UPDATES COMING SOON
MAJOR EXHIBITIONS
Lens | Louvre-Lens | March 25 – July 13, 2020 - REOPENING SCHEDULED JUNE 3
"Soleils Noirs (« Black Suns »)"
Black is black. The Louvre-Lens Museum, an extension of the Parisian Louvre in Northern France, explores this colour – or non-colour – through painting masterpieces inspired by black as a source of poetry and sensuality. Black is explored as a symbol of infinity, timelessness and beginnings, but also darkness, ignorance and death. From the absence of light to total dazzlement, it’s a must-see!
For more, click here.
Normandy Impressionist Festival | April 3 - September 6, 2020 - NEW DATES : NOW SCHEDULED FROM JULY 4 TO NOVEMBER 15
Lovers of Monet, Degas, Manet, Pissaro and great artists of the time, will be drawn to Normandy for the 4th edition of the Normandy Impressionist Festival. It will take place throughout the region from April 3 to September 6, 2020. There will big exhibitions in Caen, Rouen and Le Havre and other cities.
• Giverny | Musée des impressionnismes | March 27 – July 14, 2020
"The Outdoors: From Corot to Monet"
The practice of outdoor painting emerged in the mid-19th century with the School of Fontainebleau; it is the culmination of a long process in which the landscape asserts itself as a full-fledged genre.In France, as early as in the 18th century, artists focus on observing and objectively capturing the effects of light. From 1708, in his essay ‘Du paysage’, Roger de Piles advises painters to work outdoors.
For more, click here.
• Rouen | Musée des Beaux-Arts/Museum of Fine Arts | April 3 – September 7, 2020
"François Depeaux, the Man with 600 Paintings"
A visionary collector, François Depeaux brought together one of the largest Impressionist collections of all times. A coal magnate, this industrialist from Rouen owned as many as 55 Sisley paintings, as well as Renoir,Toulouse-Lautrec, Pissarro, Monet… A friend of artists, he accompanied them in their daily lives, witnessing the birth of some of their greatest masterpieces - such as the renowned Cathedral series, where Claude Monet depicts every daylight color. This unprecedented exhibition uses a narrative mode to bring back to life the artistic, economic and human adventure of this industry tycoon, a bold and wise philanthropist, who in 1909 endowed his city with the first Impressionist collection in the provinces. Exceptional loans from major museums and private collectors allow the return, for one summer season, of this vast collection now scattered all over the world.
• Le Havre, Normandy | MuMa, Musée d’art moderne André Malraux | April 3 – September 20, 2020
"Electric Nights"
In cities of the second half of the 19th century and of the early 20th century, the transformation of the night and its incandescent atmosphere represent a revolution, which artists interested in light cannot be indifferent to. After natural light, it’s time for them to explore artificial light. “Nuits électriques” [‘Electric Nights’] exhibition aims to explore through more than 180 works (paintings, drawings, prints,photographs, films) by nearly 50 artists, including Edvard Munch, JosefPankiewicz, Eugen Jansson, Camille Pissarro, Toulouse Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Kees Van Dongen, Sonia Delaunay…
• Caen, Normandy | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen | April 4 – September 20, 2020
"The Fiery Cities. Art, Work, Revolt, 1870 – 1914"
The topic of work is rarely associated with Impressionist and post-Impressionist painters. Did they not propose anything but ornamental artworks at a time when others highlighted a social reality? The Musée des Beaux-Arts’ ambition is to take a broader look at the works created between 1870 and 1914. Les villes ardentes [‘The Fiery Cities’] presents 100 works that shed light on these years from the aftermath of La Commune to the dawn of World War I, which mark the emergence of an industrialized France.
• Le Havre | Musée d'Art Moderne André Malraux | April 4 – September 20, 2020
"Nuits Électriques (« Electric Nights »)"
The Normandy Impressionist Festival offers a wealth of exhibitions and experiences to visitors. Among them, ‘Electric Nights’ at the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre examines the way 19th-century painters treated the evolution of the urban landscape, at a time when urban lighting was appearing. The representations of these new light experiences reveal their concerns at a time of profound transformation between 1850 and 1914, with works by Monet, Pissarro, Steinlen, Bonnard, Van Dongen, Delaunay, Eugène Jansson, Atkinson Grimshaw, Jósef Pankiewicz and Darío de Regoyos.
For more, click here.
• Cherbourg | Musée Thomas Henry | June 5 – September 6, 2019
"Travels in Unchartered Territory: Boudin, Renoir, Signac…in Cotentin"
Far from the French capital and difficult to access, the Cotentin peninsula has stood apart from Normandy’s major artistic routes. Cherbourg, a booming industrial city in the 19th century, hosts an unprecedented influx of workers. Like most other cities in Normandy, it follows the sea bathing trend in 1828 and builds a casino in 1864. The rail network that connects Cherbourg to Paris is inaugurated in 1858. Despite this infrastructure, the region is still rarely visited. Yet a handful of so-called avant-garde artists prop up their easels in the region, including Berthe Morisot, Auguste Renoir, Eugène Boudin, Paul Signac, Albert Marquet, and Henri Matisse. Museum Thomas Henry.
• Dieppe, Normandy | Musée de Dieppe | June 20 – September 27, 2020
"Eva Gonzales – Encounters with a Modern Woman"
The Musée de Dieppe presents the first retrospective exhibition dedicated to the work of Eva Gonzalès (1850-1883), one of the rare female Impressionist painters to achieve renown.The exhibition is organized around four axes: the artist, her life, her portraits and her education; her role as Édouard Manet’s model; the “modernity” of her marriage with Henri Guérard, who will go on to support her in her career; her relationship with her sister, Jeanne Gonzalès, herself a model and artist.
Strasbourg | MAMCS | From April 3 - July 19, 2020 - POSTPONED UNTIL NEXT FALL
"Huysmans’ “Eye” Manet, Degas, Moreau"
A wide-ranging exhibition devoted to the writer and art critic Joris-Karl Huysmans, fruit of extensive cooperation with the Musée d’Orsay. With some 270 works, the exhibition shows some of the finest Impressionist and Symbolist works.
For more, click here.
Versailles | Château de Versailles | From April 16, 2020 - REOPENING SCHEDULED JUNE 6
"The taste of Marie Leszczynska"
During the 42 years she spent at Versailles, Marie Leszczynska had a profound impact on both the layout of the Palace and artistic life at the time. Her influence has inspired this dedicated exhibition presented in the Dauphine’s Apartments.
For more, click here.
Bordeaux | Bassins des Lumières | From April 17, 2020 to January 3, 2021 - REOPENING SCHEDULED JUNE 10
"Gustav Klimt : Gold and Colours"’
For their opening in Bordeaux, the Bassin des Lumières will revisit the works of Gustav Klimt thanks to the advanced technologies deployed by Culturespaces, at the heart of the world’s largest digital art centre. Expect a century of Viennese painting and an original look at the painter and his successors through portraits, landscapes, nudes, colours and gilding. Transported right to the heart of the paintings, visitors can admire large-format masterpieces such as the famous ‘Kiss’ and immerse themselves in turn-of-the-century imperial Vienna. Impressive and completely immersive.
For more, click here.
Marseille | MuCEM | April 29 – August 17, 2020 - REOPENING SCHEDULED JUNE 29
"Pharaons Superstars’"
You may have heard of Cheops, Nefertiti, Cleopatra, Tutankhamun and Ramses – but who today remembers Teti, Sesostris or Nectanebo? This exhibition explores how some ancient Egyptian kings and queens have become international icons today, while others, who had their heyday in antiquity, have almost fallen into oblivion. It’s a journey back over 5,000 years with 300 items from the MuCEM as well as large French and European collections (including some from the Louvre), which delve into the exploits and posthumous notoriety of the pharaohs.
For more, click here.
Poissy | Paris Region | From April 30 - August 30, 2020
"Carte blanche to Françoise Pétrovitch at the Lecorbusier Villa Savoye"
In 2020, the Centre des monuments nationaux invites visual artist Françoise Pétrovitch for a carte blanche at Villa Savoye. She will create new works nourished by the evocation of the personality of Eugénie Savoye, for whom the villa was built in 1928, and in dialogue with the chromatic research of Corbusier. Françoise Pétrovitch, an artist born in 1964, visual artist working in drawing, painting, ceramics, video, is particularly famous for her wash, dilution of colors on paper.
Metz | Centre Pompidou-Metz | May 2 – November 2, 2020
"The Sky as a Workshop : Yves Klein and his contemporaries’"
The Centre Pompidou in Metz is set to present an exhibition dedicated to Yves Klein (1928-1962), revealing his aesthetic affinities with a multitude of artists. The sky, the air, the universe and the cosmos then represent the intangible workshop conducive to reinventing art and the relationship of man with the world in the post-war period. New plastic developments ventured in particular towards monochrome, with the creation of the famous Klein blue. In the context of space conquest and nuclear weapons, this generation of artists shared a new idealism around freedom, and made heaven an intangible and spiritual shield. Dive into the blue…
For more, click here.
Rouen | Fine Arts Museum | From June 2019 - May 2020
"So British ! 10 masterpieces from the Pinault Collection"
The Museum of Fine-Arts in Rouen will host the Pinault Collection. Few months before the opening of the Bourse de Commerce, future exhibition location of the institution in the heart of Paris, this partnership will show an exclusive side of Rouen’s patrimony.
For more, click here.
Cean | Musée des Beaux-Arts | May 16 – September 20, 2020
"Gérard Fromanger : Annoncer La Couleur (« Advertise Colour »)"
This is one of the many events organised as part of the Normandy Impressionist Festival, devoted not only to Impressionism, but also to its influences on artistic trends until today. The exhibition presents the works of one of the greatest representatives of the narrative figuration movement, who is also very attached to Normandy. Through 60 works produced from 1966 to 2018, Caen’s Fine Arts Museum will present the extent to which this passionate street artist developed an innovative art, away from the formalist style.
For more, click here.
Marseille | Manifesta 13 | June 7 – November, 2020 - NOW SCHEDULED FROM AUGUST 28 UNTIL NOVEMBER 29
For its 13th year, Manifesta will be held in France for the very first time, taking over in Marseille in the form of a multidisciplinary cultural season with artists from all walks of life. Manifesta 13 Marseille will involve a varied programme of exhibitions, performances, meetings with artists, readings and interventions, organised in three sections: ‘Traits d’Union.s’ which considers new forms of ‘being together’; ‘Tiers Programs’, a series of interdependent projects created between educational and artistic circles; and ‘Parallèles du Sud’, a programme of cultural events in Marseille and across the region (e.g. at the Mamac in Nice, and at Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur). The event headquarters is at Espace Manifesta 13, on Marseille’s La Canebière.
For more, click here.
Rennes | Brittany | Summer of 2020
Contemporary Art Extravaganza during the Summer of 2020 in Rennes, capital of Brittany, featuring an exhibition of works from the acclaimed Pinault Collection.
• Collection Pinault Contemporary Art Exhibition 2020 | June 25 – September 13, 2020
Le Havre | Musée d'Art Moderne André Malraux | From June 29 - September 22, 2020
"A Summer in Le Havre"
A serie of events orchestrated by Jean Blaise to discover and rediscover all the artists who have taken over the city with the sole purpose of shedding a new light on Le Havre.
For more, click here.
Deauville | Les Franciscaines | July – September 20, 2020
"Regatta in the Colours of Daniel Buren"
Among the first exhibitions at the Franciscaines, the new cultural space in Deauville (Normandy), ‘Régate de couleurs by Daniel Buren, Voile/Toile - Toile/Voile’, is both conceptual, performance-led, experiential and a work of art. It’s part of the multidisciplinary vision of the Franciscaines. The event takes place in two stages: a regatta of the nine small boats painted by Daniel Buren, led by young sailors, will take place on Saturday, July 18. Depending on the order of arrival, the sails/canvases will be transported to the Franciscaines cloister to be displayed. In mid-July, highlights will take place in the presence of the artist, intended for all audiences. An event organised as part of the Normandy Impressionist Festival.
Lille | Gare Saint-Sauveur | September 8 – November 8, 2020
"La Manufacture : A Labour Of Love"
As part of Lille’s World Capital of Design 2020 season, this exhibition – curated by Lidewij Edelkoort, a highly-regarded trend forecaster – explores the experiments of a new generation of designers who want to break away from a superfluous conception of industrial design. It’s now a question of reconciling the hand and the machine to produce amazing objects and materials, creating a new future for craft.
For more, click here.
Lens | Louvre-Lens | September 23, 2020 – January 25, 2021
"Le Louvre de Picasso"
You have to understand the Louvre to understand the work of Pablo Picasso, who lived from 1881 to 1973. The museum is a fundamental place for the artist, from his first visit in 1900 to the exhibition of his own works in the Grande Galerie in 1971; it occupied a special place in the artist’s imagination and was involved in his very conception of art. This exhibition is a dialogue between Picasso’s work and the Louvre collections, organised in collaboration with the Musée National Picasso-Paris, displaying large-scale works alongside archive documents.
For more, click here.
Lille | Le Tripostal | October 9, 2020 – January 3, 2021
"Colours, etc"
Another show as part of Lille’s cultural season, ‘Colours, etc’ is designed as a walk through the seven main colours and the universe of pigments used by painters and craftsmen from the Middle Ages. Contemporary designers and artists are invited to present a project or create a work on the theme of colour and the senses, creating an immersive experience for visitors. An exhibition co-produced by Lille3000 and the Ghent Design Museum.
For more, click here.
Metz | Centre Pompidou-Metz | October 17, 2020 – February 15, 2021
"Chagall : Le Passer de Limière"
This exhibition will examine the importance of light and stained glass in Chagall’s work. The stained glass models produced for many buildings in eastern France (Metz, Reims, Sarrebourg), neighbouring Germany (Mainz) and internationally (Israel, the US, England and Switzerland) will be brought together for the first time. Alongside them will be a large collection of paintings, sculptures, ceramics and drawings from the collections of the Pompidou Centre, the Marc Chagall National Museum in Nice, other international museums and private collections.
For more, click here.