The most beautiful exhibitions to discover this autumn

From January 28, 2023 to January 8, 2024 (three-part exhibition).

In 2023, the Musée National Marc Chagall celebrates the 50th anniversary of its creation in Nice, on the Côte d'Azur, and marks the occasion with a three-part anniversary exhibition, full of joy and color. In the Maison imagined by Marc Chagall to house his Biblical Message cycle and inaugurated by the artist himself on July 7, 1973, a succession of contemporary personalities (artists, writers, dancers, musicians, choreographers, perfumers, etc.) will engage in dialogue with the work of the painter of "surreality". The "Chagall et moi!" exhibition offers a fascinating contemporary reading of the master's paintings.

Visit the Marc Chagall National Museum in Nice, on the French Riviera

*From February 3, 2023 to January 7, 2024

In 2023, two sacred monsters of art history are invited to the former Bordeaux submarine base with monumental projections of the greatest works of Dalí and Gaudí. The immersive exhibition "Dalí, the endless enigma" reveals the most beautiful paintings of the master of surrealism such as The Persistence of Memory in the Face of Mae West, Atomic Leda or The Temptation of Saint Anthony. The second installation plunges visitors into the rediscovery of the iconoclastic achievements of the architect Gaudí, such as the Parc Güell or the Sagrada Família, sources of inspiration for Salvador Dalí.

Visit the Bassins des Lumières, in Bordeaux

Until December 31, 2023

To approach the genius of the Dutch masters of painting through a digital creation, a true immersion in nature and the subjects that inspired them, this is what the long program of the Carrières des Lumières in Les Baux-de-Provence, in Provence, proposes throughout 2023. From Vermeer to Van Gogh via Rembrandt, Hendrick Avercamp or Jan Steen, the exhibition projects visitors into a fascinating world of color and chiaroscuro. Painting light and its atmosphere is the main theme of the exhibition in the extraordinary quarries of Baux-de-Provence. Direct or subdued, cold or sunny, it reveals the facades, the intimacy of the homes, whilst inviting introspection or contemplation. Truly magical!

Visit Les Carrières des Lumières in Baux-de-Provence

From April 21 to December 31, 2023

For the first time since its inauguration in June 2018, the Musée de la Romanité in Nîmes, Occitanie, is exploring the link between antiquity and the present world. For this archaeology museum with its daring architecture and scenography, it is an opportunity to highlight its archaeological collections linking contemporary and digital together. Carte blanche was given to the artist Olivier Laric to show that the works are more alive than ever, especially in a world marked by the digital revolution and the use of the Internet which finds a new place, a new value and a new function. Instructive as well as comforting.

Visit the Romanesque Museum in Nîmes, in Occitania

*From 9 June 2023 to 1 April 2024

Situated on the banks of the Ill in Strasbourg, the Musée Alsacien, with its distinctive half-timbered façades, is a key site for the transmission of the region's identity. So it's not surprising that Charles Fréger, a renowned contemporary photographer, chose this place to present four years of work on the question of Alsatian identity and the propaganda in force between 1870 and 1918. A total of 80 photographs, ceramics, embroidery, glass, illustrations and films make up this unique exhibition.

Visit the Musée Alsacien in Strasbourg, Alsace

From July 12 to November 6, 2023

Since Paul Poiret, the great French couturier and perfumer of the 20th century, fashion designers such as Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix and Jean-Paul Gaultier have never ceased to be interested in the forms and imaginary world of regional and traditional costumes. Through an exhibition full of colors and materials, rich in history and customs, the Mucem in Marseille, Provence highlights the correspondences, borrowings and creative processes deployed by the designers. The textile collections of the Mucem as well as loans from numerous French and foreign museums (Palais Galliera, Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, Musée de Quimper, Musée Yves Saint Laurent - Paris, Musée de la Mode de Marseille, Musée Municipal de Bucarest) truly serve as a framework.

Visit the Mucem in Marseille, in Provence

*From 22nd September 2023 to 7th January 2024

An international painter represented by the Perrotin Gallery, illustrator and manga artist Aya Takano is a leading figure in the superflat art movement inspired by Japanese culture. Almost 20 years after her first exhibition, the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon is back this autumn with a retrospective of several of her masterpieces, as well as works shown for the first time. Between impertinence and eroticism, the exhibition "Nouvelle mythologie" questions the oppositions between the natural and the artificial, the feminine and the masculine. An unsettling exhibition!

Visit the Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon

*From 27 September 2023 to 15 January 2024.

Snakes, dragons, unicorns - animals play a significant role in many of today's best-selling literary works, such as Harry Potter and Games of Thrones. But their authors were not the first artists to give prominence to these creatures of the imagination. What role do animals play in the history of art? How are they represented? What links do human beings have with animals? The Musée du Louvre Lens attempts to answer these questions at its autumn exhibition, featuring 250 sculptures, paintings, objets d'art and film extracts. Fascinating.

Visit the Louvre-Lens museum in Hauts de France

*From 11 October 2023 to 10 March 2024.

26 November 1922. Archaeologist Howard Carter discovers the magnificent tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, untouched for 3300 years since its conception. A century later, the exhibition "Discovering the Forgotten Pharaoh" takes visitors behind the scenes of this historic exploration. Between meticulously reconstructed burial chambers and replicas of objects from the Cairo Museum, we take a fascinating journey to the land of the Pharaohs. It's the perfect follow-up to the Ramses exhibition at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris in 2023.

Visit the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Parc des Expositions in Strasbourg, Alsace

*From 27 October 2023 to 11 February 2024

With 130 paintings, the Musée d'Arts de Nantes celebrates the work of Suzanne Valadon. The muse of Auguste Renoir and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec in her early years, the artist known as "Maria" soon developed a passion for drawing and a favourite subject: nudes, both male and female, which highlight the fragility of the body in the midst of everyday life. The exhibition also reveals this daring artist's penchant for painting. Visitors will discover a body of work influenced by the Pont-Aven School and the use of bright colours. Between portraits and works by contemporary artists, this exhibition shows the true place of Suzanne Valadon's work in the history of art.

Visit the Musée d'Arts de Nantes, in the Pays de la Loire region

*From 28 October 2023 to 31 March 2024

The erasure of landscapes, the dilution of forms, the search for a plastic language, the exploration of materials... All the nuances of abstract art are on show this autumn at the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre as part of the "Abstract Itineraries" exhibition. This thematic tour will enable visitors to rediscover some rarely exhibited works by leading abstractionists such as Nicolas de Staël, Fernand Léger, Maurice Estève, Albert Féraud and Marc Devade.

Visit the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre, Normandy

Manet and Degas at the Musée d'Orsay, Basquiat and Warhol at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Matisse at the Musée de l'Orangerie, Mucha at the Grand Palais Immersif without forgetting Picasso whose work is celebrated at the Musée National Picasso as well as in other Parisian museums, 50 years after his death. The list of must-see exhibitions to discover in Paris in 2023 is long! Discover our selection.