8 Paris exhibitions + tours for art and history lovers

Before Olympic mania swept the City of Light, viewers were more likely to immerse themselves in the worlds of Monet and Louis XIV than those of Ledecky and Biles. The good news this summer: You can do both! The following exhibitions and activities will satisfy your inner aesthete and your inner historian.

Matisse, The Red Studio And Ellsworth Kelly, Shapes and Colors, 1949–2015

• Where: Louis Vuitton Foundation
• Events: 4 May to 9 September 2024
• Hours: Wednesday 11am-5pm, Thursday 11am-8pm, Friday 11am-9pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am-8pm and Monday 11am-8pm
• Permit: 16 €

In a very metaphysical manner, part of this exhibition remarkably brings together the 10 artworks from Matisse’s infamous The Red Studio– and alongside the painting itself, which is on loan from MoMA – for the first time since it left Matisse’s studio in Issy-les-Moulineaux, a suburb outside Paris. The works of art, created between 1898 and 1911, include paintings, sculptures and ceramics.

In honor of American abstract artist and painter Ellsworth Kelly, the Foundation Louis Vuitton will also exhibit approximately 100 of the artist’s often monochrome works, including a permanent, site-specific work completed in 2014 in collaboration with museum architect Frank Gehry.

History tours in the American Library in Paris

• Where: The American Library in Paris
• Events: Fridays until August 30, 2024
• Hours: 11 clock
• Permit: Free, but advance registration is required

Discover how the only American library in Paris came to be with a free guided tour in honor of the community’s 104th anniversary (note: its founding is linked to World War I). Located on the Left Bank, not far from the Eiffel Tower, this newly renovated private library is full of incredible stories beyond those told on its shelves.

We are here

• Where: The Petit Palais
• Events: 12 June to 17 November 2024
• Hours: 10am-6pm, Tuesday-Sunday
• Permit: Free

For the first time in its 124-year history, the smaller of the two stately monuments in central Paris is opening its exhibition space to artists whose work is usually seen on the streets. The artists include American Shepard Fairey, also known as Obey – famous for his famous “Hope” poster of Obama during the 2008 election -, French mosaic fanatic Invader, and Seth, whose colorful, childlike figures decorate various parts of the city, particularly the street art-strewn 13th arrondissement. More than 200 works by over 60 international artists will adorn these hallowed halls.

The birth of department stores: fashion, design, toys, advertising, 1852–1925

• Where: Museum of Art and Decoration
• Events: 10 April to 13 October 2024
• Hours: 11am–6pm, Tuesday–Sunday
• Permit: 15 €

Shopping pleasure! In the first part of a two-part exhibition, this exhibit takes visitors behind the clothes racks and dressing rooms into the heart of Parisian glamour with a history lesson on its temples of fashion, starting with the founding of Le Bon Marché on the Left Bank and then Printemps, La Samaritaine and Galeries Lafayette on the Right Bank. From posters to clothing, the over 700 curated pieces showcase the significance of this new style of retailing and explain how it led to female-focused consumer behavior.

Fashion in motion #2

• Where: Palais Galliera
• Events: 25 April 2024–5. January 2025
• Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Permit: 12 €

The city’s fashion museum has selected 300 items from its permanent collection that have to do with movement, in keeping with the sporting festivities of summer. Clothes designed for physical activities such as horse riding, tennis, golf and cycling are compared with garments worn in the city. There is also an entire section dedicated to swimsuits, bathing suits, beachwear and related accessories. After all, the bikini was first presented in 1946 at the Piscine Molitor in Paris.

Courtesy of the Centre Pompidou

Surrealism: The Centennial Exhibition

• Where: Pompidou Centre
• Events: 4 September 2024–13 January 2025
• Hours: 11:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday; 11:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. Thursday
• Permit: 15 €

The city’s New Age Museum will unveil a tribute to a new age style: Surrealism. To celebrate the movement’s centenary, the Pompidou will trace the history of the genre through a labyrinthine exhibition that will amaze all the senses. Starting with André Breton’s manifestwhich is loaned by the French National Library, surrealism will showcase the poetic principles and imagination of the participants, who of course include Dali, Magritte and Miro, among others such as Tasuo Ikeda from Japan and Rufino Tamayo from Mexico.

Egyptian Pharaohs from Cheops to Ramses II.

• Where: Atelier des Lumières
• Events: 9 February 2024–5 January 2025
• Hours: Monday–Thursday 10am–6pm, Friday and Saturday 10am–10pm, Sunday 10am–7pm
• Permit: 17 €

If that Canicule (rabbit) (heatwave) is coming—and it will!—there’s no place cooler than the immersive, digitally advanced Atelier des Lumières. The space in the 11th arrondissement mixes music and laser lights, and for its latest exhibition, the dark room presents projections of ancient Egypt, complete with giant sphinxes, pyramids, temples, and more. It’s a journey that lets visitors travel back in time thanks to the wonders of technology.

Eva Jospin–Versailles Exhibition

• Where: Palace of Versailles, L’Orangerie
• Events: 18 June to 29 September 2024
• Hours: 9:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Tuesday–Sunday
• Permit: 24 € (covers the entire property)

Contemporary exhibitions return to the Palace of Versailles with the exhibition of an exquisite embroidery over 300 metres long by French artist Eva Jospin. Located in the Orangery, the tableau depicts a natural landscape originally inspired by pieces from the Palazzo Colonna in Rome and Virgina Woolf’s novel. A room for yourself. Made by artisans in Mumbai, the piece was also presented during Dior’s Fall-Winter 2021-2022 Haute Couture show under the creative direction of Maria Grazia Chiuri.