gustave Caillebotte, who captured the era’s changing perspective on forms of masculinity. Caillebotte introduced new figures into his paintings: an urban worker, a man on a balcony, a sportsman, a male nude at his ‘toilette’. Blurring the boundaries of Impressionism, Realism and Modernism, he explored questions of virility and traditional masculinity, challenging the established social order.

Where: Musée d’Orsay, 1, Rue de la Légion d’Honneur 75007 Paris
When: October 8, 2024 to January 19, 2025

Harriet Backer (1845-1932) – The Music of Colors

Working around the same time as Caiilebotte, Harriet Backer was renowned in her native Norway—but little known outside her home country—for her rich use of colour and meticulous attention to the light. This exhibit explores her favorite themes (rustic interiors, still lifes, musical scenes, landscapes) and presents the work of female artists in her inner circle who shared her commitment to feminism.

Where: Musée d’Orsay, 1, Rue de la Légion d’Honneur 75007 Paris
When: September 24, 2024 to January 12, 2025


COLORS AND TEXTURES

Tarsila do Amaral – Painting modern Brazil

This exhibit, the first retrospective in France devoted to Tarsila do Amaral (1886-1973), presents over 150 works by of one of Brazil’s best-known and best-loved artists. These pieces demonstrate how she crafted an original body of work, drawing on indigenous imagery and the rapid modernization around her. Her brightly colored landscapes, dreamlike compositions and abstract geometry explore social, identity and racial issues, inviting the viewer to reconsider the divide between tradition and avant-garde, cities and outskirts, high culture and popular culture.

Where: Musée du Luxembourg, 19 rue de Vaugirard 75006 Paris
When: October 9, 2024 to February 2, 2025

Olga de Amaral

The Fondation Cartier presents the first major retrospective in Europe of Olga de Amaral, a key figure of the Colombian art scene and a pioneer in the medium of Fiber Art. Bringing together 80 works, many of which have never been shown before outside of Colombia, the exhibit offers a fresh perspective on her work, which expanded the boundaries of the textile medium. Throughout her career, de Amaral experimented with different materials (linen, horsehair, goldleaf) and techniques (weaves, knots, braids) to create large three-dimensional pieces evoking elements of Columbian nature and pre-Columbian art.

Where: Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, 261 Bd Raspail, 75014 Paris
When: October 12, 2024 to March 16, 2025


THE COLLECTOR’S EYE

Heinz Berggruen, a Dealer and his Collection

This exhibit at the l’Orangerie revolves around the relationship between gallery owner Berggruen and the artists he represented in post-war Paris. Highlighting his personal tastes and affinities, the exhibit includes about 100 works by Picasso, Klee, Matisse and Giacometti rarely seen outside Berlin. The collection particularly resonates with the Orangerie’s own Walter-Guillaume collection of modern masterpieces from the School of Paris.

Where: Musée de l’Orangerie, Jardin des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, 75001 Paris
When: October 2, 2024 to January 27, 2025

Trompe-L’oeil – From 1520 to the Present Day

Traceing the history of the representation of reality in the arts from the revolutionary period to the modern day this exposition pays tribute to Jules and Paul Marmottan’s penchant for trompe l’oeil paintings. While certain themes of the genre are well-known—vanities, hunting trophies, letter holders—other aspects may be surprising, such as the decorative variations on furniture and pottery and even the political significance of this pictorial technique. For the occasion, eight works from the Museum’s collection have been restored to their original glory.

Where: Musée Marmottan Monet, 2, rue Louis-Boilly, Paris
When: 
 October 17, 2024 to March 2, 2025


BEYOND THE GRAVE

Zombis – Death is not the end?

An endlessly popular subject in books, movies and TV, “zombies” evoke fascination and dread in equal measure. This exhibit at the Quai Branly museum endeavors to reveal the truth behind the fantasies, beliefs and fears of the world’s most famous undead. Exploring the construction of the myth, which originated in Africa before crossing the Atlantic during the slave trade, the exhibit shows how the figure of the zombie took shape on the fringes of Vodou culture in Haiti before being adopted by the Western collective imagination in such works as George A. Romero’s legendary film, Night of the Living Dead.

Where: Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, 37 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris
When: 
 October 8, 2024 to February 16, 2025

The Dybbuk. Phantom of the Lost World

In popular Jewish culture, a “dybbuk” refers to a wandering soul that takes possession of a living person. Starting from the early 20th century, the figure evolved beyond the realms of superstition to become an inspiration to artists past and present. In this multi-disciplinary exhibit combining art, theatre, film, music, literature and popular culture, the MAHJ traces the evolving character of the dybbuk, from a malevolent spirit to the symbol of a lost generation of European Jews.

Where: Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, Hôtel de Saint-Aignan, 71 rue du Temple, 75003 Paris
When: September 26, 2024 to January 26, 2025


FASHION IN BLOOM

The Flowers of Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent had a passion for flowers and found them to be an infinite source of inspiration. This exhibit at the YSL Museum explores this admiration through over 30 garments and drawings, highlighting the designer’s taste and personality through his floral creations. The exhibit is punctuated by quotes from Proust and the works of American artist Sam Falls, who gathers plant samples from around the world and directly prints their pigments on canvas.

Where: Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, 5 avenue Marceau, 75116 Paris
When: September 20, 2024 to May 4, 2025

Stephen Jones, Chapeaux d’Artiste

The Palais Galliera presents the work of British designer Stephen Jones, recognized by celebrities and fashion designers alike as one of the greatest contemporary milliners. Featuring close to 400 pieces,  this exhibit focuses on Jones’s creative process, his sources of inspiration, and the role of Paris in his work. The “looks” presented highlight how Jones forged close links with some of the world’s leading fashion houses and designers, including Christian Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and Vivienne Westwood.

Where: Palais Galliera, 10 Avenue Pierre Ier de Serbie, Paris 75016
When: October 19, 2024 to March 16, 2025


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