Paris Museum Exhibitions For The Unusual 2021 Season

A lot has happened in the Paris museum scene since the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020 and the resulting lockdowns and closures. Many museum exhibitions were pushed forward, some rescheduled for the next year.

Let's take a look at the refreshed calendar of the top Paris museum exhibitions for 2021. Even in an abbreviated season, there's still some comfort to be found in the exhibition lineup at musées at museums like the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Centre Pompidou, Quai Branly, Petit Palais, and a dual-masters show at the Picasso & Rodin museums.

Museum Exhibitions at the Louvre in 2021

When the most popular museum in the world announces its new exhibitions art lovers sit up and pay attention. Even with the difficulties, 2021 there are still interesting new exhibitions to be seen at the Louvre. Schedule of Louvre exhibitions 2021…

The Advent of the Artist

In the new season of this on-going museum event, the Louvre's Petite Galerie continues its exploration of the transition from the typically anonymous craftsman of the classical period to the artist of the Renaissance, The Advent of the Artist. In 2021, Renaissance artists Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Albrecht Dürer will be featured.

• Louvre, Petite Galerie
• Ends July 5, 2021
• Information…

Museum Exhibitions at Musée d'Orsay 2021

Once a Belle Epoque train station, in 1986 Musée d'Orsay was transformed into the world's greatest museum dedicated to Impressionism and 19th century art. A few years ago the museum underwent a facelift with a nifty reshuffling of the paintings and a new paint job (white walls are so 20th century) to better highlight the artwork.

The Origins of the World – The Invention of Nature in the 19th Century

For the first time the d'Orsay, in partnership with the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle is devoting an exhibition to the sciences and the arts.

• Musée d'Orsay
• Ends May 2, 2021
• Information…

Laurent Grasso

In 2017, Laurent Grasso was invited by the Musée d'Orsay to produce a large-scale work in collaboration with The Origins of the World exhibition.

• Musée d'Orsay
• Ends May 2, 2021
• Information…

Swiss Modernities, 1890 to 1914

At the end of the 19th century the artistic scene in Switzerland was vibrant. A generation of painters — Giovanni and Augusto Giacometti, Felix Vallotton, Ernest Bieler and Max Buri — radically transformed the art of their time. This exhibition gives an insight into artworks that have never been shown in France, by bringing together seventy masterpieces of the period, from public and private collections.

• Musée d'Orsay
• Ends June 27, 2021
• Information…

Girault de Prangey, Photographer

Girault de Prangey (1804-1892) was a gifted painter, illustrator, and archaeologist. This exhibition features his photographs and illustrated books.

• Musée d'Orsay
• Ends March 14, 2021
• Information…

Museum Exhibitions at Centre Pompidou 2021

It's been well over forty decades since the opening of the Pompidou and, while not as magnificent as the 40th anniversary celebrations a couple of years ago, there are going to be fascinating exhibits for modern art fans in 2021 and 2022… until the museum closes for yet another renovation for three to seven years!

Matisse – Like a Novel

Sparked by the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henri Matisse (1869-1954) the Pompidou is staging this show that pays tribute to Matisse, bringing together his essential works. This is going to be good!

• Centre Pompidou
• ENDED February 22, 2021

Alice Neel (1900-1984)

The retrospective devoted to Alice Neel — "one of the greatest portrait artists of the 20th century" — highlights the political and social commitment of this painter largely ignored during her lifetime. The exhibition includes 70 paintings and drawings, as well as many documents, from the 1920s to the last paintings, completed before her death in 1984.

• Rescheduled for 2022
• Centre Pompidou

Exhibitions at Musée du Quai Branly 2021

Dedicated to the study of mankind and the world, the Quai Branly museum showcases world cultures — African, Asian, Oceania, and the Americas. The museum is relatively new to the landscape of Paris museums, opening in 2006. It's very close to the Eiffel Tower.

Architect Jean Nouvel gets around. After he designed the controversial Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris, he went onto to create Musée du Quai Branly. The museum is a jumble of forms that also features tranquil gardens with a natural aesthetic — no formal French gardens, no lawns, no lavish entrance staircase. Instead, the garden is a series of small landscapes with native French plants.

The Olmecs and the Cultures of the Gulf of Mexico

Learn about the Olmec civilization and the little-known world of pre-Columbian cultures of the Gulf of Mexico. Take a fascinating journey into its three millennia of history, and artistic traditions. The exhibition sheds light on the Olmec civilization with over two hundred rare items, shown for the first time outside Mexico.

• Quai Branly
• Ends July 25, 2021
• Information…

Petit Palais Exhibitions 2021

If you're in the mood for a small museum, make your way to the impossibly adorable Petit Palais, found directly across the street from big brother, the Grand Palais on Avenue Winston Churchill in the 8th Arrondissement (easy walking distance from Place de la Concorde). Built for the 1900 Universal Expo, the Petit Palais is now the home to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Paris, the city's fine arts museum. There's a pretty interior courtyard and a cafe to relax in before or after viewing the museum. We always stop in when we're in the area, especially since it's free!

Laurence Aëgerter

Contemporary French artist Laurence Aëgerter has cultivated a passion for paintings, antiques, encyclopedias and museum catalogues since childhood. Inspired by the Petit Palais' architecture and collections, her exhibition weaves its way from room to room and spills into the garden.

• Petit Palais
• Ends February 28, 2021
• Information…

Musée Picasso Exhibitions in 2021

The Musée Picasso is a jewel set in the Marais, set in the historic and grand Hotel Salé. There are over 5,000 works that cover Picasso's paintings, sculptures, engravings, drawings, studies, drafts, notebooks, etchings and letters. If you are a Picasso fan, this is a must-see destination in Paris.

Picasso – Rodin

This much-anticipated exhibition exhibition, featuring two masters and mounted in two Paris museums, continues in September. Running concurrently at the Musée Picasso in the Marais and the Musée Rodin in the 7th Arrondissement, Picasso – Rodin graphically demonstrates how these two artists, together and individually, heralded a turning point in modern art.

• Musée Picasso & Musée Rodin
• Ends January 2, 2022
• Information…

Musée de l'Orangerie 2021

Tucked into the Jardin des Tuileries right at the Place de la Concorde, the 1852 stone structure facing the Seine was once the greenhouse that helped to nurture orange trees for the garden. (There's also an orangerie in the Jardin du Luxembourg, and it's still used to store plants during the winter.) Now, it's home to Monet's stellar waterlily murals. But, the Orangerie Museum has more artistic surprises in store, including this year's exhibitions. Upcoming exhibits at l'Orangerie…

Janaïna Tschäpe, Counterpoint 5

Contemporary German artist Janaïna Tschäpe unveils her large-scale paintings inspired by Monet.

• Musée de l'Orangerie
• Ends March 1, 2021
• Information…

Magritte in Full Sunlight – The Renoir Period, 1940-1947

This exhibition brings together paintings and drawings from the end of the 1930s, when Magritte predicted the imminent outbreak of war. Along with his works are some of Renoir's masterpieces plus contemporary paintings by Jeff Koons.

• Musée de l'Orangerie
• Ends June 21, 2021
• Information…

Soutine/De Kooning

In this exhibition you can see works by Russian painter Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943), alongside those of Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), the American Abstract Expressionist. The exhibition explores the impact of Soutine's painting on the American painter. At the end of 2021.

• Musée de l'Orangerie
• Ends January 10, 2022
• Information…

Musée Marmottan-Monet

If you love Claude Monet and the Impressionists you won't want to miss the Marmottan Monet Museum in the 16th Arrondissement. (Its name is a clue!) Set in the charming Parc Ranlegh in the posh neighborhood of Passy, this museum contains the largest collection of Monet paintings in the world. Claude's son Michel left his father's art to the state of France at the time of his death in 1966, including the iconic Impression: Sunrise, the painting that gave the movement its name.

Colombet/Monet – Painting Like the River

This dual-artist show follows the life and work of contemporary French artist Vicky Colombet who, like Monet, sees something new in landscapes, a surpassing of places. Displaying works by these two painters who each saw something different in the scenes they painted is truly a special event. Staging the event at the world's foremost Monet museum is perfect.

• Musée Marmottan-Monet
• Ends May 2, 2021
• Information…

The Blue Hour

Discover the works of Danish painter Peder Severin Krøyer (1851-1909). The exhibition is the result of a partnership between the Musée Marmottan-Monet and the Skagen Museum, under the High Patronage of Queen Margrethe II.

• Musée Marmottan-Monet
• Ends July 25, 2021
• Information…

Jeu de Paume 2021

It's one of our favorite spots in Paris. Formerly a tennis court for royalty during the reign of Napoleon III set right on the edge of Jardin des Tuileries, it's now a museum dedicated to photography and modern media art. Like most things in Paris, it has a long history. In between its time from tennis court to photography museum, Jeu de Paume is where the Nazis stored the art they plundered from France. After the war and until the Musée d'Orsay opened in 1986 it was where the overstock of important Impressionist paintings was kept. In 1991, after a serious renovation, the Jeu de Paume opened as France's first national gallery of contemporary photography.

The Jeu de Paume is closed for renovations until some time in 2021. (However, you can always add at least a year to a Paris museum's projected re-opening date following a renovation — and 50% to the cost!)