The Pompidou Center has only a few months left to make an impression before its big closure for five years of work during 2025. And what could be more impactful than unearthing one of the most radical French avant-gardes in the history of Art? More than twenty years after its last retro on surrealism, the museum is adapting to the times and is not limited to the celebration of a boys club for a more inclusive retrospective. The expo brings together the iconic works of Dalí, Ernst and Magritte, but also other, more confidential works by female artists such as Eileen Agar, Remedios Varo or Suzanne Van Damme. A welcome revision on paper, but what happens once the “door to Hell” is crossed?
Read our review here.
When ? until January 13
Or ? The Center Pompidou, Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris
Poor Art
An exhibition on thearte povera (“poor art”) in the museum of one of the richest men in the world, it’s a bit funny. But it is impossible to ignore this retrospective of an essential current of the Italian avant-garde scene, which, since its birth at the end of the 1960s, continues to infuse contemporary creation. The Bourse de Commerce represents a real return to basics with 250 works (including 50 taken from the closets of the boss of Kering) and 13 masters of analysis. But actually, what is arte povera? Theorized in 1967 by the critic Germano Celant, “poor art” proposed a return to a form of sobriety, bringing together under the same flag all those who favor approach and discourse with a plastic rendering. Behind these pieces of wood and piles of gravel (which are now selling at record prices) hid a real political thought, going against the grain of pop art and all the celebrations of the consumer society.
Read our review here.
When ? until January 20
Or ? Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, 2 Rue de Viarmes, 75001 Paris
Jackson Pollock: the early years 1934-1947
From Pollock, we know the enormous drippings, these XXL canvases decorated with thousands of drops of paint. What is less known is that, in his younger years, the American tried his hand at figuration, before slowly emancipating himself from it to devote himself to gesture. A period little documented in museums that we discover today at the Picasso Museum, through around forty paintings but also numerous drawings. What is Jackson Pollock doing at Picasso's house? Well the leader of the New York school early on confessed his obsession with the Spanish painter, whose style infused into his practice, to then be digested and subtly integrated into a set of inspirations. From Mexican muralists to surrealists via Native American art, Jackson Pollock offers a highly referenced body of work, much more complex than that usually presented, and which does not (for once) place the United States as the major dominant force in international culture. .
Read our review here.
When ? until January 19
Or ? Musée National Picasso-Paris, 5 Rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris
Tarsila do Amaral, Painting modern Brazil
On yellow, green and blue picture rails, the full extent of the work of “Tarsila” is revealed alongside the social and political history of Brazil, between colonization, slavery and questioning of identity. A double reading assumed by the museum, which offers to appreciate the plasticity of the painter, largely influenced by the European avant-gardes and her numerous trips to Paris, while delving into the context in which the artist evolved (1886-1973) , who was white, bourgeois, but not totally disconnected from the reality of her compatriots.
Read our review here.
When ? until February 2, 2025
Or ? Luxembourg Museum, 19 Rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris
Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…
No, pop art isn't just Andy Warhol and his Campbell's soup cans. Make way for Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004), heir to the hobby horse, to whom the Louis Vuitton Foundation is devoting an exhibition which places him at the heart of a movement which, beneath its flashy exterior, violently criticized a consumer society in full frenzy. Irony of fate: Wesselmann has always shouted loud and clear that he was not a pop artist, but this forced labeling is nonetheless worth the detour. The bling spot in the 16th arrondissement unfolds the life of the American painter as the theme of an XXL exhibition spread across all floors. Wesselmann's work, hyper-referenced and demanding, contrasts with the general public side of his pop(u) friends Warhol, Oldenburg or Lichtenstein who parade in museums around the world. Never mind: the Foundation has combed through its collection, made a few strategic phone calls, and here is a display that mixes cutting-edge monograph and artistic clash, featuring founding fathers, contemporaries, and heirs like Jeff Koons or Ai Weiwei. Result: more than 150 large-format pieces that tell the story of pop art from a unique angle between retro and collective exhibition – a bit daunting but it holds up!
Read our review here.
When ? until February 24
Or ? Fondation Louis Vuitton, 8 Av. you Mahatma Gandhi, 75116 Paris
Louvre Couture, art objects, fashion objects
Being 231 years old and doing it for the first time. From January 24 to July 21, 2025, the Louvre will host, for the very first time in its history, a exposition entirely dedicated to the fashion galaxy. This retrospective will be knitted by Olivier Gabet and Nathalie Crinière, who have announced that they want to question the influence of museums and their collections on creators. The wardrobe, which will therefore interact with the works of the Louvre, should be made up of 65 outfits and 30 haute couture accessories with, on the fly, Chanel creations by Karl Lagerfeld – great surveyor of the Louvre –, as well as pieces by Yohji Yamamoto, Dolce & Gabbana, and a focus on Marie-Louise Carven, “the seamstress of little ladies”.
When ? from January 24 to July 21, 2025.
Or ? Louvre Museum, rue de Rivoli, Paris 1st.
From the Heart to the Hand: Dolce & Gabbana
In 2025, Dolce & Gabbana will celebrate 40 years of creation. And will find Grand Palace a setting worthy of its exhibition event inaugurated at the Palazzo Reale in Milan. From the multiple inspirations of the designer duo (Sicilian ceramics, Venetian glassware, etc.) to the unique pieces designed by hand in their workshops, the exhibition weaves the thousand and one links between Italian culture and this haute couture of excess that the house cultivates. . Through ten immersive rooms and a scenography as crazy as their dresses, we wander into the heads (and hearts) of the creators.
When ?untilas of March 31, 2025
Or ? Grand Palais, 3 avenue du Général Eisenhower, Paris 8th
Suzanne Valadon
Suzanne Valadon back in the center – of Paris and museum attention. Although her studio-apartment was opened to the public in 2014 in the Montmartre museum, it has been more than fifty years – it was in 1967 – since Suzanne Valadon's work had been the subject of a major exhibition. . An incongruity erased by the Center Pompidou which returns from January 15 to May 26, 2025 on its journey in the artistic sphere of the – approximately – first half of the 20th century. Through 200 works – paintings and drawings – some of which have been little or not shown, Beaubourg will tell how Valadon became a key figure in the empowerment of women artists, between her obstinacy in wanting to represent reality at all costs during the era of Cubism and beginner abstract art, and its representation (pioneering by a woman) of the male nude in large format. An exhibition which will talk about Parisian Bohemia – Valadon was an emblem of the Montmartre musette – and in which photos and manuscripts as well as paintings by contemporary women artists will be presented.
When ? from January 15 to May 26, 2025
Or ? Center Pompidou, rue Saint-Martin, Paris 4th.
Chiharu Shiota, The Soul Trembles
The last time we saw Chiharu Shiota on Parisian soil was at the Templon gallery in 2023, for the poetic exhibition Memory Under the Skin. Since then, the one nicknamed “the Spider” has been preparing the greatest monograph of her life: The Soul Trembles. Designed for the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the exhibition stops today under the dome of the Grand Palais to retrace nearly 25 years of the Japanese artist's career. It took 1,200 square meters to accommodate Chiharu Shiota's monumental installations (there are still seven of them) as well as more detailed works, photos or performance videos, all brought together on a thematic route. There's no denying it: the program is appealing. Like Jeanne Mas, the visual artist weaves in red and black a coherent whole where introspective works and first essays dialogue in striking immersive spaces.
Read our review here.
When ? until March 19
Or ? Grand Palais, 3 avenue du Général Eisenhower 75008 Paris
Olga de Amaral
Textiles are definitely on the rise in Paris. While the Japanese Chiharu Shiota weaves her red canvases near the Grand Palais, at the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, it is the pioneer of “fiber art” Olga de Amaral who exhibits her XXL creations. And the least we can say is that at 92 years old, the Colombian still has something under the pedal of the spinning wheel. In a magnificent scenography designed by the Franco-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh, the glass showcase of the 14th arrondissement is transformed into a little piece of South America, as mineral as it is sinuous, to highlight nearly 90 works of the artist, some of whom had never left Colombian soil. A retrospective worthy of the impact of Olga de Amaral, who has continued to push the boundaries of the textile medium since the 1960s, drawing inspiration from the impressionist landscapes of Monet or the mists of Turner, quickly establishing herself as an essential figure in the contemporary plastic scene.
Read our review here.
When ? until 16 mars 2025
Or ? Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, 261 Bd Raspail, 75014 Paris
